Asian restaurant for large dinner in San Fran?

[sara]

Hi

I've been tasked with finding the perfect location for a San Francisco dinner of sociologists of education on a Saturday night in August. The biggest challenge-- lots of people, not a lot of money to spend.

My dream is to find a family-owned Asian restaurant (preferably Chinese or Vietnamese) that would be happy to close the entire place for a Saturday night and do a dinner for between 80-150 people (I can cap the number if need be), for approximately $50-55/head.

I'd think that in this economy, and in the dead of August, I should be able to find such a place-- but the typical sites for private dining in San Fran aren't much help (too pricey, formal, etc).

The place need not be fancy or formal at all-- my only requirement is that the food is good, they can seat enough people, and the price is right.

Does anyone have ideas, or perhaps friends who own restaurants that fit the bill??

Much thanks!!

Sara

[Carolyn Tillie]

I think the biggest problem you are facing at the moment is that WITH this economy, it is a crap shoot that any restaurant you find right now might not even be open in eight months.

I would check back in May and you will probably also get a lot more responses on Chowhound. I did a search there and there are a handful of threads about people having wedding receptions for the number of guests you have, but even then, several of the restaurants mentioned are no longer around.

Here is one thread that might help you start your investigation. There are others...

[AsianEscoffier]

Some of the best chinese restaurants in San Francisco also happen to have some of the biggest dining rooms as well. I personally really like R&G Lounge in chinatown, and Koi Palace in Daly City. Both places have large private dining facilities, and they both do killer authentic chinese food as well. For 50/55 bucks a head, i think youd be able to afford lots of great seafood, and maybe even a little abalone and sharks fin too.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I totally agree that Koi Palace is killer (and probably my favorite, although it is not in the city). However, I would seriously doubt you could do a Saturday night there for 80 to 150 people for $50. I know of a number of private parties that have been held there and the price per person is more like $75 to $100. It is simply too desirable an establishment to charge that little for that large of a group.

[hzrt8w]

The Chinese banquet meal prices vary quite a bit depending on what is served. For example, at Zen Peninsula Restaurant I have seen their "round table 8-course packages: range from $288 to $688 or even higher (a table typically is a 10-person count). High prices are usually associated with high-priced seafood or dried food items such as shark-fin soup, suckling pig, abalone, king crab, birdnest, or something of that nature. To non-Chinese diners, some of these "exotic" items may not even be desirable, if sweet-and-sour pork would do. So if one is to have some "nice" entrees (e.g. scallops, dungenous crabs, fried young pigeons, etc.) $50 pp - straightly from a food-price perspective would be plenty - considering each Chinese dinner entree is around US$10 to US$15. Any restaurant that charges more would be ripping people off.

However, this pricing perspective is straight from the price of a meal. Now if one is to rent out the dining room for the party for the whole evening (and they would not have any table turn-around), then I don't know if they would do it without charging something for it. I can't tell. I haven't arranged for such a party.

Anyway... it can all be up to negotiation probably.

Suggestions for checking into:

Zen Peninsula, Millbrae (El Camino Real)

Fook Yuen, Millbrae (El Camino Real)

Flower Lounge, Millbrae (El Camino Real)

Yank Sing, San Francisco - downtown, Rincon Center

Note: I have eaten at Zen and Fook Yuen and love their food. I have eaten at Flower Lounge a while back and I think their food quality had degraded from what I remembered. I have not eaten at Yank Sing but have been there - inside the atrium of Rincon Center - they can set up temporary tables for parties probably.

Edited January 16, 2009 by hzrt8w (log)