Casual-ish Group Dinner

[fesenjanface]

Dear Hounds,

Let me start by saying I'm a longtime reader and first-time poster and that I have searched the boards but haven't really found what I'm looking for.

I'm looking for a dinner spot for a group of 12 guys in SF for a bachelor party. We're staying in Union Square but I don't think traveling will be a problem as long as it's not too terribly far. I'm looking for a spot that will accommodate the twelve of us at one (maybe two) large table(s) and has great food/drinks. It doesn't need to be fancy at all, just good.

Also, we're not the crazy types, but somewhere a little "lively" would be nice so we can joke around and feel good about having a little fun. I guess some kind of gastropub would be a good fit, but I haven't found anything.

From scouring the board, I've come up with the following options but am not married to any of them:
Sauce
Orson
Paragon

Thanks for any help.

[fesenjanface]

Thank you for all of your recommendations. We ended up at Urban Tavern and had a great meal. Started with a few orders of baked clams and had to fight over them. Had a delicious summer vegetable salad followed by steak frites. The hanger steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare and seasoned beautifully. The frites were used to sop up all of the drippings. Great cocktails and a decent beer selction (nothing great). The atmosphere was perfect for a large group. The only issue was that there was a presumably drunk man lying across all of the sinks in the restroom with his head in the last one. All in all, a great night.

[rworange]

Thanks for reportingback

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Urban Tavern
333 O'Farrell St., San Francisco, CA 94102

[mrsricho]

Not gastropubs but for a fun place with good food for guys that also want good drinks I'd recommend Mamacita or Beretta? :-)

[Candice]

I would say Town Hall but I'm not sure they seat groups that large.

[mlutsky]

For great food and a classy atmosphere, try Pres A Vi in the Presidio. You can walk down Chestnut St. into the Marina and go barhopping from there.

For a very casual atmosphere and good food, you can probably get your group in at Park Chalet out by Ocean Beach. The beers there are great but not exactly a happening location.

[PulledPork]

Nopa, Mangarosa, Poleng Lounge, or the private room at 1300.

[MesrB]

Have you checked out The Tipsy Pig? Gastropub in Cow Hollow. Another option would be Magnolia, haven't been but heard good things. There's always Urban Tavern.

[fesenjanface]

The Tipsy Pig looked really promising except I can't get a reservation for next Saturday! Urban Tavern is in hotel? Magnolia could work, let me see about getting a res. Thanks for the recs!

[Mick Ruthven]

>I guess some kind of gastropub would be a good fit<

Urban Tavern describes itself as a Gastro Pub on their website ( http://www.urbantavernsf.com/index2.php ). I haven't been there but bunrab (my favorite food bloggers) just wrote a glowing report about it ( http://bunrab.com/dailyfeed/2009July/... ).

[Mick Ruthven]

This is a better link to the bunrab report on Urban Tavern.

http://www.bunrab.com/dailyfeed/2009J...