I need some suggestions for a family event

Hi! I am looking for a restaurant for my family get-together to celebrate my parent's 50th anniversary.
We will be gathering Friday and Saturday, November 12 & 13. I believe either date would work.

Here are my guidelines:

Our group is about 14 people. (this may vary, either way, by 1 or 2 at most.)
My folks are in Glenview, and very likely won't travel too far, but you never know.
We'd like a place with a private room, if possible. We don't get together very often, so we are looking for a little quiet, so we can talk. And the kids can be a little relaxed.
4 of the people are kids. No babies/toddlers (7-12's), but a couple are picky eaters. (My 12-year-old falls on the Asperger's spectrum. He's pretty limited in what he'll eat, at least he'll try things now. We're working on it, but he's wired that way.)
Price isn't a horrible issue, but I don't think that we want to spend $100 per person.

I'll be up to visit my folks next weekend so I hope to be able to check out places and get some arrangements made.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. You guys have never steered me wrong.
Thanks very much.

Caryn

Prairie Grass has a back room, and a fair amount of kid-friendly food; I think it's in your budget, depending on what you order. There is a large front-room table that can be cordoned off with a curtain, but I am guessing with your considerations this might still be too noisy.

Hi Caryn,

So nice to hear of a couple reaching a golden anniversary.

MS Streets & Trips' "Find nearby places" function is great for this kind of search. I don't know how well these fit your requirements, but among the 350 or more restaurants within a 5-mile radius of the intersection of Waukegan and 43 in Glenview are:

Allgauer's at the Hilton on Milwaukee Ave in Northbrook (looks to me like the classiest of the bunch)
Ruth's Chris on Skokie Blvd in Northbrook
Prairie Grass " " " "
Hackney's on Harms
Maggiano's Little Italy at the Old Orchard shopping center, or off Rte 53 in Schaumburg
The Cheesecake Factory " " " " " " " " " " " "
Houlihan's on Golf Road in Schaumburg

Just outside the 5-mile radius are some very nice options on Milwaukee Ave in Wheeling, including Wildfire, Bob Chin's Crab House, Hackney's, Pete Miler's Seafood & Steak, Tramonto's Steak & Seafood, and 94th Aero Squadron (we've been there for our anniversary).

Another one just outside the 5-mile radius is Bluegrass in Highland Park (on the border with Deerfield), a personal and sentimental favorite - we had our wedding rehearsal dinner there as well as several birthday and anniversary dinners.

Katie

Another nice private room for a group that size is Mitchells Fish market in Glenview-
we looked at them when we were in Bar Mitzvah mode- they dinners at several price points

It's a little further away, but we did up doing a really lovely, and very conversation friendly private dinner for 30 or so at Lovells of Lake Forest. They were very flexible on price, and they have a nice selection of private rooms, and all the astronaut memorabilia was a huge plus for my family. oh, and the food was delicious, all the guests raved about it....

As noted by irisarbor, Mitchell's, which is very good, is right in the Glen (the old Glenview Naval Air Base) as is an outpost of Wildfire. Both should be fine. Prairie Grass is also a good recommendation and is reasonably close.

Do your parents have a favorite restaurant?

I'd at least give a thought to di Pescara at Northbrook court, too.

Hackney's on Harms - Glenview

Cozy and charming, Hackney’s on Harms is our original location, opened way back in 1939.

Across the street from the forest preserve, it’s one of those little out of the way places that’s actually not so out of the way. In good weather, you can enjoy a great meal under towering silver poplars on our lovely outdoor patio.

http://www.hackneys.net/locations/glenview-harms/

Wildfire Glenview
1300 Patriot Blvd.
Glenview, IL   60026
(847) 657-6363

http://www.wildfirerestaurant.com/glenview

Maggiano's

4999 Old Orchard Ctr Ste A28
Space #A28
Main Level
Skokie , IL 60077-1480

http://www.maggianos.com

Mitchell's is a great suggestion. I've looked at their private room adjacent to their main dining room, and it looks like it's the perfect size. I've seen a similar sized private dining room at several other places worth considering, all with very good food too: Pete Miller's, the steakhouse in Wheeling; Cooper's Hawk, the wine-focused restaurant in Wheeling; and Inovasi, the contemporary American restaurant in Lake Bluff. Each has its advantages. I've arranged an annual private party at Pete Miller's and it's been successfully received. Cooper's Hawk is fun because people can try wines in the tasting room before dinner. Inovasi has the best food of the bunch, but is a bit further from Glenview than the others. I think Stoney River in Deerfield has a similar sized room they can use for private parties too.

One thing I'll caution you on. You need to contact the banquet coordinator at any of these venues to see what kind of arrangements they have. Some places will work things out with you and meet your needs, and others, well... When arranging my private party, I looked at banquet menus on the websites at Pete Miller's and at Wildfire. The one at Wildfire initially looked a lot less expensive. However, they were very inflexible and they turned out to be a lot MORE expensive; they wanted a contractual minimum which was VERY high per person, and that minimum was based on the number of people the room held, not the exact number of attendees, which kills you further unless you have exactly the number that the room holds. I got the feeling that their banquet coordinator was a Lettuce Entertain You employee who was told a set of rules to follow and didn't really care whether they got the business or not, and I do NOT recommend Wildfire for this reason. By contrast, it turned out that Pete Miller's was very flexible, and we worked out a menu that was a lot less expensive than the one on their website. The banquet coordinator there is Amy Huber, the wife of the owner, and she has been terrific in working with us.

I recommend contacting these places BY PHONE with a specific set of questions. (Limit your on-site visits to one or two places after you have some idea that they can meet your needs from discussions over the phone.) Be prepared for them to ask you what date and time, and what your target budget is. Ask them about room charges and contractual minimums. At our dinner we used a cash bar to keep unlimited alcohol from driving up our costs.

You may find more availability, and less of a problem with minimums, for a Friday night than a Saturday night.

Also be aware that six weeks is very short notice for private party arrangements.

Stony River in Deerfield, another very good suggestion.

I have another suggestion. In addition to calling to talk to whomever at these restaurants would handle a 14-person reservation, if time permits, I'd suggest going to visit a couple of these places, your first choices, in advance. Just looking at the menu might not be enough - you might need to see how quiet or busy an atmosphere it is. Speaking as one with a child with Down's syndrome and a young man with Asperger's in the extended family, I'd say you yourself have the best eyes to judge if a place is both right for your parents on their special occasion and suitable for the young people involved.

Every place I could think of has been mentioned... but I'll throw additional votes out there for Mitchell's, Stoney River, Wildfire, Maggiano's and Tuscany. I believe each of those have actual private rooms as opposed to just a section of the regular dining room.

blipsman wrote:I believe each of those have actual private rooms as opposed to just a section of the regular dining room.

The same is true of Pete Miller's, Inovasi, and Cooper's Hawk.