Seeking fun restaurant in St. Louis for rehearsal dinner

Seeking fun restaurant in St. Louis for rehearsal dinner -- something a little different. And not too expensive. Needs to handle 100-120 people. Any suggestions?

Thx!

are your guests local to st. louis, or visiting?

what exactly might you mean by "different" ? different than what? are you looking for a nice place? there are some good italian places on "the hill" ...

with 100-120 people are you planning to rent the restaurant for the night?

dddane wrote:are your guests local to st. louis, or visiting?

what exactly might you mean by "different" ? different than what? are you looking for a nice place? there are some good italian places on "the hill" ...

with 100-120 people are you planning to rent the restaurant for the night?

Great questions! Our guests will mostly be out of town people. A lot of them will be the kids' friends, in their 20s. We will have some friends and relatives.

By different, I mean ... oh, I don't really know ... not just a fancy dinner in a restaurant, like the wedding dinner the next night. I am still in the early planning stages so I'm open to advice ...

I think I'd like something ethnic such as italian, mexican, mideastern. I thought that would be more fun than just another chicken dinner.

I know it will be hard to find space for so many outside a hotel. I would love to take a restaurant for the night if the cost isn't too high. I'd like to do this for about $8000 max complete, including bar, tax & tip.

Honestly, any comments or ideas would be very welcome! Thx!

Most of the really great restaurants (Mexican, Mediterranean, etc.) are fairly small and would be unable to handle the crowd that you are proposing. Most of the large functions that I have attended have been held at family estates, country clubs and banquet facilities.

Favazzas on the Hill has a pretty large banquet facility BUT it is pretty average AND I am not sure that the parking would be easily handled.

You may want to spend a little time determining which part of town that you plan to stay at - and of course, that depends on where the wedding is held.

One more thing. You are not very specific about WHEN this is all being held. St. Louis is generally "sold out" on summer weekends when the Cardinals are in town. When I say "sold out" I mean that all hotels within 20-35 miles are full.

A buddy of mine in St. Louis thinks he can help you. He reckons that, at c. $66 a head, you could get a whole restaurant on a Monday night--a night when many of the cool places are otherwise closed.

So, two questions (well, three, actually) when are you thinking of? Can you do it on a Monday night? and, what neighborhood?

Geo

jlawrence01, thanks for some useful comments. Geo, Monday is out.

The wedding will be Nov. 11 and my event will be Friday, Nov. 10. We will be staying at the Ritz. The family lives in Ladue. The kids told me to look around Clayton for a restaurant. Someone told us to check Luciano's but that's too expensive.

We were thinking of the History Museum as a fun venue and I have a call in to Meriwethers to check that out. Since I would have to pay for the museum space plus the catering it's probably too much.

Thanks for the help so far! Hope this info is more on target.

Ericka,

A place came to mind. One of my former employers holds their dinners at Patrick's in Westport and they would be able to handle a group that size. However, that is more of a steak/seafood place.

The Art Museum and the Botannical Gardens both host a lot of special functions BUT I believe the food is catered in for the most part.

Since your In-laws are in Ladue and that area is rather tight-knit, maybe they some connections with the dozens of private clubs in the area, they might know something that is available.

I spent a lot of time in Ladue last summer attending weddings. WOW!

jlawrence01 wrote:Ericka,

A place came to mind. One of my former employers holds their dinners at Patrick's in Westport and they would be able to handle a group that size. However, that is more of a steak/seafood place.

Since your In-laws are in Ladue and that area is rather tight-knit, maybe they some connections with the dozens of private clubs in the area, they might know something that is available.

I spent a lot of time in Ladue last summer attending weddings. WOW!

Patrick's looks interesting. I'll call later. Seafood is good if price is right. In-laws do belong to some clubs but as I said, looking for something different. Wedding will be at a club. Thx!

jlawrence01, have you been to Patrick's? The price is extremely reasonable. I need some comments from people who have actually been there. Thx for the help so far!

I have been there twice - on my last two trips.. The food is very solid, but not exceptional. The pance has been in business for at leat twenty years and has a solid reputation in the St. Louis community. They also do a substantial catering business and are generally packed on weekends.

When I worked front desk manager at one of the local Westport hotels while in graduate school, we generally sent our guests to Dierdorf and Hart's or to Patrick's, or for more casual fare Ozzie's and we never received any complaints.

My buddy in St. Louis says:

"How about taking over the Schlafly Brewery, either downtown or mid-town in Maplewoods?"

Which sounds neat. He also offers to help. [He's been in f & b in St. Louis for 20 yrs, so would be a good contact. ]

Geo

Geo wrote:My buddy in St. Louis says:

"How about taking over the Schlafly Brewery, either downtown or mid-town in Maplewoods?"

Which sounds neat. He also offers to help. [He's been in f & b in St. Louis for 20 yrs, so would be a good contact. ]

Geo

Sounds very cool! Will check it out tmw! Thx!

http://www.schlafly.com/parties.clubroom.shtml

It holds up to 250 people, and only costs $500 for room rental--I can't view the pdf on my work computer for the details of the contract, but I can't imagine that the food and drink end of things would be outrageously expensive. It would be a very cool location for a rehearsal, in an old "re-purposed" building in an historic part of downtown St. Louis, and in one of the first brew pubs in the city! (And the beer really is good).

Had another idea. I know the Levy Organization handles the food at the Edward Jones Dome. I am not sure - and cannot verify via the StL Cardinals' website - but they may do the same at the NEW Busch Stadium that will be completed in May 2006.

The New Busch Stadium would be an interesting venue to hold a rehearsal dinner and may be available for groups during the off-season.

In a past position, Levy did some very solid catering work at Jacobs' Field in Cleveland, even during the offseason.

jlawrence01 wrote:The New Busch Stadium would be an interesting venue to hold a rehearsal dinner and may be available for groups during the off-season.

Very interesting! Will check it out! Thx!