Thurs nite, 10-15 people

Hi

Yet another "where should be go" query We will be 10-15 people, want some place to go on a Thursday at 7:30. We want to talk, we want to drink, food would be good, but it doesn't have to be the focus, bar snacks would probably be fine. We'd like to be able to get a couple of tables pushed together, or separate, where we can move from table to table, back and forth, as conversations change.

I can't think of any decent places that wouldn't be swamped, since I don't generally hang out in large groups like this that aren't at earlier hours. It's easy to do this at 5 pm at a lot of places when you want to go out for a drink after work.

Any help would be appreciated.

The Tasting Room might be good for this.

The RAM has a good sized bar area for this.

Along the line of aschie30's suggestion, ENO at the Intercontinental on Michigan Ave could work well for you. It's got the right atmosphere for conversation, and I've never seen it get super crowded.

I think Tasting Room is a good suggestion. Along the same lines, but different 'hood, you might want to consider Bluebird http://www.bluebirdchicago.com/. They have a very strong beer and wine list, in addition to a decent spirit selection. Nice selection of small plates. They have a room in the back where they could easily accomodate your group.

My first thought had been Bluebird, I have to stop there and see how busy they are on Thurs at the appropriate time. The problem there is that they will not WILL NOT make a reservation.

Tasting Room is another possibility, and I think they do take reservations, though I suspect this is more of a cocktails than wine crowd...

This is easy: go to Weegee's and have The Brown Sack deliver you a couple dozen sandwiches. I've done this several times for just this type of situation. Get the delivery before the BS closes at 8.

Someone in the group recommended The Bad Apple, as they take reservations for groups and have food (and the recommender likes the place)