Group dining in London: that extra special Japanese dinner the group chat deserves
Every group chat has one: the group dinner that takes four weeks to organise and one person to actually book. The dates go unanswered. Someone is “easy” until the dietary requirements arrive. A restaurant link is shared into the void. By week two, you are no longer planning a group dinner — you are chairing a small diplomatic summit with a seating plan.
Here is the shortcut. One address in Marylebone: a former bank built for lingering, a Japanese menu designed to be shared, and a cocktail bar in the vault downstairs for when dinner turns into a night. Group dining in London, resolved.
Aki sits at 1 Cavendish Square, minutes from Oxford Circus and Bond Street, inside a Grade II-listed former banking hall with enough ceiling height and table space for a group to breathe. It is the answer to the group dinner the chat has been circling for months: the one actually worth leaving the house for.
Group dining · Marylebone
Group dining in London, minus the function room
Aki is a Japanese restaurant in Marylebone that seats groups in its main dining room. Not an annexe, not a basement, but the room everyone else came for. Sharing-style menus, a serious kitchen and a cocktail bar below make it one of the few restaurants in London where nobody at the table has to compromise.
- Group size: Up to 8 guests can be booked online; for groups of 9 or more, contact the team directly on +44 7402 847957
- The room: A Grade II-listed former banking hall with generous table spacing
- The food: Sharing-friendly Japanese menus: sushi, sashimi, robata and wagyu, plus the nine-course Signature Menu at £95 per person
- The drinks: Wine pairings from £40 per person; cocktails and Japanese spirits at Kiyori, the bar below
- Daytime groups: Business lunch, three courses for £36.50, Monday to Friday
- Where: 1 Cavendish Square, Marylebone, London W1G 0LA, between Oxford Circus and Bond Street
The problem with group dining in London
London offers two default answers to the group dinner, and both come with a catch. The first is the private room: a beige annexe behind a curtain, a minimum spend that has the organiser doing quiet maths, and the creeping sense that you have paid extra to be hidden from the restaurant you actually wanted to eat in. The second is the big party restaurant. All energy, no intimacy, with a table that turns every ninety minutes and food that arrives with the enthusiasm of a boarding announcement.
The third option is rarer and better: a restaurant for groups that simply seats them well. A room grand enough for the occasion, a menu built to be passed across the table, and service that treats ten guests like guests rather than a logistics problem. That is the version of the group dinner Aki was built for.
Group dining in the main room, not the annexe
The space
A room you will want in the picture
High ceilings, hand-painted walls and contemporary Japanese art inside a former bank. The setting earns its place in the photographs, and you will not need to apologise for it.
The sound
You can hear the whole table
A dining room with proper acoustics, where conversation carries across the table rather than dying between the centrepiece and the party next door.
The spacing
Your conversation stays yours
Tables are set with air around them. Big enough for sharing platters, far enough apart that your group never becomes part of someone else’s evening.
The punchline
The room you came for
The quiet truth about private dining rooms is that they hide you from the restaurant. At Aki, your group sits in the main event. That was the point of coming.
The art of the unhurried group dinner
A good group dinner should never run to a timetable, but a few quiet choices make the difference between an evening that flows and one that gets managed.
Start with the cocktail menu, not the food menu. A round of Saketinis or yuzu-led serves gives latecomers time to arrive and the table time to settle. Nobody orders well under arrival stress.
Let the food come shared. Sharing plates keep one conversation going across the whole table rather than splitting it into the two at either end. They also mean nobody’s main arrives while they are still negotiating theirs.
Don’t plan the move. The great group-dinner killer is the 10pm relocation: coats, taxis, the four people you lose at the bus stop. At Aki, the second act is a staircase. Kiyori, the cocktail bar in the former bank vault below, pours Japanese spirits and signature cocktails, with resident DJs on Saturday nights carrying the evening from dinner into something looser.
Leave one thing unordered. The best tables keep a little room for impulse: a bottle from the cellar, a dessert for the middle of the table, one more round downstairs. The plan gets you to the restaurant. The evening should take it from there.
Group dining menus built for sharing
The group dinner has a natural enemy: the moment every menu opens at once and the negotiation begins. Aki removes it. The kitchen’s food is designed to be shared. Omakase sashimi and nigiri platters land in the middle of the table, robata dishes arrive with the smoke of binchotan charcoal still on them, and wagyu gets talked about on the train home.
A table of opinions, one menu, zero negotiations.
For the table that wants every decision made, the Signature Menu runs nine courses, sequenced by the kitchen, from sashimi and nigiri through black cod from the robata to wagyu and a Hokkaido millefeuille finish, at £95 per person, with wine pairings from £40 for those who would like the sommelier to take over too. And for the one person who “doesn’t eat raw fish”, because every group has one, the robata grill, tempura, wagyu and vegetable dishes mean they eat as well as everyone else.
The social route
Sharing plates, ordered loosely
Sashimi and sushi platters, robata dishes, small plates and wagyu for the table. Order gradually, share everything, and let the evening set its own pace. For smaller tables, this is also the natural route to an intimate dinner in Marylebone.
The no-decision option
The Signature Menu
£95
per person, nine courses, every evening
Omakase sashimi and nigiri, black cod from the robata, wagyu and dessert, sequenced by the kitchen. Optional wine pairings from £40 per person. For a full tasting, see our wine by the glass selection.
Daytime groups
The business lunch
£36.50
three courses, Monday to Friday, 12pm to 3pm
A complete three-course Japanese lunch built for the middle of the working day, for teams, clients and group lunches that still need the afternoon.
“The atmosphere is fantastic: a beautiful, well-thought-out interior with a stylish, upscale feel. It’s clear that a lot of care and taste went into the design.”
Anastasia, Google review, January 2026
Group dining at Aki
The table that ends the group chat.
Sharing menus, the main dining room, and Kiyori below. One address, the whole evening.
For every occasion in Marylebone
The farewell
A leaving dinner that lands
Someone is going: the company, the city, the country. The farewell dinner has to be the good one, because there is no next one to fix it at. Friends flying in for one evening to represent London sit at the same table — the restaurant becomes the review of the city. A room with presence, food worth remembering, and a bar below for the speeches nobody planned.
The family summit
Generations, one table
Parents in town, siblings in tow, an age range spanning half a century. Impressive enough to mark the occasion, relaxed enough that nobody performs, with a menu where everyone from the sashimi loyalist to the robata traditionalist eats well.
The details that make the organiser’s life easy
The practical part
Everything the group chat needs to know
- Booking: Tables for up to 8 guests can be booked online in under a minute. For groups of 9 or more, call +44 7402 847957 or send an enquiry: one message, and the table, menu and pacing are arranged for you
- Dietary requirements: Flag them when you book and the kitchen will plan around the table, not around the exception. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options are available
- Getting there: Oxford Circus and Bond Street are minutes on foot, so nobody can claim it was far
- After dinner: Kiyori, the cocktail bar downstairs, carries the night without a relocation plan
- Peak weeks: December and summer weekends fill early. The earlier the booking, the better the table
Larger group? Explore private dining at Aki
If your party is larger, or the occasion calls for the room to be entirely yours, with speeches, screenings or a full buyout, that is a different door. Explore private dining in central London at Aki, including The Atrium, our private floor with its own terrace and bar.
Book your group dinner in Marylebone
Every group chat has one: the dinner discussed for months, postponed twice, nearly downgraded to “just drinks”. Book the table. Take the credit. The thread will forgive you for being right.
Aki is a contemporary Japanese restaurant at 1 Cavendish Square, Marylebone, London W1G 0LA, minutes from Oxford Circus and Bond Street. Group dining is available in the main dining room: tables for up to 8 guests can be booked online, and groups of 9 or more can be arranged by calling +44 7402 847957. The Signature Menu is £95 per person; the business lunch is £36.50 for three courses, Monday to Friday. Kiyori, the cocktail bar in the former bank vault, hosts resident DJs on Saturday nights.
Group dinner, sorted
One address. The whole evening. Nobody compromises.
Japanese sharing menus in a former Marylebone banking hall, with cocktails at Kiyori after. Up to 8 guests online; larger groups by phone or enquiry.
Frequently asked questions about group dining at Aki
Everything to know about group dinners at Aki in Marylebone.
Can I book a group table at Aki online?
Yes. Tables for up to 8 guests can be booked online. For groups of 9 or more, call +44 7402 847957 or enquire online, and the team will arrange the table, menu and pacing with you.
Is there a maximum group size in the main dining room?
Larger groups are arranged directly with our team, who will advise on the best table configuration for your party. For full-room hire and private events, our private dining spaces are the better fit.
Do groups have to order a set menu?
No, though sharing menus are strongly recommended. They keep the evening moving and let the whole table eat together. Our team will advise on the best format when you book.
What makes Aki good for a group dinner in London?
Groups sit in the main dining room of a Grade II-listed former banking hall rather than a private annexe, with sharing-style Japanese food, generous table spacing and a cocktail bar downstairs for afterwards.
Can Aki handle dietary requirements for a group?
Yes. Let us know when booking and the kitchen will plan around the table, not around the exception. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options are available.
Is there somewhere for drinks after dinner?
Yes. Kiyori, Aki’s cocktail bar in the former bank vault, serves signature cocktails and Japanese spirits below the restaurant, with resident DJs on Saturday nights.
Can we book Aki for a group lunch?
Yes. The business lunch offers three courses for £36.50 per person, Monday to Friday from 12pm to 3pm: a sharp option for daytime groups, team lunches and client tables.
Where is Aki, and which stations are closest?
Aki is at 1 Cavendish Square, Marylebone, London W1G 0LA. Oxford Circus and Bond Street are the closest stations, both a short walk away.
How far in advance should we book a group table?
For groups of 9 or more, we recommend contacting the team at least two to three weeks ahead, and earlier for December and summer weekends. Smaller groups can often find tables online at shorter notice.
Is there live music?
Resident DJs play every Saturday evening across Aki and Kiyori, carrying the night from dinner into the later hours.
