Planning a birthday, an anniversary or just an excuse to get everyone around one table without shouting over a restaurant? A private dining room is the move, and London has quietly built one of the best selections in Europe. A new round-up highlights 17 of the prettiest, spanning Soho glamour to East End warehouses — here are the standouts.
For pure atmosphere, it's hard to beat the basement at Dove in Notting Hill, the buzzy bistro from Jackson Boxer that opened in January 2025. Below street level, the tented, candlelit den seats 12, with a three-course shared menu from £60 per head. The centrepiece is the famous burger course, passed around the table for everyone to divide.
If you want spectacle with your martinis, One Club Row in Shoreditch has turned a former apartment — once known for raucous house parties under its previous owners — into The Apartment, seating up to 50. Expect steak tartare with beef dripping bread and plenty of Manhattans, with the restored Victorian Knave of Clubs pub downstairs.
Mayfair's Mount Street Restaurant is the choice for drama: an Italian Room in green marble with De Chirico artworks, a Swiss Room in hand-crafted oak for 14, and The Scottish Room, a Highlands-inspired space for up to 28 that tops many a London wishlist.
There's plenty of variety beyond the showstoppers. Ambassadors Clubhouse on Piccadilly, one of 2024's hottest openings, offers the candlelit Raja Rani Room for 12 and a Verandah space for 40 seated or 60 standing (private rooms from a £400 minimum spend). Bob Bob Ricard's Soho room fits 20 and serves the full à la carte — no watered-down set menu — complete with those famous Press for Champagne buttons. Quo Vadis in Soho, once home to Karl Marx, hosts 24 in its green Marx Room.
For daytime celebrations, The Italian Greyhound in Marylebone is light and bright, seating 40 with its own bar and terrace and a menu of pasta, chicken Milanese and melanzane parmigiana. Skye Gyngell's Spring at Somerset House offers waste-conscious seasonal food in a chic room for 36, or standing canapé events from £12 per person.
Other picks worth knowing: The Aubrey at the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge for izakaya dining amid hundreds of artworks; Michelin-starred Luca in Clerkenwell for a floral room seating 6–20; Akara in Borough for West African cooking in a 14-cover upstairs space; and Impala on Dean Street, where chef Meedu Saad grills North African and Cypriot-inspired menus for 8–14. For something more traditional, The George, an 18th-century Fitzrovia pub, does fish and chips and sticky toffee pudding for up to 20, while Belvedere in Holland Park serves Sardinian flavours with views over the park itself.
Whatever your budget or group size — from six friends to 60 guests on a summer terrace — there's a room here to match, and the best ones book up fast for weekends and festive dates.
