Jak’s

There was both good and bad about my experience here on Friday night — I would ideally give it 3.5 stars, because my feeling towards it is that it’s an OK place, but there are a few rough edges that need smoothing out.
Aside from the strange juxtaposition of pricey Chelsea-​style drinks menus and really exceedingly good value food (the portion was absolutely huge and only £13 for the whole plate — I was one of the greedy few who managed to finish, but most in my party didn’t!), this is rather an oddball of a place. The music is blaring (too loud for conversation), the bar and club are dark and sultry, and yet the dining room is lined with a school-​style cafeteria (though with much more grown-​up food), and large rustic home-​style tables.
The food I had was really tasty: I had a stuffed mushroom, grilled vegetables and a mozzarella/​tomato/​basil salad, and it was all done really well — especially given that food that simple can sometimes be a little bland, so hats off! I did hear reports that the burger was really rather disappointing, but didn’t try this myself so I can’t vouch for it. However, the lime and soda I ordered from the bar was so sour, I may as well just have sucked a lime (I like tart flavours, but this was akin to PLJ), and the attitude of one of the servers at the ‘cafeteria’ was not dissimilar… Having waited nearly ten minutes to get to the front to pick our food, because we didn’t bustle and push and look arrogant, he assumed we’d pushed in, and tried to send us to the back. When we told him that we had in fact waited, no apology was offered, and I’ve never seen someone put salad quite so brusquely on a plate…
Quirky place, and the food is a definite yes. Otherwise, it’s a bit of a strange environment, and while it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, I imagine there is plenty a good evening to be had here, and some people will probably fall in love with the place.

Delicious healthy family style dinner before the Chelsea v Fiorentina game. In a very cool atmosphere that you would not expect. And top it off, monty python’s holy grail is playing over men’s room speakers. Definitely a re-​do.

The only redeeming factor for this place is the décor.
Pretentious crowd: there only to be seen.
Mediocre food: big portions of bland, predictable, everyday food.
Terrible service: choosing your food by pointing at it and bringing it yourself to the table balancing a tray, it’s not fun or trendy, it’s just what you do in a canteen.
And the adjacent «club»…claustrophobically crowded of people who don’t dance but just stand there, packed, holding their glass to the sound of commercial tunes popular a few years ago.

The good:
Good atmosphere and vibe. Large space, good for groups– definitely make reservations if you plan to eat after 6 on a weekend Live music in one area and other (dance) music for the rest of the stuff which yes makes it about loud, what you’d expect. You can still have a conversation easily on the «dining side.» Bar side seemed moderately crowded for early Saturday night. Not terribly expensive for food. As I’ve always found in England, the liquor is overpriced for what you get, better to order wine etc. The sides are mainly veg or potato– both were good (but room temperature).
The bad:
The bathroom– the women’s room was gross by a restaurant standards and average for a club/​bar scene. My boyfriend tells me the men’s room had an attendant though.
The menu: the descriptions of the food were practically nonexistent and the waiter described the pasta zefi as «I’m not sure what’s in it but people seem to like it because they always finish it» It was the best thing we ordered– simply penne with a tomato cream sauce. On top of that because you’re ordering buffet style, the staff quickly rushes you through to pick and you can’t get a good look at it. We tried to stand off to the side to observe but were told to move and stand in line– which I would understand but how else can you know what exactly you’re getting with that menu?
The food. I’m sure other dishes might have been adequate, I had the chicken pie which was lukewarm at best and very bland. Desserts were cheesecake which was decent and the brownie/​cake/​chocolate thing which was good… but the sauce had a weird watered down texture.
TLDR: Overall the place seemed to be filled with young 30’s. Most women were dressed to go to clubs. Good atmosphere. Loud but not terrible in the dining area. Decent food served cold. Decent service. Live music and DJ, they were also playing a music with CC in the bar area.

Absolutely love this place! You can dance and have dinner and it’s huge! People in their 30’s and very good atmosphere. Don’t give 5 stars because the drinks are expensive and not really good :(had a rum and wasn’t the best and for 10 £ should be good quality and they close around 12:30, should be open till 2pm at least because the music is the best!

Still love the food at Jaks — though the crowd has gotten a bit trashier on the weekends, which impacted the last experience.
Also was super loud (don’t get me wrong, loud is great, but when you have to scream into the ear of the person next to you, it’s a bit much).
Lots of people decked out in very cheap club gear my last time, who clearly don’t live in the area, and it was their chance to get wild in London (which led to a lot of spillage on strangers).
Highly recommend the food (and pricing! so cheap for SW London — huge portions and cheap cocktails and wine bottles!), just be forewarned if you come on a sat night, and don’t bring any clothing of value!

Very good cocktails, at a fair price. Not cheap, but fair. Great atmosphere. Full of various books along the wall, including kama sutra and paris guide books.

You don’t know what to expect as you have to wind through the furniture shop (entrance is on Lot Rd) and walk downstairs to the basement. Whoa! What a huge space! I went for a birthday do recently and we had the VIP section in the back. It’s great to have a space closed out but can see the rest of the place. At around 6, it was really empty. It starts to pick up a bit around 8 for dinner and gets super crowded around ⁹⁄₁₀ in the evening.
What’s great about going here in a large group is that you can easily grab something to eat at the restaurant or continue on with a liquid diet! I had a large plate of salad with 5 different items and it was tough choosing because I wanted everything! The hot selection looked great and I had a bit of the lamb shank and eggplant parmigiana (so good!)
Highly recommended for a group night out!

I went here for a big group dinner on a Saturday night and was thoroughly impressed. For anyone familiar with Public (club that was shut down a couple years ago), Jaks has taken over that space. When you go downstairs, there’s a very open feel. We were seated at a large table in the middle of the dining space, and even though the place was fairly packed, it wasn’t overly noisy.
The setup is a bit different at Jaks. You order at the counter where they have all the food on display. There were tons of options. From pizza to pork loin and salmon to tons of salads. I found the food very fresh if a bit basic. I had halibut, a quinoa salad, and tabouleh which was all great. The drinks were also very good, although the service for the drinks seemed a bit slow and disorganized.
In addition to the dining area, there is a bar/​club area which was a lot of fun. The bar got pretty busy by 10/​11pm. The music is fairly old school which I found enjoyable. We didn’t stay at the bar too late since we had other plans, but I’d absolutely go back.
Would definitely recommend this spot for dinner or a bar or both!