Recs Please!: Business Dinner & Drinks for Wall St. Types (10 ppl)

[cubeoccupant]

Hello CHers:

I am helping a friend of mine plan a dinner outing for his team. Good food and fun place for drinking for 10 people. I am assuming the diners' ages range from 20s to 40s and perhaps some older.

I don't want to pigeonhole 'Wall St Types' but I am thinking they probably like somewhat glitzy setting for their team dinner (who knows if these people are douchey?), but I cannot be sure so I would like to get some suggestions.

My friend was originally thinking Balthazar or Blue Water Grill, I think Balthazar is fine if he can get a reservation in time, but Blue Water Grill is a rather meh selection.

I was thinking if not Balthazar, they can go to Schillers as I see lots of 'Wall St. types' seem to really enjoy that establishment (same owners anyway) or Macao Trading Company for good drinking...Maybe TriBeCa or MePa area will work best because of proximity from their office and abundance of large and 'considered-hip' establishments.

Thanks!

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Blue Water Grill
31 Union Square West, New York, NY 10003

[sgordon]

I'll second Scarpetta and The Harrison. Some other good options:

Blue Ribbon - wide selection of food at various price points, something to appeal to everyone. Definitely "considered-hip."

I'd do Balthazar over Schiller's if it was between the two - more room, a little fancier.

If you're doing MePa there's certainly your fair share of glitzy places in addition to Scarpetta - I liked Colicchio & Sons quite a bit, and Morimoto is always fun. And there's Buddakan, which is the ultimate in douchey (or used to be, at least)

Over on the other side of town, Rayuela is positively dripping with bridge & tunnel d-bag crowds on the weekend, very glitzy in a "sceney" way (as opposed to a "fine dining" way) - but the food is often very good and they've got big enough tables to handle a 10-top.

DBGB, while I personally didn't care for it, is definitely turning into a hotspot for the doucherati. The food is good enough, I just find it drastically overpriced - though I suspect quality-to-price ratio isn't something many "Wall St Types" care about.

Double Crown is very sceney as well, and the food is good and priced accordingly. Also, DC's sister restaurant Public could be a good choice.

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Buddakan
75 9th Ave, New York, NY 10011

Rayuela
165 Allen Street, New York, NY 10002

Blue Ribbon Brasserie
97 Sullivan St, New York, NY 10012

Morimoto
88 10th Avenue, New York, NY 10011

Public
210 Elizabeth Street, New York, NY 10012

Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014

Double Crown
316 Bowery, New York, NY 10012

DBGB
299 Bowery, New York, NY 10003

Colicchio & Sons
85 10th Ave, New York, NY 10011

[stephaniec25]

I am a wall street type and I care a lot about food quality and love inexpensive but delicious food. I don't think it makes sense to typecast like that but I did recommend Scarpetta as a good place for a team dinner because its great food and there is room to move at the table and you can hear each other speak.

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Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014

[Bone Thug n Hominy]

I agree. I'd purposely avoid most of the restaurants mentioned (even if my firm footed the bill), but I would go to Scarpetta for the food.

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Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014

[cubeoccupant]

Thanks for the recs guys, and sorry to anyone who was offended by my use of 'glitzy' in the original post. I didn't necessarily mean it in a negative way although some of my buddy's coworkers that I ran into have been the credit card roulette at bars typpe.

Turns out that my friend went to Standard Grill, which I recommended based on food not knowing their reservation situation. Apparently they had a private room where the team (all senior than my friend) enjoyed the food and the outing in general.

Scarpetta would be a great dinner destination for a group though, how hard is to get a reservation for party that big?

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Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014

Standard Grill
848 Washington Street, New York, NY 10014

[Bone Thug n Hominy]

I'm a "Wall St. type" and despise "glitzy" restaurants. If I were to take a group of 10 coworkers out, it would probably be to a place like 1492.

[stephaniec25]

Scarpetta would be good and the tables are not so tight as they are at Balthazar and Schillers which is uncomfortable for a team dinner.

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Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014

[fm1963]

We've had team dinners for ten at Landmarc and The Harrison in Tribeca. Close anough to Wall Street, menu broad enough for foodies and conservative eaters, businessy but relaxed. not too hip, not too staid, not too astronomical. We're planning another one so would be curious about other suggestions.

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Landmarc
179 West Broadway, New York, NY 10013

[cubeoccupant]

Thanks for the recs! I think The Harrison seems pretty promising...

[Upperwestsider]

Can you give us a geographical area? You mentioned "Wall St types"; does that mean they all, or mainly, work in the financial district? If yes, and I second pronceofpork's suggestion, I recommend Harry's Steak, Harry's Italian (much less formal, noisier, less expensive) and Mark Joseph. Of course, if they are real Wall Streeters, and the budget permits, tell 'em to take a cab (or car) to Lugar's right across the bridge.

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Harry's Italian
2 Gold St, New York, NY 10038

[trinyc]

Mark Joseph is good, what about Locanda Verde? Brandy Library is down the street- might be good.

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Brandy Library
25 N Moore St, New York, NY 10013

Locanda Verde
377 Greenwich St, New York, NY 10013

[princeofpork]

Many of the steakhouses will do a private room for groups of 10 or more, this could work for them.