PPDEast-See you next year!

VisionOfClarity

Goodbye old OP! http://ppdeast.eventbrite.com/

Dinner is 5:30- 7:30 on March 10th.

Bell in Hand won't do under 21 and since I won't cut out our underage forumers we had a venue change.

I went with one of my other first choices, Dick's Last Resort. I made the booking for 75, we'll pretty much be renting out at least half the place with a group that big. Price is $20 plus $2.09 in eventbrite fees so it's $22.09 a head total.

Your meal options are:

Bubba Dick's Ribs: 1/2 rack pork ribs with slaw and fries

Fry'd Fish: good ol' fish and chips with slaw

Love Me Tenders: plain or buffalo with fries and slaw

Grilled Chicky Caesar Salad

Honey Glazed or BBQ Roasted Chicky: half chicken with fries and slaw

For an extra $1.99 you can add a side salad and for $2.99 desert. This is totally optional and if you want to do this just let me know.

Tickets are on sale now and last year we completely sold out.

You can reach Dick's on any of the T lines within a couple blocks walk. In other words, it's totally accessible right in the middle of Faneuil Hall.

Goose!

1: Didn't really like any of the food, but I'm a picky eater. Everything else was gravy, I should have had a little more liquor in me prior to the thing because I woulda been more lively

2: I don't mind a price increase at all. I'm going to PAX to have a good time.

3: Beef, Chicken, or some other meat. Because I am a picky eater.

4: Yes, because I don't drive nor understand the T system, I'd prefer if I could walk to it, but if it can't be, it can't be.

Rdr

1.) I attended in March and I think Fire & Ice would have been better if it wasn't so cramped and so busy. A lot of us were doing the pokecrawl and it took a good 30-45 mins to even be able to take the first bite. I know an earlier time would resolve that issue though. I loved the food and that we could make our own stuff. I felt like our creations sparked conversation. Just wish they gave us more room and it was less busy.

2.) I don't mind paying if its at an earlier time. I'd say $40 is probably my limit.

3.) N/A but probably best to find a venue that caters to people with special needs.

4.) I am comfortable with buses and the T.

Sammy

basically everything Rdr just said.

my only issue was the space. it was fun chatting and getting to know people at our table, but as far as real interaction went there wasn't much to be had with the other PAXers or PokeCrawl goers.
made it hard to keep track of any pokecrawl challenges that were being done during dinner [i think that was a time issue though.]

that might have mainly been because of the way the restaurant was set up. the booth we were in was rounded and basically cut off from everyone with glass ["ice"] walls.

beta_angel

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend last year, so I can't give you any feedback there. I can say that you should talk to AtlusParker in regards to the Pokecrawl and work with him in an effort to put them close together. The Pokecrawl being preceded by the Pre-PAX Dinner is an excellent combo plus, it gets the buttoneers together and gives a place for kropotkin (if he's doing them for east) another excellent spot for the Forum Badges.

I am more than willing to help you out in any way possible, as I have every intention on coming to East this year. You may also want to get ahold of the user Chaotica. She was interested in getting the dinner going as well.

feitocomfruta

I too was unable to go, but I think things like the Pre-PAX dinner and the PokeCrawl and so on should be somewhat centralized to each other to make things easier on everyone who wants to join in. My suggestion would be to make sure you have the space down perfectly.

Pricewise/foodwise, I think for the most part, the PPD is more about socializing and getting excited for the event than it is about the food, so I'd say don't really go overboard with menu choices (hell, pizza and wings buffet would make me happy) and it may make the prices lower as well. For something like this, I don't think I'd spend more than 40 dollars on a ticket.

Personally, my only dietary restrictions are self-imposed (I'm in need of weight loss, and I'm hypothyroid, so I try to eat as little processed food as possible) so they really shouldn't weigh too much on the large decision.

punzie

1. I didn't go last year, but I went to Prime's PPD this year. I would love to go to East's PPD this time.

2. I'd prefer to stay around $30, but I would go as high as $40.

3. Nope! I'm flexible.

4. I actually enjoy the T (people think I'm crazy for that).

lucazzo

Good to know the gears are in motion already. Had a blast at last year's, and I apologize for rushing the hell out of team Squirtle to get us to the bars. I won't bring a cattle prod, as I threatened. Anyhow:

1: I tend to avoid F&I, but it works reasonably well for large groups. The +++ side of it: everyone has an equal bill to start off with. The food is nothing spectacular, but I didn't go for the food, anyway.

2: I'd set myself an upper limit of $35 with a beer thrown in.

3: Nope. The cereal in my cupboard expired 14 months ago and I'm still working on it.

4: I'll be doing the bar crawl again, so I'm mostly concerned about how close it'll be to the general bar area.

Side note: I'm going to throw a wild guess and say that, unless there's a sign-up limit, there could easily be a good 50+ people attending this year. I'd recommend a similar formula to last year, with limited spots, flat fee, and no alcohol included (btw, I'm hoping for no snafus re: unpaid bills like last March).

VisionOfClarity

Last year I set a cap of 75 and we ended up with like 81 anyway. It will closed somewhere around the same cap again this year. I'm also hoping to get tickets up in January instead of February.


Atlus has pm'd me regarding the crawl. He has a general area he's planning the crawl in and it's [strike]about 15 minutes walking from where I'm looking at for the dinner so it will likely be similar to last year where[/strike] wicked close depending on your starting bar.


$40 is the upper echelon I was thinking of. [strike]There's a place I have in mind that only let's you choose from a specific menu for events so I'm trying to see if I can get us in on a different menu somehow that would offer a few different options options ranging from like $25-30. It's near the BCEC and it's really open so there would be plenty of room to mingle.[/strike] But I've found a few places to keep it equal to or slightly less than last year's $27.50. One place I would need to work out a veggie option with but I think they would do it.


I'm aiming to start at 5:30. Any earlier would just be too early for a lot of people getting in and as it stands this is already likely going to be earlier than the train group will make in for.

beta_angel

VisionOfClarity wrote: »

But I've found a few places to keep it equal to or slightly less than last year's $27.50. One place I would need to work out a veggie option with but I think .

As an FYI, that was incredibly hard to manage and I ended up spending a good chunk of change out of pocket because I did my math wrong.

The odds of it being $27.50 (or less) next year at Prime will be...difficult to accomplish at best.

You may want to consider raising the cap slightly, though, because if you had a few extras last year then I'm sure you'll have more interest this year. Especially as the Pokecrawl will be revised and it's not year one.

ZeroHourHero

1. Came last year but because of the time and being an assistant pub crawl I literally had 2 bites of my food before I had to run out the door.

2. $35 max, I think its hard for alot of people (I ran into this at prime) to justify spending alot of money on food.

3. No Dietary Needs. No Accessibility needs.

4. Maybe. I cant walk for a long time, but if its close to a T stop it fine.

VisionOfClarity

beta_angel wrote: »

VisionOfClarity wrote: »

But I've found a few places to keep it equal to or slightly less than last year's $27.50. One place I would need to work out a veggie option with but I think .

As an FYI, that was incredibly hard to manage and I ended up spending a good chunk of change out of pocket because I did my math wrong.

The odds of it being $27.50 (or less) next year at Prime will be...difficult to accomplish at best.

You may want to consider raising the cap slightly, though, because if you had a few extras last year then I'm sure you'll have more interest this year. Especially as the Pokecrawl will be revised and it's not year one.

Last year I ended up refunding everyone $2.50 because tax and tip were included in the price I was quoted and the place neglected to mention that to me. One place I'm looking at will be just over $25 with the EventBrite fee. I'm pretty excited about this because I thought for certain that with the area it's in it'd be more expensive than last year.

Raising the cap depends on the restaurant and the price but I'm unlikely to raise it. 75 was just about right last year and this year I'd consider 100 if the 75 sold out fairly quickly.

Rdr

I'm interested in knowing what restaurant you're feeling good about.

VisionOfClarity

Haha, ZeroHourHero, Goose! and Atlus know my final three but I'm waiting on pricing before posting them.

darkinfero

keep us post I'm down for anything and I be bringing my car into boston.

VisionOfClarity

So the third place I didn't like dropped out anyway so I will let you know the final two. Bell In Hand and Dick's Last Resort. I'm waiting on pricing from Bell in hand still though but Dick's is pretty well priced.

basicallygeek

Dick's Last Resort is the name of my Sinead O'Connor cover band.

Arco

1. I really liked Fire & Ice, but unfortunately I don't think it works well with our group, both because of the number of people we have and because of our time restrictions. If you can work with the event coordinator at F&I to come up with something better than last year, I'd say do it. If Fire & Ice is willing to raise the cap on the number of people so that we can have exclusive access to grills, do it. I think that would expedite things greatly. Ultimately, though, that style of restaurant might not be conducive to us.

2. I think I would only pay more if there were things OTHER than food going on. Game systems on big screens, pool tables, bowling, whatever. $30 is about my limit for a meal with friends. People might not WANT other things besides the food. If we want to keep this as a "dinner," where the main attraction is sitting with friends over some food, I think the price range you're looking at is appropriate and I wouldn't go much higher.

3. n/a

4. Walking distance is important. Relying on mass transit is something I try not to do, especially in cities where I'm not familiar with it. I would say walking distance should be a high priority. If it's on the T that's good, but not AS good. On the T would be an acceptable alternative, if the venue in question was so good that it was worth sacrificing the walking distance factor.

Gundabad

Could Dick's Last Resort be so well priced because their job is to berate their guests? Don't count my voice b/c I likely won't be able to make it to the dinner, but I never understood the appeal of going on vacation to get made fun of.

Rdr

Gundabad wrote: »

Could Dick's Last Resort be so well priced because their job is to berate their guests? Don't count my voice b/c I likely won't be able to make it to the dinner, but I never understood the appeal of going on vacation to get made fun of.

Haha ya. If its Dick's then I'd have to pass cause I don't like that sort of thing. I don't know why people dig it so much.

ZeroHourHero

Downside to BiH is something I pointed out via PM:

They have lousy food.

Wingedillidan

I can has cheezburger? I'm feeling the need to taste the better burgers Boston has to offer.

1. NO INPUT DETECTED
2. Maybe, if it means getting a place close to where the action is, then that maybe turns into a perhaps. But if the cost for everything exceeds $40-$45 per person, I'd probably have to draw the line. People in my group may end it at $20-$30 because they're really tight for cash.
3. NO FOOD DETECTED (nope, no constraints to my stomach)
4. Nope, I don't think that matters... Wait we're considering eating ON the T? We should decorate and everything , PAXerz take over the train AGAIN!

Interested+1

VisionOfClarity

They're not mean at Dick's. They get about as saucy as the staff at a Ren Faire and if you seem into it you'll likely end up with a funny hat. I've ate there more than a few times and I've never had any issues and they're really popular with large groups and parties because they're really good at them. If sassy diner waitresses make you cry then you might have a problem.


I've been to BiH several times as well and it's where a friend of mine had her graduation dinner. I've never had a problem with the food there so I don't know if it was an off day but I wouldn't say they have bad food.

Rdr

Maybe this Dicks is tame. I've seen some videos off the Dicks website that makes me think other but I've never been to one. I figure if I want to get insulted at dinner I'd fly home to FL and eat turkey dinner with my 7 brothers. Probably why I haven't been back in years. haha

VisionOfClarity

Bachelorette parties get a lot of attention, really, any large groups of girls get a lot of attention because they're at Dick's to get drunk and go wild so they all leave with the hats and things like that but for something like this there wouldn't be nearly as much wackiness unless the group started going with the vibe. They're pretty good at reading tables there and knowing where the lines are.

lucazzo

A couple of thoughts:

1) Never been to Dick's in Bostons, so I'll waive any opinion on it.

2) BiH has reasonable pub food, but it's pub food. I have no issues with pub food, but I'll warn people ahead of time not to expect a miso glazed sea bass, or seven different cuts of beef.

3) BiH has karaoke on Thursdays, and it gets packed.

4) I'm assuming you're coordinating a bit with Atlus, but that whole area is jam packed with bars. It's virtually three blocks of bars. re: (3), I'm calling for an encore of the Pokemon song at BiH at some point in the night, and a rendition of "Still Alive", brought to you by the Drunken PAX-East Brigade.

VisionOfClarity

Atlus has PM'd me a general area he's going to scout and maybe plan in. I don't know if he has solidified anything since but I have to have my plans set earlier than he does because of the reservation involved.

VisionOfClarity

Updated the OP.

Thursday, March 10th, 5:30 PM at Bell in Hand in Faneuil Hall

Rdr

Awesome. I think 5:30 is am amazing time and hopefully the pokecrawl starts around 8-9pm so we have plenty of time to mingle and enjoy ourselves.

Thanks for organizing this, VisionOfClarity!

VisionOfClarity

I'm thinking 5:30-7:30 for dinner. I can make it earlier but even just 5 seemed to be a bit too early.

Rdr

5 is too hot!
and 6 is too cold!
Ahh, 5:30 is just right

VisionOfClarity

I figure the MMT will end before then but I have no idea when the train crew will get in. last year it was later and then arrived late I think.

Kiashien

As a side note, I love the Bell (and should be able to come this year! yay!), but keep in mind, it will take about an hour T'in it to get back to the convention center from it (if you're hotelin' it there).

I can and will provide T directions from the Bell to the Center at a later time- but the super short version is haymarket -> orange line -> DT crossing -> 17 bus.

~Kia

VisionOfClarity

You can also walk since it's not even 1.5 miles or walk to the 4 or 7 bus. It shouldn't take more than 30 minutes in any case.

acumen101

I loved last year's dinner, just got registered for a 3 day pass by the way, and while I haven't been to the Bell in hand, I hope that we have more elbow room than we did in Fire and Ice. Also, we were segmented in different groups, but I enjoyed the company none the less; I got to sit with some indie devs for a game for the Wii (Gravtronix, I think the name of the game was)

ZeroHourHero

acumen101 wrote: »

I loved last year's dinner, just got registered for a 3 day pass by the way, and while I haven't been to the Bell in hand, I hope that we have more elbow room than we did in Fire and Ice. Also, we were segmented in different groups, but I enjoyed the company none the less; I got to sit with some indie devs for a game for the Wii (Gravtronix, I think the name of the game was)

Oh you were with my group for the 2 minutes I had to eat before I had to run. I remember you now, because I knew everyone at the table except you and.... your girlfriend/wife/husband/boyfriend?

VisionOfClarity

acumen101 wrote: »

I loved last year's dinner, just got registered for a 3 day pass by the way, and while I haven't been to the Bell in hand, I hope that we have more elbow room than we did in Fire and Ice. Also, we were segmented in different groups, but I enjoyed the company none the less; I got to sit with some indie devs for a game for the Wii (Gravtronix, I think the name of the game was)

It's going to be much more open this year and Bell in Hand has suggested some menu/setup option for mingling maximization. This may end up starting with some passed hors d'oeuvres then moving into the buffet.

I'm totally serious, they apparently can help me make this happen for $30/head.

Rdr

VisionOfClarity wrote: »

It's going to be much more open this year and Bell in Hand has suggested some menu/setup option for mingling maximization. This may end up starting with some passed hors d'oeuvres then moving into the buffet.

I'm totally serious, they apparently can help me make this happen for $30/head.

Damn, that's amazing.

Here is their website for anyone interested: http://www.bellinhand.com/

And the address if you wanna map it to your hotel:

45-55 Union Street
Boston, MA 02108-2409

punzie

Awesome! Excitement!

My thoughts:
- ~$30 is the perfect price
- 5pm would be too early
- I would think the MMT would plan around being done in time for people to attend the dinner (at least, that's how it was in Seattle this year)

acumen101

ZeroHourHero wrote: »

Oh you were with my group for the 2 minutes I had to eat before I had to run. I remember you now, because I knew everyone at the table except you and.... your girlfriend/wife/husband/boyfriend?

No, I was solo. I sat with 2 devs and the wife/girlfriend of one of them. They forgot their credit card but one of the people who sat next to us said that the person who forgot it was on the pokecrawl that night and would get the card to them. I confirmed that he got the card back when I was at the exhibit hall the next day.

Wormdundee

The Gravitronix dev is vthornheart if I am not totally nuts. He is on these boards quite regularly.