Where to Take Clients to Dinner in Makati and BGC
Private rooms, quiet tables and dress codes for a client dinner in Makati and BGC, with the private room rates the hotels publish and the chef-led rooms worth booking ahead.
For a client dinner in Makati, the safest choices are Shang Palace at Makati Shangri-La, which has nine private dining rooms, and Old Manila at The Peninsula, a quiet French room with a smart casual dress code. In BGC, Canton Road at Shangri-La The Fort also has nine private rooms, each with its own washroom and a butler. If your guest cares most about the food, book Toyo Eatery or Celera in Makati, or Inatô, whose private room seats four to six.
Updated October 2026.
A good business dinner needs three things: a room quiet enough to talk, a booking you can rely on, and a bill that does not surprise anyone. Hotel restaurants are strongest on the first two, and they publish their private room rates. Chef-led restaurants are where you take someone you want to impress, but they are smaller, they book out, and most do not publish prices. The picks below say which is which.
One note on prices: when a Manila hotel quotes a rate as "PHP 18,000++", the two plus signs mean service charge and tax are added on top.
Private rooms in Makati
Shang Palace at Makati Shangri-La is the most practical choice for a group. It cooks Cantonese and Huaiyang food, including handmade dim sum, and it has nine private dining rooms. Rooms 1 to 4 seat 10, Room 6 seats 15 and Room 9 takes 40 to 50, so it works for anything from a small team dinner to a full delegation. The hotel lists the rate for most rooms at PHP 18,000++, and PHP 100,000++ for Room 9. Staying past the booked time costs PHP 3,500 nett an hour.
Level 2, Makati Shangri-La, Ayala Avenue corner Makati Avenue. Lunch daily 11:30am to 2:30pm, dinner daily 6pm to 10:30pm. Smart casual. Reservations encouraged.
Sage Grill, on the same floor, is the hotel's grill and steakhouse, and the better choice when your guest would rather have steak than Chinese. It has one private dining room for up to 15 people, listed at PHP 18,000++ for lunch and PHP 33,000++ for dinner.
Level 2, Makati Shangri-La. Monday to Saturday, lunch 11:30am to 2:30pm and dinner 6pm to 10:30pm; closed Sunday. Smart casual. Reservations encouraged.
Quiet French rooms in Makati
Old Manila at The Peninsula Manila serves a refined, French-inflected menu in a calm room on the ground floor of the Ayala Tower. It is the kind of place where nobody has to raise their voice, and the hotel sits on the corner of Ayala and Makati Avenues, so it is easy for guests coming from any office in the business district.
Ground Floor, Ayala Tower, The Peninsula Manila. Lunch Monday to Friday 11:30am to 2:30pm; dinner Monday to Saturday 6:30pm to 11pm; closed Sunday. Smart casual.
Mirèio at Raffles Makati has served Provençal and French-inspired cooking since 2016, on the ninth floor with a view over the city. It suits a dinner where the setting matters as much as the menu. Note the early last seating: the kitchen accepts guests until 9pm.
9th floor, Raffles Makati, 1 Raffles Drive, Makati Avenue. Dinner daily 6pm to 10pm, lunch daily 12pm to 2:30pm. Smart casual. Reservations on (632) 8555 9840.
Private rooms in BGC
Canton Road at Shangri-La The Fort is the BGC answer to Shang Palace, and it is listed in the Michelin Guide. It serves modern Cantonese cooking with Huaiyang and Taiwanese dishes, and it has nine private dining rooms named after streets in Hong Kong. Each room has its own pantry, washroom and a butler. Nathan seats 6, Granville 10, Admiralty, Austin, Kowloon and Salisbury 12, Mody 14, and Peking takes 40 to 50 and can be split in two.
Level 3, Shangri-La The Fort, 30th Street corner 5th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City. Lunch daily 11:30am to 2:30pm, dinner daily 5pm to 10:30pm. Smart casual.
Gallery by Chele is the BGC table for a guest who wants to understand Filipino food. The kitchen, led by Chele Gonzalez and Carlos Villaflor, works with ingredients from around the Philippines and dishes rooted in Filipino heritage, and the drinks can be taken as a pairing menu. Book well ahead and say it is a business dinner.
5F Clipp Center, 11th Avenue corner 39th Street, Bonifacio Global City. Reservations at reservations@gallerybychele.com or +63 917 546 1673.
After dinner, The Back Room, a 1920s-style bar on the street level of the same hotel as Canton Road, is a good place for one more drink. It is open late every night and asks for smart casual.
Street Level, Shangri-La The Fort, 30th Street corner 5th Avenue. Monday to Sunday 6pm to 2am.
When the food is the point
These are small, chef-led rooms. They are the dinners clients talk about afterwards, but book early and check the seating before you invite anyone.
Inatô is the most useful of them for business, because it has a private dining room for four to six people, separate from its eight-seat counter. Chef JP Cruz cooks a menu set by season and availability, using Filipino techniques and flavours.
The Alley at Karrivin, Karrivin Plaza, 2316 Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati. Tuesday to Saturday; private room seating at 7:15pm. Reservations at reservations@inato.ph or by message to +63 945 478 0420 (no calls). Limited parking on site.
Toyo Eatery, in the same lane at Karrivin Plaza, is one of the best-known modern Filipino restaurants in the city and a strong choice for a guest from abroad.
The Alley at Karrivin, Karrivin Plaza, Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati. Tuesday to Saturday, 6pm to 11pm. Reservations at reservations@toyoeatery.com.
Celera is a fine dining room in Makati. The name plays on selera, the Malay word for appetite, and the cooking draws on two decades of Asian cooking. It suits a dinner with one or two guests rather than a big group.
3F Comuna, 238 Pablo Ocampo Sr. Extension, Makati. Tuesday to Saturday, 6pm to 11pm.
Helm is Josh Boutwood's 24-seat restaurant built around a multi-course tasting menu, with the kitchen talking to guests as the night goes on. It is a show, which makes it good for celebrating a signed deal and less good for working through one.
Tower 2, 3rd floor, The Shops at Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati. Tuesday to Sunday. Reservations on +63 915 90 98 647 or helm@bistro.com.ph.
For a less formal night after the work is done, our guides to speakeasy bars in Manila and romantic restaurants in Manila list more quiet rooms with good food and drink.
Questions people ask
Which Makati restaurants have private rooms for a business dinner? Shang Palace at Makati Shangri-La has nine private dining rooms seating from 8 up to 50 people, and Sage Grill in the same hotel has one for 15. Inatô has a private room for four to six.
How much does a private dining room cost in Makati? Makati Shangri-La lists most Shang Palace rooms at PHP 18,000++ and its largest room at PHP 100,000++. Sage Grill's room is PHP 18,000++ for lunch and PHP 33,000++ for dinner. The "++" means service charge and tax are added.
What should I wear to a business dinner in Makati or BGC? Smart casual is the standard at the hotel restaurants here, including Shang Palace, Sage Grill, Old Manila, Mirèio and Canton Road.
Where can I take clients to dinner in BGC? Canton Road at Shangri-La The Fort has nine private rooms and is listed in the Michelin Guide. Gallery by Chele is the choice for Filipino cooking, and The Back Room downstairs at the Shangri-La is good for a drink afterwards.
Do I need to book? Yes. The hotels encourage reservations, and the small chef-led restaurants like Inatô, Toyo Eatery, Celera and Helm work by booking.
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