Event Packages
The five components of a steakhouse event package, how each is priced, and where the budget usually goes wrong.
Every steakhouse event quote in Manhattan is assembled from the same handful of parts. Once you can see the parts, comparing two venues becomes straightforward — and, more usefully, you can tell which line items are negotiable and which are not. The restaurant's published package material was organised into the standard five, and they are worth taking one at a time.
1. Hors d'oeuvres
Passed canapés during the reception window before guests are seated. Almost always priced per person per hour, with a tiered selection.
How it is priced
Per person, per hour, by tier. A one-hour reception for forty guests at a mid tier is a predictable, containable number.
Where it goes wrong
Extending the reception from one hour to two doubles this line and lengthens the open bar at the same time. It is the most common single cause of an event running over budget.
2. Prix fixe dinner packages
A fixed multi-course menu at a set per-head price, offered in tiers. In a steakhouse, the tier almost always determines the beef.
| Tier | Typically includes | Beef access |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Salad or soup, choice of two or three mains, one dessert, sides family style | USDA Prime filet or strip |
| Middle | Additional starter course, wider main choice, expanded sides | Prime plus Australian Wagyu options |
| Upper | Raw bar course, additional courses, premium desserts | Wagyu, with certified Kobe as a tasting portion or supplement |
Where it goes wrong
Assuming the premium beef is included when it is offered as a per-ounce supplement. With certified Kobe this distinction can move the per-head figure substantially. Ask explicitly.
3. Open bar
Priced per person per hour, in tiers by what is pouring.
| Tier | Generally covers |
|---|---|
| Beer & wine | House red and white, draught and bottled beer, soft drinks |
| Standard | Adds house spirits and standard cocktails |
| Premium | Adds call-brand spirits and a broader wine selection |
| Top shelf | Adds aged spirits, champagne and reserve wines |
Where it goes wrong
The per-hour structure compounds. A four-hour top-shelf package for sixty guests is frequently the largest line on the invoice — larger than the food. Consider a premium package with a consumption-based upgrade for specific bottles instead.
4. Children's menu
A simplified fixed menu at a reduced per-head rate. Worth confirming the age cutoff, which varies between venues and occasionally between an initial quote and a final contract.
5. Custom menus and special requests
The published position was that menus would be customised and special requests accommodated. In practice this is where a restaurant event genuinely outperforms a banquet hall: the kitchen is cooking its own food at a scale it handles nightly, so substitutions are usually a conversation rather than a problem.
Worth requesting explicitly
- Halal preparation — a section of the standing menu here was Halal Canadian Prime, so this was structurally supported rather than improvised.
- Vegetarian and vegan mains that are not an afterthought side plate.
- Allergy handling, in writing, with the specific allergen named.
- A tasting portion of premium beef as a course rather than a full-portion main, which is the most cost-effective way to put Kobe in front of every guest.
A worked comparison method
When comparing two venues, build the same table for each rather than comparing headline per-head figures, which are rarely like for like.
| Line | Ask for |
|---|---|
| Room hire | Flat fee, and whether it is waived above a spend threshold |
| Food minimum | The number, and whether tax and service count toward it |
| Per-head food | The tier you actually want, not the entry tier |
| Beef supplements | Per-ounce rates for anything not included |
| Bar | Per person per hour × the real number of hours |
| Service charge | Percentage, and whether it is gratuity or an administrative fee |
| Tax | Applied to which lines |
| Cake or corkage | Per-person or per-bottle fees |
| Overtime | Hourly rate past the contracted end time |
Total both columns. The venue with the lower per-head price loses this comparison more often than not.
Note on this page. This is an independent editorial archive. No prices are published here because the restaurant's rates changed repeatedly and any figure would mislead. This site does not take enquiries, hold dates or make bookings. Contact venues directly for current packages and pricing.