Minneapolis / St. Paul: Reception Venue

[rachelevelyn]

Hey!

My fiance and I are planning a wedding in the Twin Cities area and have yet to find a suitable reception venue. We are expecting around 125 guests and would like to do it at a restaurant versus a banquet hall or that sort of thing.

Any ideas for a place with the space, great decor, and wonderful food?

[Foureyes137]

What is your projected spend per guest or total spend and what day of the week are you looking at?

[rachelevelyn]

Good question: Because our actual wedding and reception will be taking place in New Mexico earlier in the month, we have approximately $4000-$5000.

[Foureyes137]

Do you have to have plated, or is buffet alright as well?

I'll presume this is taking place on a weekend.

[rachelevelyn]

We're pretty laid back and don't really care if it's buffet or plated, whatever is most economical. Also, we are planning on a weekend reception, but we're open to Friday night, Saturday day or night, or Sunday late lunch.

[MayrMN]

Check out the Atlas restaurant in Minneapolis. I know they do a lot of weddings. I considered it, but went with the Women's Club in Minneapolis, but that might top your budget.

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Atlas Grill & Clubroom
200 S 6th St, Minneapolis, MN 55402

[karykat]

Very timely question for me since I was at a private virthday/Halloween party at Atlas tonight. The food was very good. They did a buffet line for the group with excellent tender chicken and beef, great green salad and bread. Also a potato gratiny thing I am still thinking about. Anyway, I know they do lots of weddings there.

[rachelevelyn]

I'll definitely contact Atlas - it's priced towards the top of our budget, but you never know. Thanks for the suggestions!

[miki]

The St. Paul Hotel in St. Paul has a smaller dining room downstairs that my son used for his reception last year, and the price was more reasonable than you would think.

A friend's son had his reception at the Mill City Museum, and my friend said that it was lovely.

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Mill City Museum
704 S 2nd St, Minneapolis, MN 55401

Mill City Cafe
2205 California St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418

[MayrMN]

I also liked the Mill City Museum as a venue but D'Amico catering made it WAY too expensive.

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Mill City Museum
704 S 2nd St, Minneapolis, MN 55401

Mill City Cafe
2205 California St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418

[miki]

She hadn't mentioned anything about it being catered. I wonder if it has to be the Cafe?

The nice thing about the St. Paul Hotel is that they offer a package with a free room for the night for the bride and groom, and champagne, of course. For a bit extra, they will oversee the entire event that evening, so nobody in the party misses the fun.

Also, Rice Park across the street is a pretty place for wedding photographs. As a caveat to all potential wedding planners, don't keep your guests and the wait staff waiting, it's just rude. Any issues I had with the food could be tracked back to taking too long with the photography shoot.

[rachelevelyn]

St. Paul Hotel is WAY out of our price range, we really need $27 per head or less (depending on what beverages are included).

I'd checked into the Mill City Museum which I love, but MayrMN was so right when she said how expensive D'AMico is.
Mill City Cafe is adorable, but unfortunately they cap at 75 people.

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Mill City Museum
704 S 2nd St, Minneapolis, MN 55401

Mill City Cafe
2205 California St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418

[miki]

I'm still dreaming, but I noticed the Landmark Center in St. Paul gives you a choice of caterers. It's not quite a restaurant, but it is a pretty setting.

What month is this going to be?

[rachelevelyn]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, it's really helpful - I was so burnt out and out of ideas.

Our actual wedding on on May 22nd, 2010 in Albuquerque, NM. Depending on how long our honeymoon will be, we're looking at May 28-30, or June 5-7.

[The Dairy Queen]

I've never known anyone who has done this, but on their site, Ngon Bistro used to say on their website that their dining room was available for private groups of up to (I can't exactly remember) 125 or 150. They would seem to have the space and wonderful food. Generally, I find their pricing very reasonable, so, I would hope they would fit into your budget...

Congrats and good luck!

~TDQ

[daniellempls]

Alright, I can't resist. I had my reception at Elsie's two years ago. If you are not familiar, it is a restaurant/bowling alley in Northeast Minneapolis. The place is a bowling alley and dive bar, but they do have a new, gorgeous banquet room with private bar. They have great basic food- NY strips, chicken, fish, at reasonable prices. The service was perfect, we had plated meals with 3 entree options for 125 people and everything came out quick, so people were all eating at the same time. I got many compliments about the food from guests which was cool. As a side note, they did not charge me anything for bringing in a cake from outside which many of the other venues wanted to do.

The coordinator- Paula was great to work with, very flexible and accommodating. We had a DJ set up in the room and had plenty of space. Also, you can rent a lane or two for bowling to send kids to spend some extra energy.

Since they made our wedding such a great experience, I wanted to pass this along. Their website has photos of the banquet room as well as the rest of the place.

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Elsie's
729 Marshall St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413

[kevin47]

By and large, you are going to be looking at a banquet hall of a restaurant, especially since your budget is relatively tight.

With that in mind, wife and I had our reception at Axel's Radisson. The restaurant itself isn't exceptional, but the quality didn't suffer with a large group, and they can meet your price point if you are having a cash bar.

St. Petersburg restaurant and vodka bar has a nice room, and I generally like their food. They meet your price point and then some, but you might be stuck with more prototypical wedding food.

King's Korean could certainly do it, but it's in a Fridley strip mall.

You might also consider calling restaurants with great (and large) rooms and seeing what they can do for you. Erte comes to mind, as does Smalley's BBQ in Stillwater. If they can't help you, they likely get enough requests that they can refer you to someone who will.

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Erte
323 13th Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN

[rachelevelyn]

Thanks for all the recommendations!

We've been thinking cash bar as we're providing alcohol for our first reception in New Mexico. I'll definitely look into these restaurants.

[kevin47]

You might also consider hosting beer. Much, much cheaper than open bar. A single keg will probably serve your needs for $250-350.

Whatever you do, let us know what you decide. We like it, and it helps future Chowhounders make their own decision.

[jaycooke]

The Loring Pasta Bar does events like rehearsal dinners. Their website says their buffet starts at $30 pp, but they can do apps between $10-$25/head. I love the space. http://www.loringpastabar.com/catering/

Have you checked into the Five Event Center? They might be out of your price range, but they allow you to use any licensed caterer, so then you could hire the Chow Girls or anyone else that fits your budget.

It might not be big enough, but there's the upstairs (Firehouse Room) at the Happy Gnome in St. Paul. I haven't been since it was remodeled.

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Happy Gnome
498 Selby Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55102

Loring Pasta Bar
327 14th Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414

[rachelevelyn]

Thanks everyone - these are great suggestions! I'll definitely be busy!

[reannd]

We had our reception before Forepaugh's went under new ownership, but it was super reasonable ($15/pp for 3 course meal- drinks extra but not outrageous).. plus it's a pretty old house w.free parking in a not as busy part of St Paul. Classy all around. This was a few years ago, but we did it for a Sat/lunch, when they are not open as a restaurant, so we had the whole house to ourselves (w.servers of course).

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St Paul Cafe
717 Washington St, Saint Paul, KS 66771

Forepaugh's Restaurant
276 Exchange St S, Saint Paul, MN 55102

[rachelevelyn]

I've been in touch with the managers at Forepaughs and I think this may be where we end up. They charge $22-$29 per person for the buffet, plated seems more expensive, but with desserts included, that's pretty great, especially with no overhead charges, room fees, cake cutting fees, etc. I'm going to visit when I'm in town in a few weeks.

I'm also really interested in seeing what Peninsula's quotes would look like. I love Peninsula, every time I'm in the Twin Cities I make it a priority to eat there - yum! They've conveyed they need some time to gather together prices/menus. I'll let everyone know what that ends up being as well.

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Forepaugh's Restaurant
276 Exchange St S, Saint Paul, MN 55102

[boardsurfer]

I went to a friends about a year ago at seven in downtown and it was awesome. I think there was about 70 of us so i can't say that you will have the room but the place is huge and you shouldnt' have a problem with space. Pricing though, not sure if 5k would get you by there? I would call to find out though, it will be unforgettable if it works out.

[Haricotsv2]

Christos in Union Depot--Greek.
Mai Village on University has a lovely room and caters very reasonably

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Mai Village
394 University Ave W, Saint Paul, MN 55103

[miki]

Here's another idea, and maybe not for you, but for somebody else looking for a venue. For my son's rehearsal dinner, my husband and I didn't have much money, but we can cook. We rented out one of Dakota County's beautiful facilities for an evening. This one - Camp Sacajawea - has a fireplace, a kitchen and nice clean bathrooms. It's private, so you don't have people walking through and gawking, and looks out on the Lebanon Hills woods. There's a fire ring and DC will provide wood.

It was the best part of the wedding festivities, IMO. We lit candles up the walk and around the room, and had lasagna, fresh bread and some really terrific desserts.

It's a LOT nicer than it looks in the website's video; if you're looking for a place to have a reception or a rehearsal dinner or even a family reunion, I would highly recommend making an appointment for a visit to check it out.

And you would have a RICH resource for recipes, right here on CHOW!

[elle.eats]

I'm also planning my wedding reception and I have gotten several recommendations for Solera. I have yet to check it out so I'm really not sure on prices...

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Solera
900 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403

[rachelevelyn]

We were actually very interested in Solera. They were towards the top ceiling of our budget, but in the end there were just too many additional fees, and the events manager I was working with wasn't very responsive and never got around to answering an email or two with questions I had.

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Solera
900 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403

[miasj]

I am doing my rehearsal dinner with 100 guests with a budget of $5,000. I want open bar and good food. I thought all was lost until today. We met with the manager of Woodys restaurant and they will close the restaurant down for $5,000. You can get appetizers, a full meal, and open bar for that price and it is a great restaurant.

[GutGrease]

We had ours at Nye's Polonaise. They have a room in the basement that holds about 100-125 max. We had about 115 at our reception. The room didn't seem big and was musty when we checked it out, but everything was great. I still have people telling us how awesome it was to have the reception at Nye's. We served everything buffet style at the prices were very reasonable.

The best part is that people can go up to the main floor to dance polkas while the Ruth Adams band plays, or sing karaoke at the piano.