What to wear out to dinner without looking in costume
From the local pub to a tasting menu, here is how to dress for eating out so you look like you made an effort without looking like you’re off to a wedding.
Reviewed, edited and approved by Editor-in-chief Daniel Sköld · Updated 25 October 2026
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Few things ruin a good dinner faster than walking in and realising you’ve got it wrong. Either you’re the only man in a tie in a room full of rolled-up sleeves, or you’re in a fleece while the next table is in tailoring. Neither one kills you. Both make you feel daft for the first half hour, and that half hour should be spent on the bread and the wine list.
The good news is that UK restaurants have mostly given up on strict dress codes. The bad news is that “smart casual” now covers almost anything. Here is how to get it right without trying too hard, from the pub to the posh places.
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What does smart casual actually mean in a restaurant?
In practice it means you look like you chose your clothes on purpose. That’s it. Nobody at the door is checking your collar. But the staff, the other diners and whoever you’re eating with will notice the gap between a bit of thought and none at all.
For most men over 45 the answer comes down to a handful of pieces that do nearly all the work. A navy or dark grey jacket, preferably soft and unstructured rather than half a business suit. A shirt with a proper collar, or a good fine-knit polo or merino jumper. Dark chinos or dark, unfaded jeans with no rips. Leather shoes, suede boots or plain, clean leather trainers.
Wear those and you’ll fit into about nine out of ten restaurants in the country. Take off the jacket and you’re dressed for the pub. Add a tie and you’re ready for the remaining few.
What doesn’t make it: gym kit, football shirts, shorts in the evening, and anything with a slogan you’d have to explain to the waiter.
Do I still need a jacket and tie anywhere?
Yes, though it’s a short list now. A few grand London institutions hold the line. The Ritz, for example, asks gentlemen to wear a jacket and tie for afternoon tea in the Palm Court and in its restaurant, and doesn’t allow jeans or sportswear. Some old private members’ clubs, certain racecourse enclosures and the odd traditional hotel dining room do something similar.
The rule is simple: if a place has a formal dress code, it’ll tell you. Look on its website, read the booking confirmation, or just ring and ask. It takes thirty seconds, and the person on the phone would much rather answer the question than turn you away at the door.
If you’re booking a special occasion somewhere you don’t know, keep a tie in your jacket pocket. You probably won’t need it. If you do, you’ll feel very smug.
Should you dress up for a Michelin-starred restaurant?
Less than you might think. Plenty of starred and highly rated restaurants now have bare tables, open kitchens and staff in aprons and trainers. A suit and tie in a room like that can look as out of place as jeans at the Ritz.
The trick is to dress for the restaurant, not for how much the bill will be. A tasting menu in a converted barn in the countryside wants a good jumper and decent boots. A white-tablecloth dining room in a city hotel wants the jacket. A buzzy small-plates place wants a clean shirt and not much else.
The quickest research is the restaurant’s own photos, ideally ones of diners rather than food. If the people in them look relaxed, follow suit. If they look like they’ve come from the opera, so should you, more or less.
Dress for the room you’re walking into, not for the occasion you’ve built up in your head.
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The pub, the bistro and the barbecue
A good pub is the most forgiving dining room in Britain, and long may it stay that way. Even so, a gastropub on a Saturday night isn’t the same as the public bar on a Tuesday. Swap the hoodie for a jumper or overshirt and you’re there.
Bistros and neighbourhood restaurants are where most of us eat most of the time, and where the jacket-optional uniform earns its keep. In summer a linen or cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled once (not up to the shoulder) does the job of a jacket.
Eating at someone else’s house or going to a barbecue is the trickiest of the lot, because it’s personal. Go one notch smarter than you think you need. Turning up looking like you made an effort is a compliment to the cook. Turning up in the shorts you mowed the lawn in is not.
For wine tastings, a practical tip: wear dark colours. Red wine and a pale blue shirt don’t get on. And leave off the aftershave, because it gets in the way of what’s in the glass for you and everyone near you. Tastings are also a good excuse to use the spittoon. It’s what the professionals do, and it helps keep you within the UK Chief Medical Officers’ guideline of no more than 14 units a week, spread over several days.
How to avoid looking like you’re in fancy dress
Looking “dressed up” in the bad sense usually comes from one of three things. Clothes that don’t fit, clothes that are trying too hard, or an outfit that’s dated to a particular year.
Fit matters more than price. A jacket from the high street, taken in a little by a local alterations shop, will look better than an expensive one that hangs off you. Trousers should sit on your shoe without bunching up. If your shirts are tight across the middle, go up a size. Nobody looks relaxed in a shirt that’s fighting its buttons.
Hold back on the extras. One interesting thing per outfit is plenty: a good watch, decent shoes or a bit of colour in a knit. Pocket square, tie bar, statement socks and patterned blazer all at once and you’ve gone from smart to dressing up.
Finally, be honest about the old favourites. The going-out shirt that’s done twenty years of anniversaries has earned its retirement. Replacing two or three key pieces will freshen you up more than a whole new wardrobe would.
In short
For almost every restaurant in the UK, a soft navy jacket, a collared shirt or fine knit, dark chinos or jeans and decent leather shoes will see you right. Take the jacket off for the pub, and add a tie only where the venue asks for one, which it’ll make clear on its website or when you ring. Dress for the room rather than the size of the bill, make sure things fit, and stick to one statement piece at most.
Angus Irvine writes about food and drink for men 45 and over who like to eat well but don't want a performance. Recipes that work on a weeknight, dinners worth the effort at the weekend, what to pour with them – wine, beer and the good alternatives – and the restaurants and pubs worth the trip. Without the fuss.
One of Midcent's writers. Spotted something? Write to angus@midcent.uk.
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