Savoy may fit the bill. I went to a brunch party that was held in their private room upstairs and it was wonderful.

Try Gnocco in the EV. They have a beautiful garden room and will work with you on menu and pricing. I hosted a shower there in your price range.

Hi - I have been a member of the West Village CSA and love it. I joined a winter CSA that Norwich Meadow Farm handles (not Prince George) and IMO, West Village CSA is so much better, hands down. I agree with DistrictSlectman that something is wrong with the distribution - it seems like the shares are always missing something or short. Also, I think that the quality of the veggies are inferior to what I've received through the West Village CSA. It seems to me (and this is not confirmed, it is only my suspicion) that the CSA gets whatever veggies are not sold in the farmer markets. The carrots have been soft and mold in less than a weeks time and when I've cut into several of the onions, they've been so soft and brown that I've just thrown them away. However, I love the granola, eggs and milk that I've received. All in all, its been an OK winter share experience but I don't love it the way that I love the West Village CSA.

I was there last week and had the restaurant week menu (which is permanent now). The food, esp the soba with the duck and scallions was excellent. I would recommend a visit.

Some suggestions:

Malatesta Trattoria on Washington and Christopher
Mexicana Mama on Hudson
Moustache on Bedford

This is one of my favorite neighborhood Italian places to go to (with Lavanga in the EV a close second). Thanks for the review - I think it was spot on. The octopus is one of my favorites there, as is the fettuccini with mushrooms.

Blue Hill in the village has a private room that I think would be perfect. The food is seasonal and delicious. We looked into having our rehearsal dinner here but alas, the room was not big enough for us (it seats 18-20, I believe). Congratulations!

My husband and I lived in SF several years ago and go back frequently to visit friends and family and to satisfy our burrito cravings! This past Saturday, we had dinner with my brother-in-law and wife at Piperade. After reading several reports from other 'hounds, I was eager to try the food and hopeful that the restaurant had resolved its service issues. Alas, it was not to be so...

We had an early reservation (6pm) and when we walked in, we were taken by how lovely the dining area was. We were promptly seated but had to wait about 10-15 minutes before the server greeted us at the table. He immediately asked if we wanted to start with a cocktail and when we declined, we promptly walked away which I thought was just odd at the time.

After he returned, we ordered our wine and our dinner courses. We started off with three appetizers: the dungeness crab, the piquillo peppers stuffed with goat cheese and pine nuts and raisins and the grilled calamari with fennel, olives and capers. The appetizers came out quickly and were enjoyed by all. I particularly liked the mango and roasted bell peppers with the crab - very delicate and light. However, at two seperate times, the servers came by and tried to take our appetizer plates....while there was still food on them!

Approximately 1 minute after the appetizers were cleared, our dinner entrees arrived. My brother in law and I both ordered the seafood stew, which consisted of mussels, clams, salmon, tuna shrimp and a large sea scallop in a red bell pepper sauce (can you tell that I love roasted peppers?). The seafood was perfectly cooked and while I liked the sauce, it was a bit one-dimensional. Yes, I understand it was described as a red pepper sauce so I guess I shouldn't be critical but I thought there were be other flavor notes in the sauce. My husband ordered the pork tenderloin with figs and cabbage, which he enjoyed and my sister in law ordered the piperade, which was delicious.

However, about this time, the service went seriously downhill...

We finished our wine and ordered another bottle. At this point, we were about 3/4 of the way done with our entrees. The second bottle arrived and we chatted and tried to enjoy our wine and the remainder of our meals. Again, the servers came twice to ask if they could clear our plates.

After our dinner plates were taken away, our server immediately gave us dessert menus. Two minutes later, he was back to take our order. We had a few questions, mine being: "can you tell me what is on the cheese plate?" His response (and I'm not kidding) was "a couple pieces of cheese." I was shocked and even more so when he then said "sheep, cow and goat cheese" and walked away. I couldn't believe it!!

After he left our table, we started chatting again (mostly about how ridiculous his answer was) and the server came up and interrupted us mid-sentence to ask us what we wanted for dessert. We ordered koka and the gateau basque. Both were delicious.

After the dessert plates were cleared, our server immediately gave us our check and propped it up so that it was standing up on the table. I give this detail because it is relevant for the next part of my review. Our server walked by the hostess stand, said something to her and then the hostess came to our table and took the check. Then she looked at it and pointedly said to us, "oh, you haven't paid it yet." and plopped it down on our table! It was clear from the way that the check was propped up that we had not put a credit card down but they obviously wanted us to leave so that they could turn the table.

Now you probably are wondering...how long were you at the table? When we walked out of the restaurant, it was 7:50pm...less than 2 hours. We ended spending about $200 per couple and I can say that while the food may be good, my dining experience was ruined by Piperade's service issues. I will not be back as there are so many other good restaurants in SF.

I am meeting a friend of mine on the east side of midtown for wine and snacks. She's staying at the Radisson at 48th and Lex. I'm not familiar with that area of town and was hoping that someone could recommend a wine bar or a restaurant with a nice bar where we could have a couple glasses of wine and maybe a salad or small nibbles? TIA!

I love Provence and wanted to host a dinner there as well. You did not specify a particular night of the week but FYI, they do not rent out their enclosed garden for private events on Friday and Saturday nights.

We had dinner there a few weeks ago and the bartender told us that the owner has been looking to sell the restaurant for quite some time. A loss for the 'hood -- love the octopus appetizer.

I am looking to host a Chinese banquet dinner and was wondering if anyone has an opinion on S. Dynasty? I considered several places in Chinatown but would like to go to a restaurant a little more elegant. Any feedback on this restaurant would be appreciated! Thanks.

Love Pure Food and Wine! Another good (and less expensive) option is Quintessence in the east village.

My family and I just had dinner there on Sunday. It was a lovely experience - I found the service, food and wine to be quite good. (As an aside, try to get a table away from the huge flower arrangements on each side of the room -- several of us had strong reactions to the lillies and we requested to move to another table.) I didn't select the wine so I can't speak to the winelist but I started with the seafood sausage (one of their signature items), which was good but liked the squash ravoli w/ oxtail ragu much better (not-so-sneakily taken from my husband's plate). Several of us had the lamb, cooked medium which was perfect and my husband had the duck, which was quite good as well. Get the cheese plate - its a great way to end the meal. Enjoy!

Moustache (mideastern) on Bedford, Da Andrea (Italian) on Hudson, Malestesa (Italian) on Washington. Cafe Condessa, Surya on Bleecker

Henry's - 105th and Broadway

Little Owl keeps a few two top tables for walk-ins. You could head to the WV a little early, put your name in (they will call you when the table is ready) and head to a nearby place such as Employees Only, Little Branch, Lela wine bar or The Other Room for a drink while you wait.

Other suggestions in the West Village would be August, Provence and Le Gigot.

You could also go to Fish, on Bleecker and Jones, for their raw bar special -- 6 oysters or clams with a glass of red or white wine for $8.

I don't believe that is true. We were a party of 6 and obtained a 8:30pm reservation at Babbo about a month ago. Granted, it was for a Sunday evening but I've never heard of Babbo restricting large parties to 5:30 and 6:30pm dining times.

Zen Palate just opened up a location on John Street. Definitely veggie friendly and casual.

I just finished reading Heat by Bill Buford and was craving some good Italian food. After much debate about where to go in the neighborhood and if we should try somewhere new, my boyfriend and I ended up at Dani, on Hudson and Charlton. I'm so glad that we did - the food was excellent!

We started off with a salad of endive, frisee, goat cheese, brie and duck prosuitto, which was delicious. For our second course, we each had a 1/2 order of the ricotta cavatelli, with zucchini blossoms, yellow squash and asparagus in a fresh pea puree. This dish was really the standout - so light and flavorful. The pasta was rich tasting but light - a perfect spring pasta. We shared the grilled branzino, which was served with a side of pesto sauce. This was perfectly prepared but for $27, we both thought it should have been a little bigger - this was the smallest branzino that I'd ever seen! We shared a bottle of Oriel Il Gattopardo, which was excellent. We each had a glass of desert wine, the specific name of which I can't seem to remember but we both enjoyed it.

All in all, this is a great neighborhood restaurant and we'll definitely be back. Don't let the west SoHo location deter you, it is worth trying.

I will also add my experience to this list. My main complaint with this place is the service (or lack thereof). I went there last week with a friend of mine around 7pm and was told that there was a 30 minute wait. So we made ourselves comfortable and 20 minutes later, a party of 2 walked in and was seated immediately. When we pointed this out to the host, he basically said "oops, you should have been next" and walked away. No apology, no complimentary drink, no nothing!

So when we finally sat down, we ordered the raw bar platter and two lobster rolls. The lobster rolls came out in about 15 minutes but we sent them back because we wanted our appetizer first. We told the server this, she gestured down to the end of the bar and said that the guy was in the weeds and that it would be about 10 more minutes....30 minutes later, we still didn't have our appetizer! When we told her that we'd been waiting a long time, she merely shrugged. The platter finally was delivered after about 40 minutes total wait time and there were bits of shell in the oysters. Belch.

We didn't have any complaints about the lobster rolls and fries were fine but IMO not worth dealing with the hassle when you can go to Mary's or Pearl's for better service. Too bad.

Da Andrea is great, as is Piccolo Angelo.

I would recommend Fish, located on Bleecker and Jones St. I think that at 5:30pm, they have good happy hour specials in addition to their always available raw bar special (6 clams or oysters w/ beer or wine for $8). One of my favorite local places.

Man, your post was hilarious! For ice cream suggestions, if you find yourself way downtown (perhaps after brunch on the LES), go to The Chinatown Ice Cream Factory for interesting flavors that you may not see anywhere else. Here is the website:

http://www.chinatownicecreamfactory.com/

Went there last night. The dim sum dishes are better than the entrees. It was ok but there are better places out there, IMO.

Whenever my friends from the midwest come in town, I try to take them to inexpensive but unique places in NYC. Here are some of the places that are on my list:

Caracas Arepa in the East Village
Rice to Riches (spring and mott)
Joe Shanghai in Chinatown for soup dumplings
Pommes Frites in East Village (this one has been a big hit with vistors since it was featured on the Food Network)

Did she say when and where at Columbia they will be? I'm definitely up for trying them. Thanks.

I am staying at the Embassy Suites at 22nd and M. Are there any recommendations for restaurants nearby? No preference on cuisine, just looking for some good eats! Thanks in advance.

I second the recs for Da Andrea and Westville and add Petite Abielle (Hudson and Barrow) to the list - their mussels, burgers and fries are delicious. Pinxtos for tapas is excellent, too.