Recommendations for Office Holiday Dinner Party?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a place to have our office holiday dinner party. Ideally, someplace with a private room, so we can have a cocktail hour and then dinner. This is for 12-14 people. Budget is maybe $80 per person (but can be more/less) for food and hors d'oeuvres not including drinks and tip etc. We have done different types of places in the past. This year, I'm thinking someplace that's a little more lively than formal fine dining. Thanks for any suggestions.

What part of the city were you looking for, or what part of the suburbs?

Sounds like Fogo de Chao to me.

Looking for someplace reasonably close to downtown, so maybe River North or West Randolph, but really anyplace within a couple miles would be fine.

Fogo de Chao would be an interesting option, but we had a lunch there a couple months ago, so it's probably out.

My brother's office had a holiday gathering at Frontera Grill and it sounded like a good time. I don't know what it cost, but I'd guess it would be less than $80/person and would meet the lively criterion.

http://www.fronterakitchens.com/restaurants/morales.html

I'll vouch for Frontera -- we had a celebratory lunch there last month that went very well, and Bayless was very generous with the time he spent with the group. (He may not be able to be as flexible during dinner, of course.)

We also had a dinner this summer at one sixty blue that was almost tedious. We were having a great time, but each course was more of a downer. Can't imagine myself ever going back.

I attended the Cafe May CH dinner last Spring and thought it was all very good -- some dishes better than others, and nothing over the top exquisite, but most dishes quite tasty; I think we had about that many people. I haven't seen any recent reports; maybe some of the other attendees can opine, especially as they'd be more particular than me

BobS wrote:I attended the Cafe May CH dinner last Spring and thought it was all very good -- some dishes better than others, and nothing over the top exquisite, but most dishes quite tasty; I think we had about that many people. I haven't seen any recent reports; maybe some of the other attendees can opine, especially as they'd be more particular than me

Aaron Deacon can probably comment more precisely since he organized this dinner. If I recall correctly, Aaron said we have 14 people and we want to spend $X per head. How close or far from the budget, I don't know.

Remember the restaurant was very new and the chef very idealistic. He had 'standards,' which were great ideally, but maybe not so practical. He claims to prep nothing and starts every preparation fresh once you order. Already, you know you are in for a slow paced meal.

When he brought out a platter of Chile Rellenos it started at my end of the table. When food is served family style, I very much try to take a reasonable portion because I want enough food on the plate to reach the last person. So a mound of Chile Rellenos presented a problem, is there 1 or more per person or less than 1 per person. The chef was standing there, so I asked how it was portioned, he said something like, "I just threw it together, I don't know how many are there." So I took a portion of a chile while little wisps of steam came out my ears.

When dessert came, it was little molded servings but instead of 1 of everything for every person or even half, it was some odd number which made it ackward. Hardly anyone was able to sample everything because of the measly portions and odd quantities.

Also this place seemed pressed to handle our party of 14 people, at the expense of neglecting somewhat parties who came later.

Unless there was a change in philosophy by the chef, I would be hard pressed to risk organizing an office party there. You want to earn brownie points from this occasion, right?

Aaron was kind enough to post his review here. I agree with it, overall, but think a lot of the problems we faced with serving can be overcome with sufficient communication in advance. along with the experience the chef has surely picked up since then. After all, no one looking to score brownie points is going to wing it the rather free-form, impromptu way we did that night, either. :) (mmm... wiiiiiiiiiiings...)

Thanks for linking, Bob, I meant to come back here and post and forgot. I think you're right, by the way, that what difficulties there were could have been addressed with advance communication. As far as impressing with an office party, though, I'm not sure that the space (outside or inside) would quite do it. I would be interested in seeing what they could do catering.

Aaron Deacon wrote:Thanks for linking, Bob, I meant to come back here and post and forgot. I think you're right, by the way, that what difficulties there were could have been addressed with advance communication. As far as impressing with an office party, though, I'm not sure that the space (outside or inside) would quite do it. I would be interested in seeing what they could do catering.

True, and on my Sidekick's little screen, I couldn't see that ChrisH had the same 12-14 we had, and for some reason thought there were going to be more. A dozen or so people probably isn't enough for them to close the place to other people (as they didn't for us), and a holiday gathering requires that full level of attention. So in retrospect a less than ideal suggestion.

But at least I got you to post your review. :P

I'd be particularly interested in places with a private room suitable for 12-14. I recognize that our group won't be large enough to close most any restaurant, so having our own space would be great. We've had dinners in the past where we had drinks someplace before and then just sat down at a large table somewhere. Which was fine, but not as festive. Having a private room works much better.

There's a part of me that thinks, screw it, I'm just going to drag everyone down to Chinatown and throw a lavish banquet with odd ingredients. But then reason, unfortunately, prevails.

Frontera is interesting. They seem to have a room for up to 30, so I'll see if they can do a smaller party.