My eldest son is getting married this year and in February my husband and most of our brood will be joining what in the UK we call the Stag Party (Bachelor Party to my US readers) and I will be heading to the Cotswolds with the Bride and other lovely ladies for the Hen Do.
Of course traditionally in the UK these events involve quite a lot of drinking but luckily some thought has been put into what guests will be eating too. Well the Hens have a firm plan - we have booked a bottomless brunch. The Stags seem to have a vague notion of grabbing a burger somewhere but since their main event is in Birmingham City centre I don't think they'll starve.
To be honest though I like to have a firm plan and my very organised soon to be daughter-in-law has laid out a program for the whole weekend including eating in and out with options for vegans and the like. This means I know what I'm likely to be eating - perfect for me with my intolerances and food-based anxiety. I hate not knowing what I'm likely to eat. Thankfully most of my friends now give me a heads up or will cook what they know is one of my safe foods alongside theirs.
Planning a restaurant based celebration can be a real headache, especially if you have a mixed age group, dietary restrictions and varying budgets. So how can you choose the best restaurant party venue?
- Book a Buffet. In the UK we had a period where pretty much every town had a buffet restaurant, or at least one special buffet evening. These were usually Asian or "world foods" and often "eat as much as you like" where you could pile your plate with anything from papadums and pizza to chow men and chops. They are less popular now but can still be found (London's Chinatown has quite a few for example) and are ideal if you have to feed people with different tastes and appetites. Splitting the bill is easy as it's usually a set price. Some can be quite basic with cheap ingredients like rice, chips and veggie dishes padding out the buffet while some can be very high end - The luxury buffet at The Glasshouse at The Grove in Watford has events where you can eat limitless lobster!
- Ask Around. Ask friends and family where they would recommend and make sure they have visited recently - venues can change ownership, chef or suppliers so recent reviews are best. You can check online reviews too but it can be tricky to sort the genuine reviews from fake reviews. It's equally important to know if a venue can handle a party. It's very different being able to handle 40 covers on ten tables and handling 20 covers on one table all ordering and wanting to eat at once.
- Search Online. Asking friends and family is all very well if you are planning a party locally but in the case of our Hen and Stags for example people are converging from all over the country in areas none of us live in. Then specialist search engines like Square Meal prove invaluable with an easy to use search bar allowing you to narrow down venues by location, budget, size and event type. Rather than have to navigate page after page of websites you can see at a glance if the venue has wifi, a late licence, exclusive hire and the like and even contact them via the Square Meal website.
