Convention Dinners

[zgast]

Hi everyone,

I'm coming back to DC in August for a convention to be held in the convention center.  I'm going to be tasked with organizing a few dinners with anywhere from 5-30 participants. Any great suggestions for places close to the convention center that would cater to most tastes and still feature what DC has to offer?  Off the top of my head, I think I'd like to do a larger one at Zaytinya and have L'ardente in the back of my mind, although I haven't been, so have no idea if it's good for dinner events.  Convivial and Corduroy are nearby as well.

Any suggestions from the gallery?  I've not done many dinner events for work in DC before, so not much to go on.

 

[Pat]

Sietsema recommends Unconventional Diner a whole lot.

[Bart]

L'Ardente had a private room and so does Kinship.  I'd love to eat at either!

Also check out Cranes, across from Zaytinya, for a Japanese/Spanish mash up.

[eatruneat]

I just went to L'Ardente last night and the food was as good as ever. Hard to go wrong there when it comes to food. Definitely second the Unconventional Diner and Kinship suggestions. I will also throw in Petite Cerise, Nina May, Rumi's Kitchen, Cafe Riggs, and Seven Reasons. 

When it comes to work event type experiences, I have gone to a work happy hour at Unconventional Diner and they did a great job with drinks and passed appetizers. They blocked off a section of the restaurant and there was a lot of space to mix and mingle. I haven't been to Cafe Riggs but our neighbors had their wedding reception there in October and raved about the food and the service (both in organizing the reception and during the meal itself). 

[zgast]

Thanks!  Love this group!