Business dinner for 10, with wine and fun atmosphere, on Westside

[Chestnut]

I'm trying to plan a business dinner for 10, for a weekday. Here are the requirements:

1) Not too staid, formal or fussy
2) A fancy yet fun atmosphere
3) Serves good wine - we have wine snobs in our group
4) Excellent food
5) Can seat us around 7:30/8:00 pm

My top choice was A.O.C., which has the wine requirement, the great food requirement, the fun atmosphere requirement, and the ability-to-seat-a-large party requirement. Unfortunately, I think they only have a table open at 9 on the day I want to hold the dinner, which is way too late for us.

Here are the other restaurants I was looking at:
- Tasca (but poss party of 8 only; also, it sounds really tiny)
- La Cachette
- Jar
- Providence
- Lucques
- Grace
- Spago

Any comments or suggestions? Thanks!

[glutton]

How about Joe's on Abbot Kinney in Venice? Or Chinois on Main Street in Santa Monica?

[JBC]

"The Den" at La Cachette qualifies under #s 2, 3, 4 but 5 is a ? and for 1 = your in your own private room so that's not going to matter too much as you'll set your own atmosphere.....:

http://www.lacachetterestaurant.com/c...

[zoomchic]

Il Moro
Beachwood ( If it's a weeknight, it shouldn't be too noisy/crowded and you could choose betweent the dining area, lounge or patio)
I like the Upstairs2 rec
Chaya Venice
Abode (they also have a side room, a lounge area and a patio)

[whatsfordinner]

Josie's in Santa Monica.

[Pei]

I just sent J's colleagues to Nook, and they had a great time. He asked for almost exactly what you describe, and was on a bit of a budget to boot. They were only a party of 4, though, so Nook might be tight for you.

[gomagoma]

I recommend Upstairs2, which is on the 2nd floor of The Wine House.
http://upstairs2.com/
The only thing is, they are open Wed - Sat.
They have a great wine selection being that it's "upstairs" of the Wine House; corkage is $15 or $10, if you buy the bottle downstairs. Food is wonderful (the pace was a bit too fast for our group, so I asked them to slow it down after the 2nd round) and I did see a table with a large party so hopefully they still have room on the night you're hosting your dinner. Parking is free upstairs.

[Obessed]

My first thought was also Upstairs 2. I found the food at Tasca to be similar to Upstairs 2, but more expensive and smaller portion sizes.

I would also recommend La Terza --- had dinner there on Friday night and it was fabulous! They could definitely accomodate a party of 10.