Live Music Soho

Bocconcino Soho: an Italian restaurant with a resident DJ programme

Bocconcino Soho on Great Marlborough Street is one of the few Soho restaurants with a resident DJ programme that runs as a routine part of the week rather than as occasional events. Friday and Saturday evenings have a DJ playing through dinner service from the early evening. Saturday brunch (the bottomless brunch service from late morning) also runs with a resident DJ. Below the restaurant, Sotto Bar runs as a separate basement cocktail bar with its own DJ programme on the busier nights of the week.

For guests in Soho looking for a restaurant with proper live music or DJ programming, rather than a quiet sit-down dinner, Bocconcino Soho is one of the more consistent options. The DJ format is pitched at restaurant volume rather than club volume: it gives the room atmosphere and energy without making conversation at the table difficult.

When the DJs play

Friday and Saturday evenings

Friday and Saturday evenings have a resident DJ playing through dinner service. Sets typically start in the early evening and run through the late service, finishing as the kitchen closes. The music is pitched in the funk, soul, disco and house range rather than electronic dance music: it is dinner music with energy, not nightclub music. The DJ rotation changes through the year and Soho regulars tend to know which weekends bring which residents back.

Saturday brunch

Saturday brunch at Bocconcino Soho runs with a DJ from late morning into the afternoon, alongside bottomless prosecco and the Italian brunch menu. The brunch DJ is a different set in tone to the evening: lighter, more upbeat, set for a daytime crowd. The Saturday brunch is one of the busier services of the week and tends to be booked out in advance, particularly for birthdays and hen parties.

Sotto Bar: cocktails and DJs in the basement

Sotto Bar sits in the basement at the same Great Marlborough Street address. It is a separate venue with its own brand identity, its own drinks list and its own atmosphere. Sotto runs a DJ programme on the busier nights of the week, set at a slightly higher energy than the restaurant upstairs. The space is low-lit, cocktail-led, and pitched as a destination bar in its own right. Many guests use Sotto as a late-evening extension to a dinner upstairs, but the bar is also visited as a standalone destination for cocktails and music. Sotto can be hired privately for smaller events.

Soho’s live music scene and where Bocconcino fits

Soho is the live music heartland of central London, and the area has more dedicated live music venues than any other part of the city. Ronnie Scott’s on Frith Street is the best-known jazz club in the country. Pizza Express Jazz Club on Dean Street has been running its programme for decades. Ain’t Nothing But on Kingly Street is one of the few proper blues bars in central London. The 100 Club on Oxford Street remains a fixture on the indie and rock side. The list of Soho live music venues is long, and most music fans visiting central London for live music will already have one of these venues in mind.

Bocconcino Soho is not a dedicated live music venue. It is a restaurant with a DJ programme. The right reason to come to Bocconcino is for the Italian food, the wine list and the atmosphere; the DJ is the thing that makes the room feel alive on a Friday or Saturday rather than the headline event. For guests who want a Soho dinner with music as part of the evening, this is the format. For guests planning a night specifically around live music, the dedicated venues mentioned above are the right answer, and a dinner at Bocconcino before or after works well as part of the wider evening plan. The restaurant’s position on Great Marlborough Street puts it within a five-minute walk of most of Soho’s live music venues.

Pre-music dinner and post-music drinks at Bocconcino Soho

For guests heading to Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express Jazz Club, the 100 Club or any of the other Soho live music venues, Bocconcino Soho is a strong dinner option before the show. The kitchen runs a pre-theatre menu in the late afternoon and early evening for guests who need to be at a venue by 7:30pm or 8:00pm, and the standard à la carte runs through the evening for guests with a later show. After the music, Sotto Bar in the basement is open into the late evening for cocktails. See /pre-theatre-soho for the dedicated pre-show menu page.

Booking a table for live music nights at Bocconcino Soho

Friday and Saturday dinners at Bocconcino Soho with the DJ programme are some of the busier services of the week. Tables are best booked in advance, particularly for groups. Saturday brunch with the DJ is even busier and is best booked at least a week ahead, especially for larger group bookings. The booking page on this site shows availability across the week. For private dining and group bookings during the live music nights, contact the events team directly.

Suggested FAQ section