Went here last night (Saturday 15th Nov) as it was a birthday of a friends cousin.Now when the previous reviews have commentated on the bouncers, they were not kidding. There were five of us, and because one of us was being a bit loud on the way to the club they turned us away and asked us to go get food and come back in an hour. This was quite ridiculous as my friend was nowhere near drunk enough to be turned away. What made it worse was that we all left, and ten mins later I told the other three to go in and we'd meet them later - only the bouncers turned them away too!We came back after about half an hour because the bouncers said it was fine, only to face a ten minute grilling of what we had just eaten and where we had eaten it, one bouncer then let half of us in only to keep my other friend outside to stare at him for another two minutes and then finally let us in!It was quite stupid to be honest, I know bouncers have to face all sorts of trouble but that treatment was really taking the biscuit.Inside it wasn't too bad, nice range of music and bar staff were nice and drinks/cocktails were plenty to choose from even tho prices are not the cheapest.I would give it a 4* if it wasn't for the bouncer trouble, so 3*s

Me and my friends have been here a few times and always had a really good night either a friday or a saturday. Tried The End club next to it on one occassion but it was full of people blantantly on something which is not my thing but each to their own! much prefer AKA always end up chatting to some people everytime we go and its always come across friendly never had any agro such as people with attitude, and i have to say their cocktails are amazing!! They definately know their stuff i am addicted to their pornstar martini ( passionfruit martini with a double side shot of champagne!) tastes so good but always end up very drunk cos i always want more!! Its closing??? so i have heard end of January 09 which i dont know reason but its a big shame as its one of those places we can go and know we like it! Always busy and going by last saturday having queues going around a place and it busy inside must say that others agree with me in that its a good night out!!!

Been here loadsa times and it's got to be said that for the discerning drinker there aren't many places in central london that can beat Aka. Yes it can be a pain to get in and i suppose the toilets are a wee bit crappy - arent they supposed to be! But once your settled on the bar and being looked after by 1 of the knowledgeable staff i find it difficult to fault. It's pricey, yeah but it's London and you pay for what you get. I had an old fashioned with Old Grandad bourbon and my missus had a Negroni. Both were excellent - served with the required amount of booze, well presented and expertly made. Couldn't ask for more but i did - we moved on to a breakfast martini and a lemon sorbet. Again difficult to fault.
The atmosphere on a Friday was pretty relaxed early on and we got served within good time. Upstairs remained closed which was odd but we didn't stay the whole night. Musically things did begin to pick up but by that time we were lightly sozzled and prepared to stumble into a cab.
You like booze you will like Aka.

Wentt for my birthday at the weekend, my friends booked a table on the balcolny looking over the dancefloor, and we had cocktails. Really loved the bar - we met some really nice people. The music was by the Sancho Panza people that play at Nottinghill Carnival - I went to see them at the carnival and they were just as good to dance to here. We did have to pay more to go into the big club downstairs, but it was worth it, the whole night was brilliant.

I couldn’t disagree more! Maybe you caught it on an off night, as I have been going to AKA for the last 5 years, mostly on Saturdays, and I still think it’s the only decent place to drink in central London – everywhere else in the west end is full of suits and plays dire RnB. Every time I’ve been to AKA they’ve always played cool housey-type stuff. I’ll agree that the drinks certainly aren’t cheap, but not really any different to most central London bars, and the cocktails are awesome.

It's unfortunate but this place really has gone down hill in the past couple of years (many of the favourable reviews were written in 2006). Comments about aggressive and unhelpful security staff are very true. On Friday night we were queuing round the corner from 9pm despite the place being half empty! When we were heading in we were told it would be £7 despite the night being advertised on the door as free before 10pm - we argued the point and probably only got in because there were a mixed group of twelve of us. Inside things weren't much better - trading standards should take a look at their drinks menu that claims a standard measure is 50ml and yet when you order a drink off that menu they charge you double the list price! This underhanded behaviour to extract as much money from patrons and general lack of customer service or respect seem to be an increasingly common experience at places like AKA but the sad thing is this used to be a nice place to have an evening out. The lay out of the place is not great either with a very large (reserved) seating area meaning you can stand either like cattle by the bar or on the dance floor. Judging by Friday's music that's got down hill too - very generic house: nothing familiar, nothing unusual and no dynamic or thread in any of the tunes played. I shan't be back.

When you pay £16 to enter the club you sort of have a rather decent expectation level of a club. Enter this place and you have a dance floor of fights between rival chav gangs, rubbish music, incredibly arrogant staff and a drinks bar tab which costs a small fortune. The whole place is overrated and I will never return and would advise anyone not to enter on a Sat night.

AKA looks cool.

AKA is a great club. Sadly however, I found the security staff to be consistently arrogant and rude. If it wasnt for them I would have given AKA 5/5.

Cocktails are not always meant to taste of booze. Went to AKA last week and was served by extremely friendly and competent staff. My cocktails were expertly made. The venue looked great and we had a good time. I would highly recommend AKA to those who like a serious drink and a laid back, fun atmosphere.

My friend and I dropped in AKA for a quick drink before we went out. The cocktails were badly made and for the cost I feel did not contain enough booze. So if you want to pay loads for what is essentially fruit juice AKA is your bar.

I went to the AKA bar on Friday night for a quick drink. It is a cool bar with very good cocktails. I had a JP Manhattan and it was rocket fuel, but good tasting. I don't think it was on the menu, but the AKA bartender sort of went his own way. Which is cool.

The music was a strange mellow mix of salsa and r&b, very different to the usual stuff.

Although its slightly on the small side and there is only one choice of draft larger it's a class bar and I would definitely go back.

I went to AKA with a great guy that was a bartender at another bar in London who now works at AKA. I am from the States and thought AKA was a great place to relax and have some great drinks...(try the Sex on the Beach, they're great)! The music was different then I was used to but I really left satisfied with my time at AKA! Hope to return very soon!

I have been to AKA twice now. The first time was early evening when we could kick back on a comfy sofa with a deliciously made cocktail and admire the industrial warehouse design whilst listening to live progessive house. The second visit was late on a recent Saturday night to show off my impressions of my first visit to my friends. This however turned out to be virtually impossible given the sheer volume of people dancing shoulder to shoulder, obscurring any signs of floor or decor but impressed we still were. Rammed venues can often be annoying if verging on 'sober' but with a huge bar serving just about every cocktail and shot known to man, you barely stay that way for long. The twist of breakbeat and funky electronica also makes it impossible to contain your funky grooves.

As one who is not a big fan of pretentious bars and clubs it was with trepidation that I organised my birthday for AKA. I needn't have worried. Fantastic place from the fact that they have beer on tap through the night to the ability to reserve a table. Bar staff fantastic, music great and everyone looked fantastic. Get in early to avoid queues but, all in all, a must go.

Great cocktails mixed by competent staff that know what they are doing and are pleased to serve you (which is more than I can say for some London bars!)

AKA is a classic venue that doesn't change and doesn't need to! Great music policy as well!