ISO: Restaurant for Work Party

I work for a dental office, and we always have our holiday party a couple months after the holidays, when we're not as busy personally and in the office. In the past, we've gone to Texas de Brazil and Buca di Beppo, but this year we have too many people to do the Pope's Room at Buca, so we want to find something new.

Here's the requirements:
- Needs to have a private room for up to 21 people, or be conversation-friendly enough that we don't need a private room.
- Needs to be in the northwest suburbs. Employees live as far north as Round Lake, as far south as Arlington Heights, and as far west as East Dundee, so no farther south than the Woodfield area, or maybe around Rosemont. East to the north shore or Old Orchard is probably okay, but the more central, the better.
- Budget isn't super important; Texas de Brazil was about $45/person, plus drinks and dessert; not sure how much Buca's bill broke down to. It's more important that the food is plentiful for the amount we'd spend. No one should leave hungry at the end of the night.
- We have some picky eaters in the group, so there should be some options on the menu that most people would eat. The age range is late 20s to early 50s.


Other ideas that have been suggested are Cooper's Hawk and Hofbräuhaus in Rosemont, but the suggester wasn't sure how conversation-friendly even their private room is. I haven't been there, so I couldn't comment on that. A big plus would be if there was something fun nearby to do afterwards- last year we went to Gameworks after Texas de Brazil; there's all sorts of recreation/entertainment options near Hofbräuhaus, so it's got that going for it.

Ideas?

Oh, one more requirement- maybe avoid the Barrington/Lake Zurich area. That's where our office is and while we love our patients, we'd like to reduce the chance of seeing them in public.

We have a group of 20-35 people and we do an annual dinner in a private dining room. People live throughout the Chicago area, and we prefer to have it in the near northwest suburbs as it winds up being convenient to everyone. We shoot for a total including tax/tip and non-alcoholic beverages of $50-60. (We do a cash bar to keep the cost down.) We always have 3-4 courses, typically having platters of appetizers during cocktail hour, then everyone's seated for salad, entrée, and dessert.

For several years we did it at Pete Miller's in Wheeling. They were great to deal with in every way - great food, etc. They were also very flexible; for example, even though we had committed to a given headcount, they did not charge us when we had a handful of no-shows. Also, they were happy to come up with a customized menu to meet our budget. Their private dining room is off to the side of their regular dining room, nicely private, and reasonably quiet.

Then people wanted to go elsewhere, just for the sake of change, so for the past few years we did it at Cooper's Hawk in Arlington Heights. Why Arlington Heights, rather than Wheeling? I believe Wheeling only has one smallish glassed-in room for private parties (I could be wrong about that), but even more important, their minimum fee was much higher. At Arlington Heights they have several private rooms, and the one upstairs has a much smaller minimum - I think it's because they don't have an elevator so there's no handicapped access, which may or may not be important to you. They were not quite as flexible, charging us the full amount for our advance headcount commitment, and the menu choices were exactly what was on their website. But the food was very good there too. The upstairs private room at the Arlington Heights location is somewhat loud because it overlooks the main dining room which gets quite noisy; you can still hold a conversation without shouting, but it's not exactly quiet. I can't comment on the noise level of their downstairs private rooms.

I would recommend either one of these for a group your size. To start, I would suggest checking out the private party menus on their websites. Keep in mind that Pete Miller's may be able to negotiate a menu that meets your group's needs that is not necessarily what is on their website, whereas Cooper's Hawk will sell you exactly what's there, what you see is what you get. Then contact the private party coordinator at the locations you're considering (you'll find contact info on their website), and discuss your needs with them. They will talk you through it and come up with a proposal. Talk to several places and you'll probably get a really good feeling at one of them. If you want to get an idea of how conversation-friendly the private room is at any given place, it may be best to go there in advance at the time and day of the week you're considering, and see for yourself.

Thanks! Yes, Pete Miller's would be good, too.

Do you know if you always have to decide on a menu ahead of time if you get a private room, or will any place just let people order off the menu?

abe_froeman wrote:Do you know if you always have to decide on a menu ahead of time if you get a private room, or will any place just let people order off the menu?

That's a question to ask their banquet coordinator. Most places can do it either way, but whether you want to do so is likely to depend on the number of people in the group; the larger the group, the more difficult it is for them to take everyone's order and, even more important, to bring out all the food at the same time. I'm not saying it can't be done; you need to discuss it with them. The banquet coordinators can review with you the pluses and minuses of doing it each way, and help you decide what's best for your group.

In our case, we had a limit on the amount we could spend for each person (since we were charging them, and we needed to make sure we didn't lose a lot of money on the event), so we couldn't just let anyone order anything on the menu. Rather than having the same menu for everyone, we've used a couple different options to address the possibility that not everyone would want the same entree. Some years, we had a set menu, but with two items plated together, one meat and one fish (e.g. filet medallions and crab cakes), figuring that anyone who really didn't want one or the other could trade one for the other with someone at the same table. Sometimes, we had a menu with two or three options for the entree, letting each person specify his/her choice to the server at the start of the meal. The appetizers were platters of several items, as noted above; the rest of the menu (soup and/or salad, sides, and dessert) was the same for everyone.

Any place we went, if anyone had a dietary restriction (vegetarian, etc), the restaurant was happy to provide a substitution. We asked folks to let us know in advance so we could let the restaurant know ahead of time, but if any became known at the dinner, the restaurant was able to handle it. We were never charged extra for doing so.

I just looked up our most recent menu at each place; you can see how the menu options worked.

Cooper's Hawk:

6:30 Cocktail Hour, featuring Cash Bar and Hors D’oeuvre Platters

• Mexican Drunken Shrimp
• Chicken Potstickers

7:30 Dinner

Soup: Crab & Lobster Bisque - Loaded with Crab, Lobster, and Shrimp

Salad: Chopped Wedge Salad - Chopped Lettuce with a Balanced Blend of Red Wine Herb Vinaigrette, Creamy Salemville Bleu Cheese Dressing, and Garnished with Red Onion, Sweet Grape Tomatoes, Bleu Cheese Crumbles, and Warm Applewood Smoked Bacon

Entrée: Combination plate of Broiled USDA Beef Filet Medallions and Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes, served with a seasonal vegetable and Mary’s Potatoes

Dessert: Cheesecake with Fresh Strawberries

Beverages: Coffee, Iced Tea, Soft Drinks, and All Organic Tea Forté Products are included.

Pete Miller's:

6:30 Hors D’oeuvre Platters (served during the cocktail hour)

• Fried Calamari with Cocktail Sauce
• Firecracker Shrimp
• Steak Quesadillas

7:30 Dinner

Salad: Classic Caesar Salad

Entree: Your server will ask you for your selection of:

• Filet Mignon
• Jumbo Sea Scallops, with Seasonal Homemade Ravioli
• Chicken Marsala
• (Vegetarian entree available on request)

Sides: Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Creamed Spinach with Applewood Smoked Bacon Served Family Style

Dessert: Death by Chocolate and Mascarpone Cheese Cake (a slice of both on each plate)

That's what I figured their reasoning was. It would be difficult to get everyone in our group to agree on a few choices (you should see what we have to do just to order lunch!), so maybe I'll ask if we can just pick out what we want ahead of time.

What about Wildfire in Lincolnshire? They have nice party rooms.

Sharona wrote:What about Wildfire in Lincolnshire? They have nice party rooms.

When I was looking, I found that Wildfire in Glenview requires much higher minimum guarantees than the other places we went, and there was no flexibility whatsoever about them or the menus. I assume that's true of their Lincolnshire location as well. The problem was, where they had a room that had a seated capacity of X people, the minimum consisted of a fairly generous food and drink bill for X people. At Wildfire that became a major cost impediment if you are not quite filling the room to its stated capacity (and it's unlikely your headcount is exactly equal to the room's capacity).

Like the menu selection, the minimum guarantees are something to look at closely, and to discuss with the banquet coordinator, at any place you're considering. Typically they have a specific dollar amount for the total food and beverage bill (and may be stated with or without tax and service charge, make sure you ask). The minimum guarantee is often higher on weekends; on weekdays it may be lower or even non-existent.

I've gotten my coworkers to agree on a date- March 27th....it's like herding cats

Has anyone been to House 406 in Northbrook? Just poking around Yelp for ideas. The only mention of it here is in the Openings/Closings thread when it opened last summer.....maybe that should tell me something.

abe_froeman wrote:I've gotten my coworkers to agree on a date- March 27th....it's like herding cats

Has anyone been to House 406 in Northbrook? Just poking around Yelp for ideas. The only mention of it here is in the Openings/Closings thread when it opened last summer.....maybe that should tell me something.

You could call them, but I'd be surprised if it is large enough to accommodate your party.

Gotcha. Looking back, the Yelp page does say not good for groups.

Anyone been to Eddie Merlot's in Lincolnshire?

abe_froeman wrote:Gotcha. Looking back, the Yelp page does say not good for groups.

Anyone been to Eddie Merlot's in Lincolnshire?

The place sucks...definitely not a good value.

Have you looked at Saranello's or Prairie Grass (not sure if that's too far east)?

When a restaurant has a private room for private parties, it usually (not always, but usually) says so on its website. And many of those that do, tell you how many people it holds.

I've been to Eddie Merlot's in Lincolnshire, although not for a private event. I thought it was decent, but a bit pricey compared with other steakhouses (like Pete Miller's, Wildfire, and Beelow's), same thing Matt noted. The same is likely to be true of their private parties.

I have no experience with Beelow's for private parties, but that might be another place worth considering. I've been there 4-5 times, and with the exception of one dinner, it was quite good as well as fairly priced. I don't know how big their private room(s) are, and their website only has a contact form to fill out for private party info.

I thought about Beelow's, but it's near the office, and while we love our patients, we'd like to lessen the chances of seeing them on our night out.

Ok, Eddie Merlot's is off the list.

Any LEYE locations up there?

I had really good luck, admittedly close to a decade ago now, working with their events coordinator at Mon Ami Gabi in Oakbrook for a party on behalf of my parents. They created a simplified four-course menu with three options each for both the appetizers and the mains (with surcharges to me if certain mains were picked, but not shown to the guests). They printed a little 5x7 card for each guest with the menu, billed me for two wines I preselected by the bottle but also did open ordering of mixed drinks and beers at regular prices.

threadkiller wrote:Any LEYE locations up there?

I had really good luck, admittedly close to a decade ago now, working with their events coordinator at Mon Ami Gabi in Oakbrook for a party on behalf of my parents. They created a simplified four-course menu with three options each for both the appetizers and the mains (with surcharges to me if certain mains were picked, but not shown to the guests). They printed a little 5x7 card for each guest with the menu, billed me for two wines I preselected by the bottle but also did open ordering of mixed drinks and beers at regular prices.

Yep...Saranello's and Wildfire were mentioned.

One nice thing about LEY is that they have one group that can work with you on a private party at any of their locations. They even have a website for this, at lettuceparties.com.

However, as I mentioned earlier, they seemed to have very little flexibility on policies for guaranteed minimums, etc. It may work out okay for you, if you can live with the policies as is. (In general, you'll find much lower minimums, and more flexibility, if your event is not on a Saturday night. This tends to be true everywhere, not just at LEY restaurants.)