Help meDC restaurant for a dozen academics.

January 7, 2010 4:12 PM

Help me find a DC restaurant that would please a dozen academics.

I am newish to the DC area and am responsible for planning a work-related dinner for about 10-12 people, mostly academics, coming in from out of town for an event the following day. If it's relevant, the dinner would be a Monday night.

Requirements:
1) In the Dupont Circle area.
2) Relatively quiet so that everyone can talk to one another.

Preferences:
My boss would prefer a private room, but other than the Tabard Inn, which is booked, I'm having trouble finding a place that would accommodate that few people and wouldn't be overly expensive (example - $1,000 food minimum).

Thanks in advance!

posted by mcroft to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

I'm a fan of Thaiphoon for big groups. No private room, but they are quite accommodating of large groups. It's right outside Dupont Circle and has good food and nice drinks. It should be pretty quiet on a Monday night.
posted by lunasol at 4:25 PM on January 7, 2010

Firefly, on New Hampshire right outside Dupont Circle, is fantastic and has a private room.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:30 PM on January 7, 2010

Oh, and, I might be laughed out of Metafilter for suggesting this, but a group that I am a member of always has its post-retreat dinners at Buca di Beppo on Connecticut and it works pretty well for us. It's not at all cool, and the food isn't outstanding, but it's reasonably good, and well-priced, and it has several different rooms that could work as semi-private rooms.
posted by lunasol at 5:17 PM on January 7, 2010

I think Afterwords, the cafe in the back of the venerable Kramerbooks in Dupont, might fit your needs. If they can put together enough space for 12, it would be ideal. Good food, in your price range, and an even better bookstore in front.
posted by poorlydrawnplato at 5:25 PM on January 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh, and though the place gets pretty loud on the weekends, it tends to be pretty sedate on weeknights in my experience.
posted by poorlydrawnplato at 5:26 PM on January 7, 2010

The historians where I work used to use Lauriol Plaza for get-togethers like this.
posted by arco at 5:28 PM on January 7, 2010

Does it have to be in Dupont? If you go a little further downtown, you could go to somewhere like DC Coast or Old Ebbitt, which are pretty standard work dinner and very DC kind of places (I've been to several at both). If you want to be in Dupont proper, maybe try Darlington House - I've never been there, but have heard good things and I just checked, they do have a private room. Oh, or maybe you could go to Heritage India? I don't know if they have a private room.
posted by echo0720 at 6:21 PM on January 7, 2010

I've dined in a private room at McCormick & Schmick's. It's classy.
posted by MrMoonPie at 6:41 PM on January 7, 2010 [1 favorite]