About L'ETO
L'ETO runs an all-day cafe and restaurant on Long Acre, the wide street linking the Piazza with Leicester Square. The brand began as a single bright cafe in Soho and has grown into a group of around 40 restaurants across seven countries, including the United Kingdom, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan. The Covent Garden branch is one of nine in London, and it keeps the same long hours as most of its siblings, open from 9am to 11pm every day.
The company describes its philosophy as eternal summer, and the idea runs through the menu and the room alike: bright interiors, detailed finishes and a kitchen that leans towards nutritious, healthy dining with a generous choice of salads and mains. What draws most people in, though, is the dessert counter, a large and carefully arranged display of cakes and pastries that has become the signature of every L'ETO. Coffee, speciality teas, home-made bakery, granola and jams are sold alongside, and whole cakes can be ordered online for collection.
Dessert cafe on Long Acre
As a dessert cafe on Long Acre, L'ETO fills a gap that few neighbours cover, serving cake and coffee late into the evening after the theatres empty. The same room handles breakfast and brunch in the morning, lunch for shoppers through the day and dinner at night, which makes it one of the more flexible stops on the street whatever the hour.
What to expect on a visit
Expect a polished, photogenic space with table service and a menu that runs from eggs and granola to full main courses. Delivery is available through the group's own ordering site. Covent Garden underground station is a short walk away. Further along the street, Capilungo offers Puglian pastries and an aperitivo bar, and the full list of cafes in Covent Garden is in the directory.
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Reviews
We came around an hour to closing, just to have some sweet treats after our dinner. It has a wild selection of cakes, and seemed to change depends on the season. We got a variety of cakes. - Saffron cake was very soft and milky. - Pistachio and rose petal was chosen for its look but it tasted amazing too. The cream in between is tangy and cutting the sweetness of the cake. - Speaking about tanginess, ricotta raspberry has the perfect balance of sweet and fruit sour. And it’s light. - Ferrero rocher cake has the look. And so rich of all different chocolate components. I think they are all great and I wished we had more belly to try even more. The cafe is big, plenty of chairs. The service is quick and efficient.
L’ETO is a must-stop that truly elevates the whole Covent Garden experience. It’s perfectly situated if you’ve been roaming around Trafalgar Square or Buckingham Palace and need a high-quality break. The food was fantastic, the pasta (with great vegan options!) was delicious, and the Chocolate Truffle Milkshake was incredibly rich and filling. You cannot leave without trying the cake; both the Vanilla and Saffron Tres Leches were standout favorites. What makes this location particularly good is the spacious seating; they can easily accommodate everything from a duo to larger groups of 4, 6, or even 10 people. A special thanks to our server, Farid, who was excellent and helped us navigate the menu to find the perfect pasta and milkshakes. Highly recommended!
This is the second L'ETO we go to and while the the look and feel is basically the same, I think I possibly preferred this one even more than the other one because the tables felt more intimate being arranged on only 2 rows. Here too the display of cakes was stunning. I am delighted with the choice we made where our marshmallow was roasted to perfection and covered in pearls of chocolate that frizzed in the mouth, creating a weird and super funny effect. All of these positive things said, I have found prices to be excessively high.