The Best Private Dining Rooms in Sydney

Updated 1 month ago

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Private dining rooms combine the best of both worlds: the food and service of a restaurant, and the privacy and relaxed atmosphere of your own home. You'll pay handsomely for it, but for a birthday or other celebration to remember, these spots can't be beaten. The best bit? No one has to do the dishes.

  • Breath-snatching views and modern Italian plates are the calling cards at Maurice Terzini’s Bondi institution. But getting them to yourself is a tall order – unless you spring for the Pacific Dining Room, which combines a private bar (and entry) with an unfettered vantage point to Bondi’s north end.

  • The team behind Ragazzi have taken cues from their favourite Roman trattorias and New York's Gramercy Tavern to create their dream Italian joint – with a walk-in bar area and a beautiful art-filled dining room spanning 120 seats. Slide into a velvet-and-leather booth for a plate for lovingly made pastas, and a choice of 600 wines from Italy and beyond.

  • In the old Golden Century site, this 400-seat Cantonese diner is ushering in a new era for Chinatown. The seafood tanks are full, the yum cha trolleys are back in action and late-night dining runs until 3am.

  • The Swillhouse Group’s nostalgic CBD stunner caters for small functions across two petite spaces. But if your crew is bigger than 10, do those Martinis and XO escargots in the beautifully restored theatre hidden beyond the Beatrix dining room.

  • At the newly refurbished Bondi Pavilion, Promenade’s 12-seat space (the Grotto) offers beach views through those iconic pavilion archways. There’s also a semi-private option (the Dunes) which sits adjacent to the main restaurant and seats groups of up to 20.

  • The standard-setter for fine dining in Sydney, Peter Gilmore’s harbour-hugging institution has a cosy, carpeted, 10-seat room with a colour palette inspired by the Australian bush. You’ll have those peerless Opera House views and incredible dishes all to yourselves.

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  • For a view on par with Quay’s, consider the terrace at Cafe Sydney. It’s good for 16 seated guests or 30 standing. But if your group is 60-strong, the venue can extend the space for standup celebrations. It doesn’t get more “Sydney” than this.

  • Bennelong’s 10-seater is semi-private, which means you still get to soak up the atmosphere of the dining room proper. But you’ll also have your own personal waitstaff to guide you through Rob Cockerill’s exacting menu.

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  • Whether you’re in a group of 10 or 60, this Cantonese superstar has you covered. Choose between three private spaces – then settle in for Canto-style roasted meats, live seafood and outstanding wines from the tome-like list. (There’s also a daily yum cha service from midday.)

  • Nobu Matsuhisa’s Sydney outpost has not one, but three private dining spaces. Its aqua-hued eight-seater, Karada, is where you want to down those salmon sashimi tacos and Matsuhisa’s famous black cod miso.

  • The Norfolk Room is the Gidley’s opulent dining space out back, fitting up to 20 people for a good-sized soirée. On top of a tailor-made menu starring the restaurant’s Riverine steaks grilled to perfection, you’ll have your own private bar stocked with any vintage you desire.

  • All of Sake’s Sydney locations (which also includes The Rocks and Double Bay) offer private dining options. But Manly gets points for its wharfside location. The elegant rooms here are perfect for groups as small as six, with flexibility to increase the real estate for more guests.

  • Will it be the Wine Room or the Library? Harbour View Room or Dining Room? You're spoiled for choice at Alessandro Pavoni’s stunning Italian eatery inside Crown Sydney. If you’re having trouble making a decision, you could always just book out the entire venue. No matter where you end up, the views are worth every cent.

  • As well as a ruby-red mezzanine and wharf-side terrace, this Italian classic boasts one of the most unique spaces on this list – a 100-year-old former wool lift big enough for 14 people.

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  • Three private rooms to enjoy your hand-made fregola in. Choose between the Pavilion (50), Garden Room (26) or Balcony Room (16), all of them featuring views of the surf that can’t be beaten on a cracking Sydney day.

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  • Eat like a modern-day viking inside Mjølner’s Feasting Room, which fits up to 36 people seated and comes with its own private bar stocked with every cocktail and dram imaginable. Pretty much the whole venue can be tailored for your power lunch or celebration dinner.

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  • You could host a small wedding at Brett Savage and Nick Hildebrandt’s CBD fine diner. The private space is flexible, and can seat anywhere between 18 to 64 people. Plus, there’s also a semi-private area that’s big enough for 16 of your nearest and dearest.

  • Spin the lazy susan in one of five private spaces – catering from six to 35 people – at this CBD dumpling specialist. Plus, there are two banquet menus to choose from, stacked with classic Shanghainese and Cantonese flavours.

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  • The godfather of Italian dining in Sydney, Beppi offers up its incredible wine cellar for group bookings. There are also three smaller spaces (the Magnum Room, the Vintage Room and an alcove) for intimate groups. If you’re going large, the room near the entrance, Sala Intima, can fit up to 32 people.

  • You can hire any part of this contemporary Lebanese diner, from the 18-seat private room to the entire venue. But no matter where you sit, you’ll be tucking into vibrant Levantine dishes by Paul Farag, one of Sydney’s best chefs.

  • This exclusive 20-seat dining room whisks you away from the crowds on Babylon’s sprawling rooftop terrace. In step with the rest of the venue, it’s a lavish space – all the better to appreciate those modern Middle Eastern flavours and on-point cocktails.

  • Luxe cocktail bar Alice can accommodate groups of 12 at its beautiful, single walnut oak table – which is separated from the rest of the venue by drapes that drop dramatically from the ceiling. If you’re keen to splash out, there’s a caviar service and live lobster from the tank.

  • It’s hard to say what’s prettier – the private space at the garden end of Chiswick or the garden itself. Either way, 40 guests get to enjoy both, along with farm-to-table fare courtesy of Matt Moran.

  • Between 12 and 50 guests can dine on Spice Temple’s innovative Chinese cuisine in complete privacy at this Sydney institution. Sichuan flavours reign supreme, but the menu also takes in lesser-seen dishes from China's Yunnan, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces.

  • A sexy wine bar and restaurant from the team behind Nomad. Enter via the back lane, take a seat on a caramel leather banquette, and order some of the best gamay Beaujolais has to offer, with lobster thermidor on baked tomato-saffron rice to match.