Recommendation needed for restaurant near LAX for large group (35) and reasonable

[caviargal]

I am putting together a dinner party for a business group and we are staying at the Sheraton LAX Gateway. My budget is approx 35 per person (food, tax, tip) and it needs to convenient. On the trolley line would be great as most of us will not have cars.

I think ethnic might be best. Perhaps Italian or Mexican. I am not a fan of chains at all but local chains might be an option.

Any help is appreciated!

[Servorg]

This thread may give you some ideas: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/566360

[caviargal]

Thanks. I would appreciate any additional thoughts. No BBQ, no HoJo for this group. We need a sit down atmosphere with good food and I need a three course meal.

[westsidegal]

i hear what you are after, and i can't think of any good 'sit down atmosphere' place that serves a three course meal of american food that is anywhere near LAX for $35/pp INCLUDING tax and tip.

most of the 'reasonable' 'sit-down atmosphere' meals that would meet your budget are ethnic restaurants (i.e. persian, chinese, thai) that are nowhere near LAX.

if you can either increase your budget, or decrease the number of courses you will accept, that would help. my guess is that wherever you go, you will need to set-up a situation with a limited menu.

also, does that $35 number also include beverages? alcoholic? non-alcoholic?

[caviargal]

Ethnic is preferred and no there is no alcohol included. A limited, set menu is standard with a group this size the budget has never been an issue in other major cities. I am simply unfamiliar with interesting options in this area.

I can do it at the hotel but it would be boring and I prefer to get them out and about.

[yogachik]

The budget wouldn't be an issue in other areas of LA, but you're asking to be at LAX. I suggest looking into Cafe Del Rey in Marina del Rey, a short cab ride. If you had transportation, your options would be extensive - especially for Mexican (La Cabana comes to mind, about a $15 cab fare).

The shuttle/trolley you refer to is to Manhattan Beach and stops at 8:30 PM from October to May. Expand your search for Manhattan Beach, perhaps Versailles for Cuban? Or maybe Hennesseys?

[westsidegal]

yogachik,
the budget is $35/pp INCLUDING tax and tip for a 3 COURSE DINNER.
cafe del rey is completely out of the question.

also, the cab fare to la cabana is closer to $25 than $15.

hennessey's is a neighborhood bar. the food they offer is very limited and, honestly it is not their focus. serving a party of 35 people who are not necessarily going to consume alcohol is not something i see them wanting to do nor, to be frank something they will be able to handle.

[westsidegal]

although i haven't been there myself, maybe casa sanchez would work for mexican food if you stick to a limited set menu.
i've heard that they have a mariachi band there on the weekends.

http://www.casa-sanchez.com/

only consider this, though, if you can arrange transportation through the hotel. taking an army of cabs is NOT likely to work out well. the cabbies are determined to actually earn a living, and taking short-distance trips with people who probably are not going to be very generous tippers is not the way that a cabbie can put food on the table.

[nosh]

I am also struggling to make sense of your request. There is certainly no good public transportation option from your hotel to anywhere good and attractive. Los Angeles is not a cab city, so even relatively short trips get expensive, even if three or four of you share the same cab. I don't understand when you say "most" won't have cars -- if eight of you are local or rented a vehicle, you could transport the group by sharing the cars.

Cafe Del Rey is a beautiful restaurant with good food, fine service, an extensive wine list, and nice views of the marina with all of the small boats -- it is not really "ocean" view and I don't think that $35 per person will come close to covering even a simple multi-course meal there. In your hotel is a Shula 347, a good steakhouse and probably the best restaurant in all of the big hotels in the LAX vicinity, but $35 isn't going to come close there either, and it is the local outpost of a national small upscale chain.

The LAX area is also not home to any of our best ethnic restaurants. Ayara Thai is relatively close and pretty good, but a group of 35 might overwhelm them. Pann's is a great diner with excellent biscuits and wings and Googie architecture, but I can't imagine you are thinking that. Alejo's is a red-sauce Italian place known for being heavy on the garlic, but is no L.A. experience. There are big places on the water in Marina Del Rey fairly close to the airport like Shanghai Red's but they are known for beer and burgers and being on the water rather than for a sitdown business meal. Maybe someone can come up with an idea to the south in El Segundo or in Westchester, but when we get into Venice we are getting a bit far and pricey again.

You know, as I think about this, I realize that I could come up with ideas in just about any other area of SoCal -- downtown, Santa Monica, W.L.A., the valley, midcity, southbay. I know the concierge or whichever manager is helping to coordinate your group at the Sheraton has a vested interest in keeping you inside of the property. But they must get these kind of questions from business travelers on a regular basis. I wonder what places they would recommend, and what transportation options they could provide. Who knows, they may have some sort of arrangement with somewhere from Santa Monica down through the beach cities where they could send you all in one of their shuttle buses and pick you up for nothing or a nominal fee, with the hotel being compensated from the other end for a 35-diner referral. Wouldn't hurt to inquire.

[Servorg]

It's probably 5 miles to Al Watan. By cab this should be maybe $15 each way and divided up the round trip cost wouldn't be bad. The group might just have the whole dining room, (they would obviously need to call and see if they would accommodate a group this size). It would certainly fill the bill for excellent ethnic food and the price point would be met easily.

Add: Fair warning. This is a dive. But a dive with excellent food.

[nosh]

OK, add the cab fare, assuming each cab is shared by two people each way. Now you have saved $15 per person plus tip, and now you can stay in the hotel and have a steak at Shula 347, assuming you can get some sort of deal for a limited menu with 35 people.

Now add the ridiculousness of getting a dozen and a half cabs to go from a hotel near LAX (when all of the cabbies want to pick up the big fares for single riders leaving LAX for distant parts of the area) and you get a sense of the absurdity.

35 people near LAX going somewhere: a shuttle bus, at least 8 or 9 people who will drive and fill their cars with passengers, or at least a couple of hours with people waiting for cabs straggling into the hotel and leaving for a short dining trip rather than a much more lucrative pick-up from LAX.

[westsidegal]

i can't really see shula 347 coming up with a $35/pp multicourse meal including tax and tip (normally for parties of that size at least 18% is added as a service charge)--my guess is that the hotel coffee shop might be able to accomodate.

nosh, you are spot on here. once the cabbies waiting at the hotel get wind of what the story is with this group they will flee. (cell phones and two way radios are in EVERY cab--they'll know within moments). this will leave some of the group stranded in front of the hotel.

also, i suspect caviar girl's concept of ethnic would not extend to al wataan ethnic. i find it hard to believe that any group of 35 out-of-towners woud be universally open to al wataan.

[nosh]

westsidegal -- what i should have made more explicit is that if the OP figured in the cost per person of even the simplest cab fare, she could raise her per person at Shula's from $35 to $50 per person or more.

I am still very interested in what a query to a manager or concierge at the hotel could come up with for a group of three dozen with a total budget of well over a grand. In today's business climate, where hotels and restaurants are beginning to feel the squeeze and should be more inclined to be flexible.

[westsidegal]

i would be interested too.
i think the day of the week that this event is scheduled to take place will affect the answer. they will probably get more interest if it takes place on a monday or tuesday night than if it takes place later in the week.

possibly they'll send the party to pancho's (imho, yuck food).

[westsidegal]

i really don't see shula's working even at $50/pp INCLUDING tax, tip, and a non-alcoholic beverage i unless they limited the entrees to sandwiches or pasta.

other than sandwiches, the only entree they offer below $20 is linguini--most of the entrees are mid twenties to low thirties..
also, the entrees don't come with side dishes, so for each side dish add about $4.

salads are $8.

desserts run from $6 to $9.
a cup of cappuccino is $5

figure tax at about 8%
tip about 18% to 20%

i would not count on shula's as being the answer. . . .

[westsidegal]

the cab route would be even worse if they end up going to a restaurant that won't seat them until the party is complete. . .

[Emme]

too bad Bistrotek is way out of price range...

For Indian in Westchester, there's the more new Taj India Palace

Agra on Lincoln is reasonably priced or there's Shershah on Maxella

if you headed down sepulveda, there's Versailles, and i think you could work out a menu with them.

[westsidegal]

taj india palace is a nice, small, family-operated indian restaurant in a tiny strip mall.
taj would probably LOVE to have this business-- they would probably close the restaurant to let this party have the entire restaurant.
shershah, too, would probably love this party and the ambiance there is somewhat better. it, too, is located in a shopping center.
if everyone in the party can handle indian food both these ideas are good.

imho, agra is simply too small to work.

versaille might also work.
emme, your ideas are really good if caviargirl can get transportation worked out with the hotel and if everyone in the group is open to indian food or cuban food. ( cab fare from the hotel to shershah would approach $20 including a fair tip, probably about $15 to taj or to versaille, so cabs are not a workable solution, imho).

caviargirl; be prepared, versailles is not, in any way, an elegant restaurant. it is a busy, noisy, place that slings out huge portions to an endless stream of diners.

[Bakersfield Hound]

Maybe with a group that big, a chartered bus is an option that solves a lot of problems as to where to go. I know my company does with groups over 25.
Danny

[bulavinaka]

As the issue of transportation has been mentioned in one form or another in most responses - a major consideration in most of SoCal - maybe the OP should first discuss w/ the hotel what their options might be in using the courtesy shuttle - how far and in what directions the shuttle can move how many people at once, and what their scheduling will be.

The option that I was considering while reading through this thread has been mentioned by Bakerfield Hound - even companies like Super Shuttle can probably accommodate the OP's party.

We just celebrated my mother's 80th birthday. Back in September, I had inquired if any hounds might have recs on places in the South Bay that could accommodate a party of about 30 for my mom's birthday. Japanese or Chinese please:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/555195

We explored our options at I-Naba on Hawthorne in Torrance, Sanuki no Sato on Western in Gardena, and also Sea Impress on Redondo Beach Blvd which is also in Gardena. All three locations could do a party of thirty. All three could do multi-course meals given a reasonable price range - $35 would probably be stretching it at I-Naba ($40-50 more reasonable here), probably a can-do at Sanuki no Sato, and definitely will-do at Sea Empress. We really liked I-naba, but squeezing 30 into their main dining area seemed a bit tight - 35 would stretch the room's seams. Sanuki no Sato was a slight compromise on the food but had a broader menu - still, the private room that they had would fit 30 max. Sea Empress is used to having wedding banquets and other occasions of all sizes - probably up to 200 if I had to guess.

Our ultimate choice? Sea Empress. We found the space to be more than accommodating, the food (Cantonese) to be very good (no bantering about them vs. SGV choices please!), and the price ranges to be broad enough to fit most budgets. Family dinners for 10 start at $188, and the eight dinner/banquet options progressively increase to $438 per table of 10. All of these family/banquet dinners have 10 courses. We chose the "Banquet Menu," at $328 per 10 guests, and substituting the shark's fin in the sharks' fin soup w/ crab meat with shrimp and scallops (for personal reasons). We found all of the courses to be very good to excellent with the exception of the soup, which we considered to be just average. Here's a list of the ten courses:

Barbequed platter - char siu, chicken braised in soy sauce, pork and beef cold cuts, jellyfish.

Sauteed prawns w/ honey glazed walnuts (huge prawns, very delicious if you like this dish)

Twin style pan fried scallops (huge scallops both battered/fried and sauteed w/ asparagus

)

Shark's fin soup w/ crab (again - we had them sub the shark's fin w/ scallops and shrimp - was just average)

Sliced abalone w/ mustard greens (abalone was generous, very tender, and the mustard greens were some of the best I've had - tender, sweet, with just a tinge of pungency)

Golden fried crispy chicken (surprisingly good - very crisp on the outside, still very juicy and tender on the inside, a little garlicky, served w/ lemon, shrimp chips, that li hing moi type of salt on the side)

Peking duck ( this was actually two courses counting as one - one with the crispy skin/breast meat served w/ the steamed buns, hoisin and scallions, and the other was the rest of the duck served separately after another course)

Steamed fresh fish (huge Rock Cod - probably 5-pound fish)

Fried rice (not greasy at all - great with la cha)

Steamed bun w/ lotus seeds

Mango Pudding

The meal was not mind-blowing but the food was prepared well, the freshness and quality of the ingredients were definitely well above average, the quantity of food was actually too much for us, the service was far above-average for a Chinese restaurant, and the room was clean. Tax and tip will be added in. My sister is a vegan, so she ordered straight off of their regular menu - I think she ordered three dishes (again, tons of leftovers for her as well). The total came to $1,306, including tax, tip, drinks (I think 10-15 beers/wine from the bar), and my sister's orders from the regular menu. No charge for cake service. Sea Empress has a full bar, does have a lot of live seafood tanks, and only needs one day advanced notice. Contact is David Lo, 310-538-6868.

Mapquest indicates a 15-minute drive and 9.64 miles from Four Points on Century to Sea Empress. We made it in just over 15 minutes from the Westside through mid-day Saturday-lite traffic on the 405.

If I-Naba had a bigger dining area to accommodate our group, they would have been a slam-dunk. Their focus on quality and presentation is impressive, especially given the price where one typically pays a higher premium for Japanese food. However, in our case, it worked out well just the same. My mother enjoys Chinese as well as Japanese equally.

I think given that the OP is going to have to knuckle under and find some form of mass transportation for the group, she might look into that aspect first, see what the cost will be, and then her options will probably open up a lot more...

[caviargal]

1) I have emailed both the hotel concierge and my on property contact but no reply so far. Of course they will work to keep us in house but we already have several meals there and people will need a break.

2) We have used the property several times and like Shula's but price is one issue, the size of their only private dining room another.

3) westsidegal, I have no idea why you make an assumption that these folks would be cheap tippers. It is far from accurate. We have a budget because, as with many corporate groups, there are expenses beyond the actual cost of the meal itself which must be factored in as I plan this event.

4) I have already inquired about the Sheraton shuttles and am waiting for a response. Their first question was where we need to go so I am trying to put the cart where it belongs, after the horse.

5) Lots of these folks will have cars and will offer rides to others that are from out of town so we will not need transportation for all 35.

The suggestions so far are appreciated and I will post the response from the hotel concierge and sales department when I receive them.

It is unfortunate but Indian is not an option.

[JEN10]

How about Cozymels in Manhattan Beach?
http://www.cozymels.com/store_manbeac...

[westsidegal]

good suggestion.
cozymel's is a bustling mexican chain restaurant.
this is the type of restaurant that offers a children's menu.

[Servorg]

ToroTaku had made that suggestion in the prior thread that I linked. The negative is that the OP didn't want a "chain" (outside of a local chain) and Cozymel's fails that test.

[westsidegal]

then, i would again float the idea of casa sanchez.

[nosh]

Bulavinaka's suggestion of Sea Empress and his detailed sample banquet menu is a fantastic idea. As he mentions, Sea Empress is big, with large dining areas in either direction after you enter and pass the bar area, and it is clean and nicely decorated. They do a bustling dim sum business during lunch hours not only on weekends but during the week as well. They have a large kitchen and a lot of staff and servers, so handling a banquet of that size is something they are very experienced with and professional about. I think it would be cutting hairs and comparing apples to oranges to assert that they are not as good or authentic as some of the regional places in the SGV -- they do Cantonese and specialize in seafood, and unless most of the party is from Vancouver or another area with a large Chinese population, the quality of the food most likely will be several levels higher than what they are used to. There will be lots of flexibility in planning the expense and composition of the menu -- since they are a major destination for dim sum in that area of town, I'm sure you could sub in lots of dumplings, potstickers, and eggrolls as early courses. While I'm a fan of Casa Sanchez (Taqueria Sanchez is my westside favorite) I believe you are going to have a much more impressive and memorable experience at Sea Empress. Geographically, if the 405 is jammed (when is the 405 NOT jammed?) you can head east on the 105 and then south on Western. Parking is plentiful and free -- the shopping center is on the south side of Redondo Beach Blvd. with the restaurant prominent on the west side. Excellent idea!