Jak’s Mayfair — Restaurant in London

Best 100-person reasonably priced party venue in London

The title is a bold claim, but we are no strangers to events management and researched this particular one extensively.

Requirement – We were looking for a London venue for a personal party to celebrate the launch of our daughter’s newly published book. We wanted a venue with the following requirements which Jaks offered at a superb level: • Ability to serve wine, beer and soft drinks: Jak’s had a lovely bar. • Ability to serve vegan food: Jak’s was willing to prepare a special custom vegan menu for us (which was delicious). • Plenty of comfortable seating: Comfy, stylish seating throughout. • (ideally) A/V capability: A real strong point – DJ setup, sound system with microphone, conventional AV screen as well as a special long screen on which they play dynamic background video. • Manageable Cost: As a personal event, we didn’t have a giant budget like a company affair might have and the total cost was very reasonable

Preparation • Personalisation: They offered an extensive range of special vegan dishes at very reasonable prices which we narrowed in on after several iterations (even though the vegan dishes weren't on their regular menu) • Communication: With lots of logistics to be sorted out, there was quite a bit of emails back and forth to sort out the plans and Jaks was always clear and prompt in them. • Attitude: Throughout the planning process and the night of the event, everyone at Jak’s were always friendly, supportive, helpful. . Execution • Dedicated Event Manager – The manager attended to our every need no matter how little and solved every issue that came up.

Learnings • Food estimation – We had trouble estimating the optimal number of servings since many of the dishes were being made bespoke for us (since we wanted all vegan). The casserole, pasta and salad was extremely reasonably priced and we should have just ordered more out the outset. • Vegan pizza – Jaks offered vegan pizza but (a) the description seemed small, and (b) we haven’t had any vegan pizzas that we really liked (vegan cheese is hard to get good), but when we needed some extra food on the night, Jak’s produced some and they were bigger than described and they were delicious. • Decoration misunderstanding – It turns out that our event was scheduled for the Monday several days before Halloween so they had decorated the venue with scary decorations which definitely was not the vibe for the book launch, but Jak’s removed them on very short notice when we alerted them...

I'm writing this review because I still can't believe this could happen.

I came with my husband and a friend for dinner. Initially we were given a table inside as there were no empty seats outside. Then the workers came up to us and said that a place had been vacated outside and we moved there ( of course we were happy as the weather was good).

We were given 2 single tables standing together. We ordered food, drank wine and talked. My husband was brought a steak that looks like it was just fried in a pan (he was not happy). My tuna steak was not that bad. But let's not talk about food...

When we finished our meal, we were still sitting and having our drinks. A waiter came up to us and said if we wouldn’t mind if one table will be taken from us for a client who had just come. Initially, I was shocked and said, ok. But then we decided to talk to the manager as we were terribly offended. How can you take a table from customers who have not finished their dinner yet? Yes, we finished our meal, but we were still having drinks and wanted to order dessert.

When we asked to call the manager the shock for us was that the worker who took the table from us was the manager. We said it was unacceptable to take a table from customers who haven't finished yet. He told us that we finished our food and there is no problem if he moves one table from us as we have two tables and one table can very easily fit 3 people. Yes, I agree, maybe it can, but initially, we were given two tables. I tried to explain how I felt when I was left sitting on a chair without a table. He didn't even help me move my chair. Honestly, this is the first time I've been so humiliated. But it didn't end there. The manager was very rude, when I politely tried to explain my position, he interrupted me and tried to prove to us that he was right and that there was nothing wrong with him taking the table. He tried to show us that 4 people can sit at one table and was moving our table that still had our drinks on it. Unbelievable!!!!

That's not all ... after such an unacceptable attitude, we asked for the bill and asked to split it. Our friend paid with a card and my husband paid for us with cash. The service charge was included in the bill but to be honest, there is nothing to pay for as the service was terrible ( but we paid it). When we left this place we noticed that we had been overcharged £5. We didn't want to go back as we were already far away from the restaurant and our...

On a busy evening myself and a friend sat outside the cafe hoping for a tea. A bumbling Jak comes out and insists we enter. Bemused by this behaviour, we do so, and Jak pulls me in by the arm with a firm grip and places us at a table near the entrance, bartering incomprehensibly about the weather. After looking at the menu we decide it is out of our interest, however Jak forces a few cakes infront of us, bellowing 'taste, taste' with his strong italian accent. We try and turn him down but the man has no regard and continues with his unorthodox tactics, he cuts some tiramizu (quite good I may add) and forces it infront of me saying 'eat eat'. I ask him for a price and he waves me away insisting I eat. Feeling obliged by his forcefull behaviour I do. We then get up, I gesture to Jak I wish to leave. He advances and declares '£8'. Outrageous, I refuse to pay and offer him '£5' in good spirits as the cake was good, considering he forced it on me and refused to tell me a price before hand. Jak angers but accepts, and goats us on our lack of spending and entitlement due to our origin.

Conclusion, excellent food, but do not go here if you do not wish to be disturbed as Jak is a forcefull man who takes the answer 'No' very badly. It was a rather unpleasent experience, one thought the dinosaurs...