Quote: Originally Posted by Pazoop What about Spice Market? I think it's sort of along the same lines of what you were going for with Tao...Great atmosphere and also serves Pan Asian tapas but is a little less expensive if I recall correctly I would try contacting them. I haven't eaten there in a while but I went for a friends birthday a few years ago and we had so much fun!
Also, I second Asia de Cuba (really loved it and been there a few times!)...and I would give a personal thumbs down to Ruby Foo's for a special event. I have eaten at both locations more than once and have never been particularly impressed with my meal. Food's not bad, it's just not especially good and if you're going out and spending money on a birthday that's what you want.
Can you give us a general idea of how much you want to ask people to pay for dinner? I know the bottle service fees (bottles being in the $100s) sound outrageous but they're not unheard of and I doubt Buddakan or Asia de Cuba will be much less. Which do you think is more important to your DH? The location or having a private area/bottle service? Because you could probably get a reservation for the group and have them all be responsible for buying their own drinks and still have a large group at the table, or you could find a slightly lesser known place that's not as expensive and take the whole place over (more of less). Personally I think either way you go it's win-win, just depends on the expectations your DH and your crowd have for the evening. I get the same feeling about Ruby Foo's...just kinda eh. I tried Spice Market, they're too expensive. I just emailed Planet Thai and tried to get in touch w/ Chop Suey, but the email was just returned, so I'll have to call.
The problem is that i'm not asking anyone to pay anything - i'm paying for it. SO, i'd like to find a place that's around $100ish/pp including drinks. i was going to take over savorNY, but i don't think that dh would like it as much b/c he likes the tao atmosphere. ruby foo's was $95pp, incl. open bar for 3 hrs, and a 3 or 4 course meal. there's another place called kion lounge, which looks interesting and has good reviews on yelp, but can't get in touch w/ the guy, which isn't a good sign. i think i need to make an excel spreadsheet to see what i have, tho i've deleted the more $$ emails.
if i can keep the number of ppl to 14, then i can do tao, but it can go up to 20, 22, so i don't want to chance it. i'd like to spend no more than $2100-$2300 incl. tax, gratuities, etc.
please keep them coming!