DUKES Bar in Vitim

Skip it. The famous bar and its martini are overhyped. Only hotel guests can make bar reservations. It’s not worth the wait to get in if you don’t have them. The vibe is jostle. Interiors are claustrophobic. It’s not a luxury experience.

Also the hotel is a bit old but very well maintained and the staff is very helpful and amazing, location is superb so you can access to many areas just walking

My friend booked the restaurant not the bar. I arrived at the bar and was treated really poorly by staff. We went to the restaurant and were told only certain drinks available (only processcoCannot fault the lovely woman who attended on us at the restaurant (which was emptybut the policy seems strange and exclusive to the point of being classist. The policy of not allowing anyone by hotel guests to book is understanable but the way it was communicated was poorly and with the utmost disrespect from staff. The website should have been clearer. The true story here is the establishment generally have an interest in serving and treating the rich with respect the rest of us who may be looking for an expensive treat as a one off will be shunned.

Great martinis and welcoming staff. Drinks were not cheap (as expectedand while enjoyable it was probably not something we would do more than once

Tobias & the staff at Dukes London were absolutely amazing. Traveling from the USA to London they made every moment at this hotel convenient and enjoyable. They were incredibly knowledgeable and accommodating. They made my trip to London so amazing with great suggestions & directions I felt at ease.

Dukes has a proprietary type of bitters they make especially for this drink (the original James Bond Vesper Martinithat cant be found anywhere else in the world, according to the server.

Stunning Classy Martini Bar! Don’t forget your suit!

We stayed here a few weeks ago for two nights and my overall impression was that of a once fantastic hotel. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice in many ways but it’s not to the standard I expected.Good points: Traditional feel, clean, very good bath and shower, staff seemed friendly.Not so Good:1. some fixtures and fittings are dated,2. weird situation with the kettle and coffee maker in the wardrobe when there was a perfectly good desk to put it on.3. you have to ask for fresh milk to your room for your tea and coffee.4. We had to pay a refundable £50 pppn on arrival for sundries. It made us feel like we were not trusted to pay - we have stayed at lots of very good hotels and have never had to do this before.5. There is a strange, seemingly compulsory, service charge per night that we were not aware of on booking.6. We arrived back after a concert wanting drinks with two friends and were told the bar was shut. It was about 11.15pm !! So we walked to their hotel where we got fantastic service.7. Some of the repairs in the hotel are shoddy - notably some very dodgy sealant around the sink in the lobby toilets!!! But lots of other examples.We got this room at a very good price due to booking during covid, so I am taking what we paid into account. With this in mind I would call our experience acceptable.If I had paid full price I would have been very unhappy.I sort of felt like we were not good enough guests.I do not class this as a 5* Hotel.It would do better to refurb itself and go down the boutique rout. It would be lovely as a boutique hotel.

We just visited Dukes for the Traditional Afternoon Tea. And it was a treat. We really enjoyed the atmosphere and of course the tea, sandwiches and sweets. But most of all we savoured the scones which tasted absolutely exceptional.

Went here while on holiday for a martini. Absolutely delicious. afterwards we went into the cigar lounge/courtyard with a bottle of champagne. Service was excellent.

5 stars… out of 10 maybe? Half the staff was extremely rude, furniture was outdated, bed very uncomfortable, shower water pressure was so hard it hurt, but the worst was the AC unit in our room that made an extremely loud buzzing sound (whether on or offevery few minutes that kept us up all night. After mentioning this to the front desk, they did absolutely nothing to help us and even said this happens in every room at the hotel. In what world is that 5 star service? If you value sleep and your dignity - DON’T STAY HERE.

Disappointed with the bar. Checked the website dress code which just says “smart casual”. 35 degrees today so wore tailored khaki shorts and a collared button up shirt. Turned away as I walked up with just a “sorry, no shorts”.

Terrible service by a very dismissive waiter who served the worst dry martini Ive ever had in London, especially at £25 a pop. Such a disappointment!

Went as a guest to the bar. Great service and excellent martinis

Very smart hotel, went for cocktails. Delicious, service at table, impeccable.

Average /terrible service from Harpreet. Just very mediocre overall for the “luxury” picnic they promote. I would NEVER book with Dukes again.

Went for lunch, stayed for cocktails. I have to disagree strongly with those reviewers who said the staff were rude. They were all lovely to us. We were celebrating my birthday. The restaurant manager could not have been nicer, some of the staff are new, they were trying very hard, the cocktail bar staff were superb. Try this place and dont always believe reviews, sometimes there is no pleasing folks.

Incredibly rude and unhelpful service. Unable to provide accurate directions, call a taxi or let us know when our room was ready for check-in.

We had a great afternoon at the DUKES enjoying their traditional afternoon tea. They even had a whole vegan menu option for the afternoon tea. The scones were beautiful.And as a big surprise our babyboy got alittle DUKEYS doggy when we left. Lovely staff working there.

Elegant tiny bar. Martini was good. Somehow it could be too noisy.

The cocktail bar needs new leadership and a culture change; the staff have poor attitude to work and their guests and demonstrated poor communication and negative behaviours. The furniture is dated, worn and feels like they purchased from an elderly residential home. Fundamentally the place needs work and the application of some staff development.

Stayed here with my girlfriend after she left the Netflix show THTH we really enjoyed our stay everyone was super warm and friendly if the management invite us back I’d love to make a couple of good videos post on my social media soon.Best of luck

Always love this place. Pricey cocktails but worth a visit. Note the drinks are super strong and you are only allowed 2 :)

Just DO NOT miss it! THE best Martini’s in London. Period. Just amazing! One Vespa two Vespa … they generally draw the line at 3! Hemingway may have objected! But i’m just peachy with one! Thanks! Love you all. C U soon!!

Breathe taking!My boyfriend took me for an afternoon tea and he chose this place.We came in and I felt like I was in my dream world!The afternoon tea was expectional, especially our waiter Fabio!Im definitely coming back, as this is my new favourite place

I have never stayed at a hotel where they close the bar to residents at 11pm. Their only solution was to send us to the Stafford Hotel round the corner. Where they have Less expensive but better rooms and a bar that stays open for its guests!!! Duke’s is a pompous old hotel that treats it’s guests like peasants. DO NOT BOOK THIS HOTEL.

Best martini in London! Amazing service as well. However, because you cant book youll often end up waiting for a table in the evenings.

I bought an afternoon tea for my boyfriend to celebrate our engagement. We had one normal afternoon tea and one martini tea. It was very cosy in the drawing room and very tasty food. I would definitely recommend. Also the service was amazing, very kind and gave us some little cakes to celebrate our engagement.

Amazing little Oasis in St James place. Famous Gin Martini Cocktail bar 🍸The 4th floor Suite (Duke of Albanyis so peaceful and quiet. Service excellent. Christmas food menu amazing. Have a relaxing snack, meal or coffee in the conservatory...or full blow out in the restaurant. Wow!

Stopped here to rest my feet and enjoy a drink in the iconic bar. Terrific location very centrally located. I didnt know it was also a small hotel when I stopped for a drink, so I cant speak of the rooms however the feel of the entire establishment was outstanding.

Fantastic cocktails. Obviously order the Vesper. But the Espresso Martini was so good and not like any other Ive ever had. Worth the stop in London.

Every night at around 11:30pm a van comes to collect bottles and glass from this hotel and it disturbs the whole neighbourhood.We tried to communicate with Iain from the reception and asked them to reschedule the collections to a more reasonable time. Iain was nice and promised us that the collections were rescheduled to 5pm.A week later the van started arriving at 11:30pm again. I hope the hotel will start caring about the residents in the area and make noise within reasonable hours.

From the moment you arrive at Dukes to the moment you leave the treatment at this superb hotel is fantastic. The reception staff are warm and friendly and happy to help, the interior is modern yet tastefully elegant.We had a reservation at the famous cocktail bar amd what an experience it was, drinks carefully made with expert precision and explained in full by the expert mixologists, such a lost art in the modern world.On returning to our room in the afternoon I was greeted with a hand written card a slice of cake and a bottle of bubbly on ice to wish me a happy birthday, i dont even know how tbey knew it was my birthday, but what a lovely surprise. We will definately be visiting Dukes again, I couldnt praise the experience enough.

I have been to Dukes many times for a Martini and I have to say, the staff they employ in the bar are smarmy, arrogant, pretentious and downright unhelpful. I understand it is always busy so perhaps they feel they can behave that way and perhaps they can. However, I for one will be heading to Claridges, the American Bar or pretty much anywhere else in future.

I booked Dukes for an elegant afternoon tea for my sisters hen party.From start to finish, the service was impeccable; Dukes were able to cater for the dietary requirements of our group, of which there were many. The week of my booking I was contacted to ensure we had no further requests.On arrival, we were greeted with a warm welcome and shown to our private dining area.The food was delicious and the service was excellent - nothing was too much trouble for the servers and they kept our teas and coffees well topped up. Dietary requirements had been carefully adhered to, and as a vegan myself I was very impressed with the vegan offering.The building is beautiful, and my sister absolutely loved her day.I would certainly choose Dukes again in the future.

After so many wonderful martinis—so many wonderful evenings at Dukes Bar over the years—we finally took the plunge and booked a room for a night upstairs in Dukes Hotel. It’s gorgeous! Can’t recommend it highly enough. Like the bar, the hotel is a flawless gem. It is the epitome of classic London luxury. Great location, excellent service, outstanding eggs benedict at breakfast. Afternoon tea in the drawing room was superb.

sitting down to have one of the famous martini drinks, and being a very warm afternoon, i took my coat off. wearing brogue black shoes, plain grey smart jeans and designer black tshirt. other men too wearing t-shirts, however i was suddenly asked to cover my arms and to put my jacket on. the only difference...i had a single non offensive tattoo on my forearm about a scuba diving session i could have been seriously hurt in and came away unscathed. nothing on their website about this or tattoos, and the judgement from them plus embarrassment of sitting there like Id been told off ruined the entire time! i didnt speak up until checking out as i didnt want to ruin what was meant to be a birthday present to my fiancée. when i said what happened the staff at the front desk said it wasnt a policy and was unsure why that happened. the elitist attitude shown to me will stay with me. never going back and worry about what other judgments they make of their customers.

A friend of mine had an afternoon tea voucher for two. The booking was very easy and Denisa was very helpful. Upon arrival reception was kind and helpful. We got seated to quite small table, it become quite uncomfortable when the tea and food arrived.List if available teas were quite short. However the Sri Lankan tea I chose was quite flavourful.Food was unfortunately quite average. Sandwiches were good, but the scones were dry and super sugary. The cakes on the top tier were super sweet, actually had to put one of the back.The server (I didn’t catch her namewas frazzledeven though the venue didn’t seem to be busy. When finished, no one was around and waited by the till at least 10 minutes.This would have costed us £79 including service for the two of us. If I’d have to recommend, I’d say pay the double price at Fortnum & Mason. Both food quality atmosphere and service is on a different level.It’s a shame, we expected something better from a 5 star hotel.

Staff / service great, room great, bar great.Cooked breakfast, not good and cost £32. Bacon and mushroom were overly salty, scrambled eggs was very pale and crumbly. Not dissimilar from a Wetherspoons full English, luckily I wasn’t very hungry.

I went to the bar at this hotel on Monday night with a group of friends. We were celebrating a birthday occasion, and only went for drinks. The bar itself is really nice, very ornate and cool blue chairs. The whole place felt really nicely intimate, with a feeling of calm like being at home. The service was really excellent. The staff were very friendly and helpful and highly knowledgable about everything. We ordered 5 different cocktails and they took the time to explain the origin and history of each ingredient in each cocktail; all whilst making the drinks right in front of our table. We all really enjoyed this experience and it we all said how it was a nice start to the evening. The hotel itself is quite hidden away but just off St. James’s St, so the street outside is quite which I think is rare in such a central location. I would really recommend this place to anyone and I hope to visit again soon. Thank you!

Superb Martinis: we came here for a swift pre-dinner drinks and what a heart-warming welcome we always receive - it is such wonderful reception that already sets the ambience of the evening. We ordered the Vesper which is freshly prepared from the trolley by Enrico and Mr. Palazzi - the splendid repartee between these two lovely gentlemen always amuses me greatly :-). The biggest surprise however was when they both came with a birthday treat complete with candles and sang happy birthday - I simply did not expect this; it was such a beautiful and touching gesture that I truly appreciate - it certainly made the birthday special. Thank you very much Mr. Palazzi, Enrico, Maurizio and the entire Dukes Bar Team for making my birthday truly unforgettable. See you soon :)

Unfortunately we had a terrible experience with the hotel made worse by the management not responding to us in relation to our complaint, hence the google review. We stayed at the end of May. Our hotel room was old and dusty, and our breakfast was simply inedible with hollandaise sauce being replaced by mayonnaise! We ended up going to the amazing Wolseley for breakfast. The whole experience was not what you expect from such a hotel. We were so looking forward to our stay for so long but we would never go back. Our opinion would have been different if the management would have responded to our direct email but I guess nobody cares unless you complain publicly! Don’t stay there. There are many much much better hotels in London.

Perfect! Stayed to celebrate my husbands 50th birthday. Perfect location, very private but close to everything. Staff were all fantastic and made our stay so special. Cleanliness excellent.Would recommend.

The best part of this hotel was that it had a composed atmosphere with antique vibes and a history. The staff members were quite friendly as well. Also, another thing that stood out for me is the lovely experience at their bar. However, I still think they could improve on their menu and the overall food dishes. It was a good stay in here after all.

Beautiful old hotel with quite a history. Difficult to find as iit is so well hidden. Homely feel with small lounges that are interesting and comfortable. Pity about a rude doorman. It was pouring with rain and we were soaked. He acted as though we were a nuisance and offered no help with very wet clothes. We were half an hour early for a reserved tea and he said we would have to wait. We then discovered the lounge for afternoon tea was nearly empty. Here we were given a warm welcome by the waitress and immediately showed us to a table. Tea mediocre. I am gluten free which is always a problem. Sandwiches were excellent, scones heavy and hard. Despite everything we hope to return to such an interesting and charming place. Please thank the 2 waitresses in the lounge who were so attentive.

This was an awful experience and stay. A truly dreadful time, and it pained my to see the bill at the end after the way I was treated.I phoned the hotel days prior and spoke to a gentleman to ask if I had a package delivered if the hotel would accept it. He assured me this would be no problem, as they accept parcels everyday for guests.Upon check in I inquired if my package arrived, it had not. The next day I inquired again, it had not.I contacted the sender and was told the Dukes refused my package. I was very unhappy to say the least. When I spoke to the front desk I was blamed for the error, that I never informed them of a package.Once I showed phone records of calling them before my stay, they admitted it could have been handled different, but still have made no efforts to follow up with me, or fix the problem.Also, the bar, I went down to wait for my husband to get back from business meetings. They were so rude and asked me 3 times if I was in fact wanting to sit alone. When I repeated yes the 3 times, and explained that I was wanting a drink while waiting on my husband I was told I could wait in the lobby until he arrived.The only redeeming feature of the Dukes is the bed sheets. They are divine.This though, can not make up for the horrendous treatment I experienced there.

Very nice classic hotel with lots of London history. Superior service exhibited by all service staff and employees. Breakfast is high quality but somehow limited compared to other similar hotels in the area. There were some issues during my stay like non operating elevator and some plumbing issues.

Dukes is incredible. Im the heart of St James you cannot get a more British Hotel. Filled with history and of course a world renowned Martini bar you will fall in love with Dukes and the history. The staff are incredibly friendly and the event space is fairly big! The restaurant serves best of England food and looked incredible. I will be returning as quick as I can especially for the once a month jazz brunch on a Sunday!

Went for an afternoon tea with my friend. Lovely experience! Great food, awesome teas! They refill when the tea pot is empty as well:I enjoyed the three martini afternoon tea, my friend had a glass of champagne with hers. Spent around 4 hours there, cozy, great atmosphere.

Went for afternoon tea. Lovely looking hotel. Great value for money, no skimping on portions. Nice service. My biggest problem was that the table for four couldnt hold the afternoon tea for three. The finger sandwiches were amazing, scones fresh, light and still warm from the oven. Whilst the cakes were good, they were too sweet for my liking, as were the jam and lemon curd for the scones. Very cosy, relaxed and private with a modern, yet sympathetic to the building decor. Very happy overall.