rehearsal dinner

Hi!

Looking for a reasonable restaurant in downtown Lancaster for a rehearsal dinner. BYOB would be great, some vegetarian fare is a must. Outdoor dining might be fun as well. We will be a group of around thirty including a few children.

Thanks for any advice!

rehearsal dinner

You don%26#39;t say what day of the week...if a Friday or Saturday, it could be a little tough to find a downtown restaurant willing to allow you to use their space. If it%26#39;s a First Friday, it could be impossible. Either way, check out:

Effie Ophelia%26#39;s - One of very few BYOB%26#39;s in Lancaster that I know of. Food is expensive, but I%26#39;d bet the owner/chef would work with you on the menu...I believe it changes regularly anyway. It%26#39;s small, so you would probably have the place to yourselves, and they have a small outdoor space.

The Pressroom - Has a large outdoor courtyard. Somewhat expensive.

Molly%26#39;s Pub - They have a second floor that they use for events. It has a deck off of it as well. Food is mid to upper range price wise, but hit or miss as far as being good.

The Belvedere - Also a second floor deck, fairly expensive, hit or miss food - although I%26#39;ve heard excellent things about their current menu (it too changes regularly).

Rachel%26#39;s Creperie - A much cheaper option, but they only have crepes (several vegetarian tho) and it%26#39;s fairly small inside...they have 2 small rooms, so your party likely wouldn%26#39;t be able to sit together, although I%26#39;d ask...the back room may fit 30. Also BYOB.

Checker%26#39;s - One of the best restaurants in town IMO, they have a great menu with a large range in selection and price. No outdoor space, but plenty of space inside for a large party. Very accomodating...they happily helped a vegan friend of mine create a dish.

American Bar And Grill - This place is rather interesting. From the outside, it looks like a dive bar (and it used to be), but they recently hired a chef from a fine dining restaurant and now have a sort of fine dining/bar fusion menu. Prices are very reasonable for the (excellent) food you get, and in the dining room they could accomodate 30. No outdoor space.

I think you can find menus for all of these online. If I think of any more, I%26#39;ll let you know. A price range would be helpful...there are several more I could recommend, but they wouldn%26#39;t be what I would call reasonable (but everyone has a different definition).

Good luck! And congratulations to the bride and groom to be!

rehearsal dinner

Thanks so much for your reply. Yes it is on the first Friday--I never thought about that. Thanks for giving me that important info. I will check out the many suggestions you gave me-I did look at a few of those online, but its nice to have a recommendation.

Of course, the final decision rests with the happy couple, but I just wanted to investigate a bit.

Thanks again.

No problem...glad to be of help! On a First Friday, it will probably be difficult to find any place in the city that will close the whole restaurant or even a large section without an outrageous fee. Although you might have some luck if you do it early or late (think 4PM or 9PM). If you need any suggestions outside the city, just ask. Maybe also consider a banquet hall or private club if you or the happy couple know any members. Off the top of my head (in the city), there%26#39;s the Hamilton Club, the Iris Club and the Elks, but a member has to be involved for all three.

Again, good luck! And if you think of it, come back and let us know what they find...it may be of help to other posters.

I agree with Corrindal that since you are planning on have the dinner on a first friday it will def. be harder to find a location, however I wouldn%26#39;t recommend Rachel%26#39;s or Abag (american bar n grill), for what you have described. Checkers is not exactly in downtown but closer to F and M college but has extremely excellent food and great atmosphere but they are not byob. Thinking about it neither is the belvedere or pressroom. Two questions that I have are what type of food are you looking for and the location being dowtown is that set in stone as there are some amazing places to eat elsewhere and you will not have as much trouble because of first friday

Thanks for replying. The rehearsal is downtown, and some people are traveling a bit to get here, so I was hoping to get them to dinner fairly quickly--especially the kids. But we can certainly drive a bit for a better experience!

I don%26#39;t have any particular food type in mind, just that the bride and groom are vegetarians, and a few of the party are meat and potatoes kind of guys, but I think we are open to anything.

The request for BYOB was to keep the price down. I don%26#39;t have an exact budget yet.

Thanks!

There%26#39;s always Isaac%26#39;s on Queen street

http://www.isaacsdeli.com/

It%26#39;s a little more low-key, but has lots of vegetarian options, the Pickle Bar, is kid-friendly and affordable.

If you can%26#39;t find a restaurant to accomadate you you might have luck finding a nice location- perhaps even the church would have a place and think about catering - Carvers Kitchen does a great job and do vegetarian meals all the time- they even do vegan upon request. With that said, their food is ';meaty'; enough for even my meat and potato husband - I recommend the lasagna - somone sent it to us after the birth of our daughter in pre-packaged, single servings and it was awesome!

If you haven%26#39;t already decided i would say after reading your last post that checkers is pretty close to what your looking for, besides a very accommodating staff who would probably create a nice veg. dish for the special couple, they have some great meat/steak items and they are just outside downtown lancaster

Thanks for all your replies. I have been given a little more leeway with the location, so now I have expanded my search a little bit. I still would like a byob, but not required. An outside area would be nice, but again, not imperative.

Mostly I would like to feed about 27 people in a fairly reasonable time, since they will have traveled a bit to get to Lancaster for the rehearsal at 5:30.

The ceremony is in the city, but because of first Friday, we can travel for the dinner.

Thanks again.