Suggestions for a group dinner in the loop

I'm organizing a group dinner for about 20-30 people and would love some restaurant suggestions. An important criteria is that the restaurant should be a reasonable walking distance (<10 minutes; <1/2 mile) from the Club Quarters on Adams at Clark Street. A private dinning room or section of a restaurant is preferred. Cuisine is not terribly important, but I'd prefer a place that will appeal to a fairly diverse group.

I'd prefer a mid- to upscale restaurant. Some ideas that I'm already looking into are Mercat a la Planxa, Atwood Cafe, Custom House, and Miller's Pub. The Gage is already booked for the the night of my dinner. (Some of these are a bit further from the hotel than I'd like.)

Thanks in advance.

Walk on over just to see it. It's surprising and the food is delicious.
http://the-florentine.net

The Florentine at the JW Marriott

Dusting off an old thread...

Darren -- do you remember where you ended up for this dinner? I'm challenged with finding a location for 25 people with a cap of $75 per person. Union Station area.

The GP wrote:I'm challenged with finding a location for 25 people with a cap of $75 per person. Union Station area.

The Florentine
Embeya

Don't feel too constricted by their website menus. Most places will work with you to come up with a menu to meet your budget. You'll find lots of flexibility on pricing and minimums for off times (e.g. daytimes and weeknights), somewhat less so for peak times (Saturday night). You don't mention whether or not this figure includes alcohol, but one way of handling that without killing your budget is to have a cash bar.

You can also go here for Opentable's list of private dining venues (including room sizes), then on the left under Location click on "Chicago" and then "more", and then "Downtown/Loop" and "West Loop" to restrict the list to those neighborhoods.

Yeah, we ended up at Prairie Fire, which was outstanding. Unfortunately they closed.

You might want to consider the Metropolitan Club in the Willis Tower. While it's a private club, I am fairly certain that you do not need to be a member to host an event like this there. My experience has been that the food is definitely a cut above other clubs in the city and, of course, every one loves the view.

nicinchic wrote:Walk on over just to see it. It's surprising and the food is delicious.
http://the-florentine.net

The Florentine at the JW Marriott

I've never been part of a group event here but it's across the street from the office so I've eaten both lunch and dinner here many times and the food (and drinks, they have some interesting cocktails) has always been great. I've observed a number of groups coming in as well.

Hearing "Union Station Area" wouldn't lead me to assume "Loop" for dinner and I've been working in the area for 15 years. You might be able to get the excellent private room at Blackbird, or Sepia, with those numbers. Florentine is fine. The new seafood place on Wacker, Pearl, is pretty good too but has a limited menu. South Branch is very close but I consider it more of an office lobby happy hour place. The best of those, as in "tallest midget." If you need to be in the Loop, Trattoria 10 and the Village restaurants are there, as is Rosebud Prime or whatever it's called. Greektown is the immediate "Union Station" area too.

Run, don't walk, to Sepia

JeffB wrote:Hearing "Union Station Area" wouldn't lead me to assume "Loop" for dinner and I've been working in the area for 15 years. You might be able to get the excellent private room at Blackbird, or Sepia, with those numbers. Florentine is fine. The new seafood place on Wacker, Pearl, is pretty good too but has a limited menu. South Branch is very close but I consider it more of an office lobby happy hour place. The best of those, as in "tallest midget." If you need to be in the Loop, Trattoria 10 and the Village restaurants are there, as is Rosebud Prime or whatever it's called. Greektown is the immediate "Union Station" area too.

Jeff-

You make several good points. I didn't want to start a new thread and this one was close enough to my starting point. $75 per person is the total per person inclusive of food, drink, tax and gratuity. Not so easy to do at many of the places that have been suggested. I'm hoping my LTH brethen have uncovered someplace I haven't thought of.

Are you needing to be within walking distance of Union Station? Is Greektown not desirable (since location and price point would be pretty easily met by any of several options there, such as Greek Islands, Santorini, Roditys, etc.)? Do you need a private room? A few more details might help narrow the focus a bit.

Walking distance and private (or semi-private) space preferred. Greektown suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

The GP wrote:$75 per person is the total per person inclusive of food, drink, tax and gratuity. Not so easy to do at many of the places that have been suggested.

True. By "drink", I assume you mean alcoholic beverages. That makes it rather problematic, because restaurants are understandably reluctant to quote a price that includes "all you can drink". There are ways to deal with this - give out a fixed number of drink tickets per person, or include one or two bottles of wine on each table - but either way that will absorb a chunk of your budget, leaving less for the food. As I mentioned, you can also have a cash bar so alcohol isn't included.

You're right, though, places with entrees in the mid to upper thirties, like Blackbird and Sepia, probably can't meet your $75 figure. Especially if it includes alcohol. Same thing for places with banquet menus that start at $60 before alcohol/tax/tip, like Embeya and Florentine. If you can find a place that sound like it's only going to exceed your budget by a little bit, you can talk to them and they might be flexible and able to come up with a menu that meets your budget.

JeffB wrote:Hearing "Union Station Area" wouldn't lead me to assume "Loop" for dinner and I've been working in the area for 15 years. You might be able to get the excellent private room at Blackbird, or Sepia, with those numbers. Florentine is fine. The new seafood place on Wacker, Pearl, is pretty good too but has a limited menu. South Branch is very close but I consider it more of an office lobby happy hour place. The best of those, as in "tallest midget." If you need to be in the Loop, Trattoria 10 and the Village restaurants are there, as is Rosebud Prime or whatever it's called. Greektown is the immediate "Union Station" area too.

The regular menu at South Branch, with entrees in the mid teens, sounds like it could fit your budget, unlike most of these other places. And their website says they have spaces for private parties in a variety of sizes. And it's close by.

I've always thought Carmichael's does a good job at group dinners, and think $75 is well within range

I'd be surprised if you could get out of Carmichael's with alcohol within your budget but it is a fun spot--I also think it's a bit of a haul from Union Station on foot...

If it were me, with those constraints, I think I'd go with Greek Islands--food is solid and they have party rooms--though they start at seating for 35 on the website, I'd guess they'd accommodate a smaller group if they have availability. I do suggest going the pre-purchased wine bottles/soda route and having those who want something else pay out of pocket for it--otherwise, there's no stopping someone from spending $75 just on their bar tab . I'd bet that they would be very happy to put a package together that includes a reasonable amount of alcohol, along with a nice dinner selection.

My only other thought was maybe looking at Thai Urban Kitchen--it's a nice venue, I don't think they do a huge dinner business so, while I don't think they have a party room per se, they do have an area in the front that would likely work well for a group. The menu is conducive to ordering for a group meal of shared appetizers and pre-selected entrée options. They are basically an upscale take on Ameri-thai fusion/sushi type cuisine. I used to eat there frequently when I worked in the Loop and it was always a nice place for a business meal. Only caveat is that I haven't eaten there in a few years so no idea what the quality is like these days--maybe someone else can comment on that.

good luck!!!

boudreaulicious wrote:If it were me, with those constraints, I think I'd go with Greek Islands--food is solid and they have party rooms--though they start at seating for 35 on the website, I'd guess they'd accommodate a smaller group if they have availability.

A room that seats 35 can easily be used for a group of 25. The only issue is how sticky they are with their minimums (they may impose a minimum total on the food and beverage bill, based on the size of the room). As I mentioned upthread, minimums are often lowered or waived if it's not a weekend evening.

boudreaulicious wrote:My only other thought was maybe looking at Thai Urban Kitchen--it's a nice venue, I don't think they do a huge dinner business so, while I don't think they have a party room per se, they do have an area in the front that would likely work well for a group. The menu is conducive to ordering for a group meal of shared appetizers and pre-selected entrée options.

I was thinking of Saigon Sisters along the same lines. Similarly, I don't think they have a party room. One other consideration is that your group may or may not enjoy cuisine from Southeast Asia.

Another place that's close to Union Station, and not overly expensive (although not inexpensive either), is Rivers. But I don't think they have a private room either, and I'm not sure what they could do for space for a group.

Circling back on this, my group of 16 ended up Greek Islands. My per person budget was $10 less than I originally thought. The family style menu was $21.95 per person. We had two tables of 8 in one of the dining rooms. Total per person cost was just shy of $50 each including alcohol. Another data point: the Parthenon had a private room that didn't require a minimum on a Tuesday night. Our group size had dropped enough that a private room wasn't necessary.

Now I have to find a restaurant in San Francisco for a similar price point... Off to that thread!