Is Santa Maria del Sur Still Open? Best Local Restaurant Update

Part 1 — Season 1, Episode 7 Aired December 15, 2009

Santa Maria del Sur, an Argentine steakhouse at 129 Queenstown Road in Battersea, scored 86 out of 100 against 75 for Discovery Bay of Huddersfield in the heat shown on 2009-12-15 in the episode "American Restaurants" of Britain's Best Local Restaurant on Gordon Ramsay's The F Word (Channel 4), according to Wikipedia, which also lists it in the first semi-final on 2010-01-05. The OpenTable listing says it was founded in 2006 and specialises in Argentine steaks, and Time Out, on a page dated 2013-09-25, reviewed it as a steakhouse focused on steak. The Infatuation, in a review dated 2025-09-22, recommended its empanadas and a garlic-and-parsley marinated rib-eye large enough for two. Harden's lists it as an independent Argentinian steakhouse with weekday lunch and dinner service and a 2026 survey-results option, and the restaurant's own website lists lunch and dinner hours on weekdays and all-day service at weekends.

Part 2 — Season 1, Episode 10 Aired January 5, 2010

On 2010-01-05, in the episode "The Dish of Their Lives", Santa Maria del Sur appeared in the first semi-final of Britain's Best Local Restaurant on Gordon Ramsay's The F Word (Channel 4), alongside Lasan of Birmingham and Sweet Mandarin of Manchester, according to Wikipedia's series table. The table says the semi-finalists had served signature dishes to panels of diners at their own restaurants and then cooked in a cook-off at Ramsay's Royal Hospital Road restaurant in Chelsea; it gives no scores or dishes for the semi-finals. Santa Maria del Sur had reached this stage by scoring 86 against 75 for Discovery Bay in the heat shown on 2009-12-15. The Infatuation, in a review dated 2025-09-22, described a casual Argentinian steakhouse in Battersea with exposed brick and recommended its empanadas, a large rib-eye and side vegetables such as creamed spinach.