Need Rec's on Large Outing

Extremely longtime lurker..... first time poster. I have a bunch of people coming into town and am looking for a nice place that can accomodate 10-12 people comfortably. Probably looking at $60-$70 a head..... this crew likes to drink. It has been suggested to me to try Carnivale, but I am a little reluctant to try that place.... seems more style over substance. Any suggestions will be most appreciated.

RMTRAUT

If your $60-$70 includes drinks, I think Greektown would be a good choice. Greek Islands or Costa's are my two fav's for large groups. Good food and fun atmosphere. They are very good at handling large groups in those two spots, also.

Three suggestions:

Cafe Baba Reeba has a very nice 15 person private room in the back and will give you a huge prix fixe meal for about 35 bucks a person, including hot and cold tapas as well as paella. That leaves plently of dough leftover for sangria and other libations. The room is set off enough to give you a bit of privacy, but also let's enough restaurant noise to enjoy the festive atmosphere.

For something more "adult", Brasserie Jo and Mon Ami Gabi also have very nice private dining rooms, and Brasserie Jo's wine room is especially nice because of the large windows that let you see into and feel part of the restaurant. Both places will provide a prix fixe menu, including wine, to fit your budget if you ask them to.

In case anyone's wondering - no, I don't work for Lettuce Entertain You. It's probably true, though, that I think LEYE places are better and more experienced than most at accomodating large-ish groups, and the three places above have darn good food too.

Given these parameters, I would highly recommend Quartino for your outing. We had an extremely enjoyable group dinner there a month ago, and the service in particular was outstanding.

They have an enclosed area right next to their "salumeria" which they converted into a private room for us. One nice feature was that the room was windowed, allowing for a private experience while still not losing the full atmosphere of being at the restaurant (may or may not be a good thing--depends on one's preferences). Anyway, the "official" capacity posted on the wall was 10 persons, but they fit our group of 15 quite comfortably.

It would also fall well within your price range, and would allow you to sample a large variety of wines.

If you do choose to go the Carnivale route, you should book ASAP--that was our original first choice, but reservations were hard to come by.

I also enjoy Costa's and Babareeba and think they fit your budget. I have to say I think Babareeba's paella is awesome, but I'm not as big of a fan of their tapas.