North suburbs reception restaurant venue

Hello,

We are looking for a restaurant to rent for our wedding reception somewhere in the North or Northwest Suburbs. We'd like a place with great atmosphere, an interesting look, and good food. It would need to fit 100 to 125 guests. We'd like to avoid banquet halls or chain restaurants or any typical wedding place. A nice local restaurant would be ideal. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

I wanted the same thing and had a very bad experience as a result. I was planning a dinner for a group of roughly the same size; like you, I wanted to avoid the "typical" places you mention. I contracted for our group with an independent local restaurant (which I won't mention, it wasn't in Chicagoland anyway). What we found out the hard way was that, by choosing a restaurant with no experience serving groups of 100+ people, they weren't prepared to cook and serve that many people at exactly the same time. Even though we had ordered all the food in advance, it took them well over an hour from the time they started serving the main course to the first table, until they had completely served everyone, and there were similar delays with the other courses. It was an absolute nightmare.

Since then - this is for a convention that meets annually - we have stuck with restaurants that already have a substantial ongoing business in private parties. We have achieved some of our best results at restaurants that have established a positive reputation among locals and have plenty of local clientele, but that also do a large business in private parties. That way, they are serving excellent, creative food and they have the experience to pull that off for a large group in the same flawless manner that they do for individual diners in their dining room. Places in the north or northwest suburbs that can accomplish this for you include:

Allgauer's (American, Northbrook) - http://www.northbrookallgauers.com
Shaw's Crab House (seafood, Schaumburg) - http://www.shawscrabhouse.com
Wildfire (steakhouse, Lincolnshire, Schaumburg, Glenview) - http://www.wildfirerestaurant.com
Maggiano's (Italian, Schaumburg, Skokie) - http://www.maggianos.com

All of these have excellent food in a nice setting, but even more important, they all do quite a large business in private parties, so they have the facilities and experience to serve a private event smoothly and flawlessly.

The last three of these four are affiliated with Lettuce Entertain You, a Chicago-based group of restaurants with unique concepts, and they really have their act together when serving groups. Their event planners can help you not only plan your event, but also choose which of their restaurants best meets your needs. They have a website specifically for their private parties, with event ideas and other information to consider for planning a function. Check it out: http://www.lettuceparties.com

You will need to talk with their banquet managers to see whether they can accommodate a group your size on the date you need (which is the very first question you should be asking them). I've been to big dinners at Allgauer's and I know they can handle a group your size (and they do it well). Based on their websites, it appears that Shaw's may be too small, and the only Wildfire location that might be adequate is Glenview. I'm not sure about Maggiano's.

I have attended really nicely done events at both Wildfire and Maggianos.

I have also heard Sabatinos does very nice larger private parties upstairs if you want a non-chain.

irisarbor wrote:I have also heard Sabatinos does very nice larger private parties upstairs if you want a non-chain.

Their website says that their banquet room only holds 30-100...

In what town will the ceremony be taking place? You're probably not going to want to have the reception in Glenview if the ceremony is in Schaumburg, or vice versa.

In Lake Forest, both Lovells and Deerpath Inn have private party rooms that could accommodate that many people. While Deerpath Inn may be a fairly "typical" reception venue, Lovells would probably work, though it may be expensive.

-Will

So funny that you mention Lovells and Deerpath.
I was actually married at the Deerpath, long before they had their banquet hall,
and our reception was in what is now their Old English type room and porch.
Our ceremony was out in the garden, which used to be bigger...
It was lovely, and the food was wonderful,
or course it was 28 years ago, and when we priced it 7 years ago for our daughters Bat MItzvah,
the costs were exhorbitant.

Now Lovells, we had a family dinner for 30 at last year and they were a delight to work with.
They worked with us on the cost, the food was beyond delicious, and they were extremely accomodating to the vegetarians in the crew...
I know they have larger banquet rooms upstairs as well.
If they are in your geographic consideration, I would certainly give them a call.
Also don't get put off by their printed prices, they really did work with us.

irisarbor wrote:don't get put off by their printed prices, they really did work with us.

This is true of many places. You may see certain prices on the banquet menu on their website, but when you discuss your budget with them, they're happy to tell you what they can do within your budget. I had this exact experience with our group meals at Pete Miller's in Wheeling (which I would be recommending but their private room isn't big enough for your party).

Congrats!
Try Vittorio de Roma in Palatine. The service was great, there's a little bar right in the banquet room, and it's the perfect size.

http://www.vittorioderoma.com/index.htm