A cathedral city close to the border with Wales, Chester’s main attraction is its old town housed inside nearly two miles of ancient walls, including the oldest Roman walls in Western Europe.

In a city founded in the first century AD, there’s certainly much to enjoy here for anyone who loves history. But Chester’s appeal extends to the food tourist too, from independent patisseries to sustainable vegetable led Modern British restaurants and American inspired grills.

If you’re looking for where to eat in Chester, you’ll find sustenance aplenty in Cheshire’s capital. The North West food scene isn’t all about Liverpool and Manchester, you know…

Noted

The city’s most talked about opening, from chef Andrew Sheridan, who many will recognise from Great British Menu. It joined the Michelin Guide in March 2026, which tells you where the ambition sits. Sharp, seasonal cooking with real technique behind it, in a city that has waited a while for something this confident. Book while you still can.

Covino

A light, airy room on Northgate Street doing small plates built on excellent local produce, with a wine list that is clearly the work of people who care deeply about matching bottle to plate. Service is warm rather than reverent, which makes it the best date night in Chester by some margin. Sit at the bar or in the window if you can.

Sticky Walnut

The Hoole neighbourhood restaurant that started Gary Usher’s whole empire, and still the benchmark against which everything else in the city is judged. Modern European cooking, no unnecessary flourishes, and a room that has kept its local following through everything. Consistently ranked among the best places to eat in Chester, and deservedly.

Da Noi

An instant hit when it opened on Bridge Street and a fixture ever since, thanks largely to chef Valentina Aviotti, whose authentic Italian cooking is genuinely revered locally. This is not red sauce nostalgia: it is proper regional Italian food made by someone with a serious commitment to it. Small, warm and worth booking.

Porta

Tapas and wine in a deliberately informal room, opened by restaurateur brothers Ben and Joe Wright and modelled on the little bars of Barcelona and Madrid. Order too much, drink Spanish, stay longer than planned. The atmosphere does half the work and the cooking does the rest, at prices that stay reasonable however carried away you get.

Joseph Benjamin

The Wright brothers’ original Chester restaurant and delicatessen on Northgate Street, a fixture of the city’s food scene for well over a decade. Modern British cooking with a light Mediterranean accent, a good breakfast and lunch trade, and produce good enough that people come simply to shop. The dependable choice.

Hypha

Chester’s plant based restaurant and the clearest expression of the vegetable led cooking the city has become quietly good at. Fermentation, foraging and a tasting menu that treats vegetables as the point rather than the concession. Even the most committed meat eaters tend to come out impressed, which is the whole argument won.

Upstairs at the Grill

A Manhattan influenced steakhouse above a butcher’s shop, dark, intimate and unrepentantly carnivorous. Properly aged beef cooked over serious heat, a martini list to match, and a room that feels like a decent night out before you have ordered anything. The city’s answer to a special occasion that does not involve a tasting menu.

Hickory’s Smokehouse

Down by the River Dee, and the most fun you can have eating in Chester. Southern American barbecue, smoked low and slow, served in quantities that defeat most people, with a cheerful family friendly clatter to the whole operation. Ribs, brisket, cornbread and a bourbon list. Not subtle, and not trying to be.

The Architect

Classic British comfort food in a handsome Georgian building beside the racecourse, with log fires in winter and a garden in summer. Pies, roasts, fish and chips and a decent pint, done properly rather than ironically. The right answer after a long walk round the walls on a cold day.

Also worth your time:

The covered Chester Market for local producers and a good lunch; the delis and independent bakeries along Northgate Street; and the Cheshire farm shops within easy reach of the city if you have a car.