Seattle recommendations!

December 17, 2016 4:44 PM

A bunch of people in my office left for the holidays, and I suddenly find myself in charge of planning a team offsite for early January. I'm up for the challenge, but I need some recommendations...

I need to book an all day conference room at a downtown Seattle hotel. The preference is to book space out for lunch and dinner for approx. 30 people rather than using in-hotel catering. Most of the team, including me, is not in Seattle - we are flying in for the offsite.

I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions for Seattle restaurants that could book a group that size for a meal. Complicating factor is it would be good if they could be close to a hotel that I can book for the conference room. I feel pretty capable of finding a downtown hotel on my own, but I'm not as sure about the restaurant options - so someone who could give me all three would earn my eternal gratitude.

Budget is fairly generous, although not over the top.

Thanks!

posted by handful of rain to Travel & Transportation around Seattle, WA (10 answers total)

Best answer: Which hotel exactly? Downtown means a lot of things.
How hip is the crowd?

I have a few recs for you, even without that information...

Wild Ginger is popular for groups if you're in that part of the city. It is upscale Asian Fusion.

I LOVE Local 360 for groups. I've had larger groups than that there. The food is modern American and hip. It is downtown, but perhaps not near your hotel.

Fwiw, the "best" food in Seattle isn't downtown. If you're looking to impress, you'll want to go further out, but then you have to deal with transport.
posted by k8t at 4:57 PM on December 17, 2016

Rock Bottom Brewery is the defacto place near the Sheraton. It is sort of chain-y and boring tho.
posted by k8t at 5:00 PM on December 17, 2016

Response by poster: Good question on the location! I had heard the Edgewater as a de facto suggestion for where to hold the meeting. Somewhere in that vicinity would be ideal. Another hotel recommendation would be fine and welcome. I see there's also a Grand Hyatt.

I have never been to Seattle, and everyone who normally takes care of this out for two weeks.

Thanks for all responses!
posted by handful of rain at 5:03 PM on December 17, 2016

I recently did dinner for 20 at Japonessa. It was surprisingly cheap because their happy hour is basically all day except 6:30-9, and we got there at 6. Sushi with Latin influences; lots of stuff in and on top of the rolls. It's not the finest sushi in Seattle, but it was a crowd pleaser and close to the downtown hotels.
posted by asphericalcow at 5:14 PM on December 17, 2016

My Seattle hotel experience is exclusively with the huge chain hotels - Hyatt and Sheraton and thousands of people. But it sounds like your team is much smaller.
Are you looking to also book rooms for them? Are you sure you want to be downtown?
posted by k8t at 5:17 PM on December 17, 2016

Best answer: Wild Ginger is great. So is Purple.
posted by pazazygeek at 5:57 PM on December 17, 2016

This is indirect advice, but the hotel your group books with likely has some sort of event coordinator who can help you out. And no need to retreat to Bellevue if your company wants the event held in Seattle.
posted by stowaway at 7:15 PM on December 17, 2016

Forgot to add: I've attended company lunches/dinners at Tulio, Sazerac, Wild Ginger, and Ruths Chris - and there are plenty more restaurants. I don't think you'll have trouble finding a place that can accommodate your group.
posted by stowaway at 7:20 PM on December 17, 2016

Any of the Tom Douglas restaurants are worth looking into.
posted by jennstra at 8:17 PM on December 17, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks! I'm trying Wild Ginger and Local 360, and booked a room at the Grand Hyatt for the offsite itself. I appreciate all the advice, and I'm sure my team will as well!
posted by handful of rain at 6:20 PM on December 20, 2016