restaurant suggestions for 20 students

[katbert]

I have a midsized group (~15-20) of mostly students who want to go out for dinner. The current suggestion is Olive Garden. I would normally yuck! this kind of chain, but the recent NYTimes article on chains was entertaining and makes me slightly more amenable to the idea. My tastiest idea would be that we could do multiple tables in some of the restaurants in Chinatown. But I thought I should check in and see if anyone has any more ideas (most of the restaurants I'd like to go to wouldn't be good for groups this large).

Criteria- can handle 15-20 ppl

-on the lower end of mid-priced (say $8-15 entrees)

-will have underage ppl, so no bar bars

-bounded by Front street & 45th street, a few blocks north of market -> a few blocks south of south

[philadining]

Chinatown's not a bad idea, both for price and being able to accommodate the size of the group. Several places have private rooms you can reserve, and it's not always obvious, they're sometimes on an upper floor that's only used for parties or banquets, etc.

Sang Kee has a 3rd Floor, Tai Lake has a banquet room on the 2nd floor, The new Ken's Seafood has three private rooms of various sizes on their upper floors, I'm sure there are more...

I've been with a group about that big at Ralph's in South Philly, and it worked out pretty well. It's a little further south than you'd wanted, but not too hard to get to. If they stuck to pastas and the like, you can keep it in budget, and while there seems to be some disagreement about the quality or consistency of Ralph's, but I've always had good luck, and I feel confident it will be better than the Olive Garden! More importantly, it's a very Philly kind of place.

[etalanian]

I second the Chinatown dinner. There was a Laban review of Dim Sum Garden (59 N. 11th Street) a couple of weeks ago and we went with friends. We had mostly dumplings, along with a delicious noodle dish. Ate ourselves full - and the bill for 4 people was $27! Read the review and keep mostly to the excellent dumplings and noodle dishes they make.

My daughter, who goes to college in Chicago has a group of friends she eats with - all ethnic restaurants - and they love it. A couple of months ago someone's friend was in from out of town and suggested Olive Garden. Emily and her friends had never been to one, and the out-of-town guest raved on about it. So they went there. They felt robbed. Go with Chinatown.

Eileen

[Tom]

At a wine tasting some years ago, an Italian wine representative was asked if he was offended by The Sopranos. "No," he said, "I'm offended by The Olive Garden."

You might check out the private room at Lee How Fook on North 11th St.