Office Cocktail Party For 30-40 People

[Tweaked]

ok my fellow egullet friends, my office is looking for a place to have a cocktail party, probably on Thursday or friday, 6-9pmish or later. roughly 30-40 people, good drinks and passed apps. Our office is in Dupont, we will travel around DC but not MD or VA?

Any suggestions?

[Mark Sommelier]

Big budget or small budget?

[Free Wilma]

Does it need to be a private room? I'm assuming the drinks may be of greater importance than the food in this case. If so, then maybe somewhere with a terrific view or extra interesting room. I know the Hay-Adams has an elegant room on one of the top floors that looks out over Layfayette Park. I've been to private lunches there...but not cocktail parties. Are there any places that have views of the Potomac? It would be cool with the leaves changing. Of course if this is after work, daylight savings time will be over and it will be dark by 6:00.

[Malawry]

Ortanique is well-designed to accommodate your group. I'd give them a call.

[painemilla]

Yucca ( 18th and M) is also a good option. We had a pretty big happy hour there last spring and they accomodated out needs in terms of budget, specials and food.

There are several open spaces and a private room.

[Tweaked]

we are a smallish nonprofit, so budget small to medium...but our direct mail guy usually foots the alcohol bill...so the alcohol budget can be a bit higher!

[cjsadler]

I was at a cocktail party of sorts at Charlie Palmer's on Tuesday-- they reserved a small room off the main dining area for it. The wines (chosen by their sommelier), passed hors d'oeurves, and service were all excellent. God knows how much this cost, though (the hors d'oeurves included foie gras stuffed profiteroles and Muscovy duck, but you could probably get them to tone it down a bit). The bill was picked up by a magazine publisher and I was there as the (wine swilling) guest of a friend (if anyone knows how I can crash more of these type of events, please PM me )

[lackadaisi]

Ortanique is well-designed to accommodate your group. I'd give them a call.

←

I would not choose Ortanique. Our office recently had a party there, and it was a disappointment. The drinks and food were wonderful, but the space was unacceptable. They put us behind the upstairs bar. This would have fine - if a bit removed - except that they then allowed other people to remain sitting on that side of the bar. So, there were several uninvited people at our "private" event the entire time. I found this to be very strange, especially as it left us without those seats and there is another bar at the restaurant.

We have decided to hold our next event at Andale.

[mnebergall]

I know it suck ventworm nut, but what about Rosa Mexicana? They have some private rooms.

[syzygy8]

Upstairs at the District Chophouse.

[morela]

Signature's? They've got good happy hour deals...

[laniloa]

How about Corduroy? Their passed hors d'oeurves at our recent eGullet event were great -- see the raves on the other thread.

edited to say: woops -- of course you know it was great, you were there.

Edited October 29, 2004 by laniloa (log)

[Malawry]

I would not choose Ortanique.  Our office recently had a party there, and it was a disappointment.  The drinks and food were wonderful, but the space was unacceptable.  They put us behind the upstairs bar.  This would have fine - if a bit removed - except that they then allowed other people to remain sitting on that side of the bar.  So, there were several uninvited people at our "private" event the entire time.  I found this to be very strange, especially as it left us without those seats and there is another bar at the restaurant.

←

Huh. That is strange. I wonder why they didn't just close that side of the bar--were you there at a peak time? (To be fair, that's no excuse, and Tweaked is talking about going someplace at a peak time too...) Thanks for telling us about your experience though. I'm disappointed for you.

I used to work at Ortanique and prepared many of the tasties for the parties--the party snacks and bar menu are generally the best things going at that place. (Plus the mojitos, especially if Emilio is at the bar.)

[lackadaisi]

I would not choose Ortanique.  Our office recently had a party there, and it was a disappointment.  The drinks and food were wonderful, but the space was unacceptable.  They put us behind the upstairs bar.  This would have fine - if a bit removed - except that they then allowed other people to remain sitting on that side of the bar.  So, there were several uninvited people at our "private" event the entire time.  I found this to be very strange, especially as it left us without those seats and there is another bar at the restaurant.

←

Huh. That is strange. I wonder why they didn't just close that side of the bar--were you there at a peak time? (To be fair, that's no excuse, and Tweaked is talking about going someplace at a peak time too...) Thanks for telling us about your experience though. I'm disappointed for you.

I used to work at Ortanique and prepared many of the tasties for the parties--the party snacks and bar menu are generally the best things going at that place. (Plus the mojitos, especially if Emilio is at the bar.)

←

It was a tuesday night, so there was really no excuse at all.