I will be going if it's held at the Taphouse like last year's epic dinner.
Otherwise, I will be at a smaller post-PAX dinner there.
Well, well, well.
The taphouse website says it can accomodate up to 125 people, with audio/video equipment and even pool tables in our own private area. This looks promising, although the decor gives me the impression it might be spendy. Anyway, I e-mailed them and expressed interest.
How was your impression of the Taphouse? I'm an up-and-coming beer snob, so this has my interest.
Last year, a bunch of people from the train decided to get together and do a post-PAX dinner and decided on the Taphouse. I forget the exact details, as I was not one of the planners, I just went along, but we had about 20 people in our party (I guess it's more of a raid at that point :P) and both the service and food were amazing. What made the dinner stand out in my mind is that you can order a sampler of 4 half-sized glasses (probably about 8-10 oz) of whichever beers you want. About 10 people in the group got this, and we had something like 25 different beers at the table, and we all kept passing them around for everybody to try. Very awesome communal experience.
For my dinner I had seafood fettuccine that was more delicious than it had any right to be. But that could have been the half hour or so of drinking various beers beforehand, too. And even though the staff was flustered with such a huge group showing up (I can't recall, but I think the original planner had a reservation for half the group's number, and tons more people got invited) they handled us perfectly. I'm really looking forward to going back this year and it'd be cool if it could be an official thing so we could get the pool tables.
It is fairly expensive. Nobody else wanted to keep the marked up receipt after we finished calculating who owed what into the tab, so I saved it. $640.62 for the roughly 20 of us after gratuity, so it was an average of $30 per person for the night. Obviously less if you weren't buying a bunch of beer. I think my own tab was about $45. But damn it if wasn't worth every cent.
So yeah. My vote's for the taphouse.
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ColdbrewDown in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered Userregular
edited June 2009
As long as we could keep the price reasonable, I would definitely vote on the Taphouse as well, it sounds pretty awesome.
Here's another vote for the taphouse. It sounds like the perfect place. And from Raidens description, the price would be pretty much however much you want to spend. Just say that if you come, you have to spend at least 20 dollars, so that that can go into a general pot, and then people who spend more could do so?
I don't know if it's the best payment setup, but lets get some other ideas here. I just think that if we're going to have 65+ people it will be a bitch and a half to divide it out among everybody if all payment happens separately. To make it quicker payment, you could also strongly recommend paying with cash.
Here's another vote for the taphouse. It sounds like the perfect place. And from Raidens description, the price would be pretty much however much you want to spend. Just say that if you come, you have to spend at least 20 dollars, so that that can go into a general pot, and then people who spend more could do so?
I don't know if it's the best payment setup, but lets get some other ideas here. I just think that if we're going to have 65+ people it will be a bitch and a half to divide it out among everybody if all payment happens separately. To make it quicker payment, you could also strongly recommend paying with cash.
Cash is pretty much a requirement with this many people. Also at that point you're pretty much just splitting it evenly. A lot of people, let alone ones who have been drinking and eating for a couple hours, just make it too much of a pain to split things correctly.
Cronus on
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
Here's another vote for the taphouse. It sounds like the perfect place. And from Raidens description, the price would be pretty much however much you want to spend. Just say that if you come, you have to spend at least 20 dollars, so that that can go into a general pot, and then people who spend more could do so?
I don't know if it's the best payment setup, but lets get some other ideas here. I just think that if we're going to have 65+ people it will be a bitch and a half to divide it out among everybody if all payment happens separately. To make it quicker payment, you could also strongly recommend paying with cash.
Cash is pretty much a requirement with this many people. Also at that point you're pretty much just splitting it evenly. A lot of people, let alone ones who have been drinking and eating for a couple hours, just make it too much of a pain to split things correctly.
We're talking about nerds here. People are looking for reasons to bust out the spreadsheet app on their smartphone. :P
I'd be down for this if the dinner isn't too expensive. I'm dragging my bro all the way from Florida so he may come too. Again it'll come down to the cost.
Sageheart on
Tickets + Flight + Hotel = SEE YOU AT PAX 2012!
Pre-PAX Dinner | Tri-Wizard Drinking Tournament | Post-PAX Party
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Here's another vote for the taphouse. It sounds like the perfect place. And from Raidens description, the price would be pretty much however much you want to spend. Just say that if you come, you have to spend at least 20 dollars, so that that can go into a general pot, and then people who spend more could do so?
I don't know if it's the best payment setup, but lets get some other ideas here. I just think that if we're going to have 65+ people it will be a bitch and a half to divide it out among everybody if all payment happens separately. To make it quicker payment, you could also strongly recommend paying with cash.
Cash is pretty much a requirement with this many people. Also at that point you're pretty much just splitting it evenly. A lot of people, let alone ones who have been drinking and eating for a couple hours, just make it too much of a pain to split things correctly.
We're talking about nerds here. People are looking for reasons to bust out the spreadsheet app on their smartphone. :P
Ok, well I'll lay down a few bills and then meet you guys when you're done the next morning.
Cronus on
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
Taphouse sounds great. Issue - no way to get a standard price so people can pre pay, which is basically necessary to keep from the last guy at each table from getting screwed over. Proposed solution: Everyone chips in $20 up front, that should cover food. Then only get drinks at the bar - alcohol being the largest variation in cost of meal at that sort of place.
Taphouse sounds great. Issue - no way to get a standard price so people can pre pay, which is basically necessary to keep from the last guy at each table from getting screwed over. Proposed solution: Everyone chips in $20 up front, that should cover food. Then only get drinks at the bar - alcohol being the largest variation in cost of meal at that sort of place.
Speaking from experience, this man's idea makes excellent sense.
Oooh, that's a good point indeed. I would assume they would let people under 21 in to eat, just not serve them alcohol. Nevertheless, I will most definitely check. If they for some weird reason don't let people under 21 in, that place is probably out.
But I doubt that.
Thanks for bringing that up.
Arco on
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I've always been under the impression that most municipalities made a distinction between "Bar" and "Restaurant that serves alcohol" for purposes of that under 21 thing. This place would seem to fall under the latter definition. And even at that, there are plenty of clubs and the like that are "18 to enter 21 to drink" - though that, admittedly, would have local variation.
I've always been under the impression that most municipalities made a distinction between "Bar" and "Restaurant that serves alcohol" for purposes of that under 21 thing. This place would seem to fall under the latter definition. And even at that, there are plenty of clubs and the like that are "18 to enter 21 to drink" - though that, admittedly, would have local variation.
That is indeed true. Red Robin has a full bar and will serve you anywhere in the restaurant. We'll be fine at any restaurant.
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ColdbrewDown in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered Userregular
edited June 2009
I'm sure if there was an area to reserve, they would let people under 21 enter and eat, they just might make us go to the bar for drinks or something.
Also, now might be a good time to start talking about pricing and payment options. As I've never done this before, my ideas might totally suck. So input is necessary.
Since we're going to have limited space pretty much anywhere we go, we're going to have to have people pre-confirmed to go. So I was thinking of selling tickets, similar to the Pre-PAX dinner. We could get a final per-person tally for the total cost of the dinner and sell tickets for that much, via PayPal or something. Send the tickets out via mail or just put people on a list for the dinner. That way we would definitely have the cost of the dinner covered before hand, we'd have a final list of people confirmed and paid to go before hand, nobody would be in danger of getting stuck with the bill for a table or something, and we wouldn't have to worry about sorting out massive amounts of cash, or plastic, at the end of the night.
How does that sound to people? What are the glaringly obvious problems with that, that my little brain has overlooked?
Arco on
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Also, now might be a good time to start talking about pricing and payment options. As I've never done this before, my ideas might totally suck. So input is necessary.
Since we're going to have limited space pretty much anywhere we go, we're going to have to have people pre-confirmed to go. So I was thinking of selling tickets, similar to the Pre-PAX dinner. We could get a final per-person tally for the total cost of the dinner and sell tickets for that much, via PayPal or something. Send the tickets out via mail or just put people on a list for the dinner. That way we would definitely have the cost of the dinner covered before hand, we'd have a final list of people confirmed and paid to go before hand, nobody would be in danger of getting stuck with the bill for a table or something, and we wouldn't have to worry about sorting out massive amounts of cash, or plastic, at the end of the night.
How does that sound to people? What are the glaringly obvious problems with that, that my little brain has overlooked?
I think that is a great idea. The only issue I can see is trusting one person with hundred of dollars that they won't run away with once they receive it through PayPal. I doubt that would happen since there would be lots of people that would beat their ass if they did. But that seems to be the simplest solution.
Also, now might be a good time to start talking about pricing and payment options. As I've never done this before, my ideas might totally suck. So input is necessary.
Since we're going to have limited space pretty much anywhere we go, we're going to have to have people pre-confirmed to go. So I was thinking of selling tickets, similar to the Pre-PAX dinner. We could get a final per-person tally for the total cost of the dinner and sell tickets for that much, via PayPal or something. Send the tickets out via mail or just put people on a list for the dinner. That way we would definitely have the cost of the dinner covered before hand, we'd have a final list of people confirmed and paid to go before hand, nobody would be in danger of getting stuck with the bill for a table or something, and we wouldn't have to worry about sorting out massive amounts of cash, or plastic, at the end of the night.
How does that sound to people? What are the glaringly obvious problems with that, that my little brain has overlooked?
I think that is a great idea. The only issue I can see is trusting one person with hundred of dollars that they won't run away with once they receive it through PayPal. I doubt that would happen since there would be lots of people that would beat their ass if they did. But that seems to be the simplest solution.
It will actually be thousands of dollars. >.>
Arco on
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The room we're looking at, at the Taphouse sounds pretty awesome. Their menu choices are things like beef medallions with crimini mushrooms or coconut curry rice noodles with tofu. We'd have two 120" projectors and maybe even HD TVs on top of that in the room with us that we can hook consoles up to, plus four full sized pool tables to play on. This is much fancier than, say, pizza in the park. I don't think it's overpriced for what we'd be getting, but it is a step up.
So if we do go ahead and get this room, it will be one hell of a party. I'd love to bring a Wii and maybe a 360, get some games going, play pool, have food, drink some good beer, and generally have an awesome, fun time.
However, it's going to be like $40 per person, maybe more after I factor in things like the $100 A/V fee (if we use the equipment), bartender fee, tax, and gratuity.
Personally, I'm in favor of this option. It's spendy, but it's awesome. I'm willing to pay for awesome, especially if it means no hitches. We don't have to worry about anything with these guys - food, audio/video, seating, and entertainment is all included. But I do recognize that it's spendy.
So what do you guys think? According to the poll $30+ is the second most popular choice, but it's a pretty distant second.
Arco on
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Perhaps we can do another poll to see if people would be willing to spend more for the Taphouse. Though if you don't have anything to drink and we only split the food bill I suppose it won't be that bad.
Cronus on
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
I'm getting some more clarification from the Taphouse, and it looks like it might not be quite as bad. Still making sure things are crystal clear, but:
The minimum bill they need to rent us the room is $2500. If we spend $2500, we get the room. No room rental fees, etc. They just need us to spend $2500. This doesn't include 20% gratuity or 10% tax, so it's actually $3250. This also doesn't include the $100 audio/video fee for the equipment in the room, or the $125 if we want our own bartender (probably unnecessary). I'm double checking about the gratuity, tax, and fees to make sure those are on top of the $2500. I think they are, but I want to be 100%. The lady for the Taphouse got back to me, and she's been real good about answering my questions.
SO. If we do have to pay all of that, the total amount of money we have to give them is $3475. That's $34.75 per person if we get 100 people. Not quite as bad as I thought.
Arco on
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I, too, would be willing to drop 30-40 if it's for the Taphouse. I've never been, but I hear good things about it all the time.
edit - Taphouse for $25 sounds awesome, especially if it gets cheaper per person. I would suggest setting a fixed price for the dinner no matter what, though, because we won't know the cost until we know how many people are going, and people don't know if they're going because it depends on how much it costs, etc. etc. Any money above and beyond the $2500 could just be put to awesome foods and such, yeah?
Speaking of food, is the $2500 just for the space?
Yeah, sorry. I was editing after I posted. It's probably going to be higher than $25, but we'll see what Lindsay (the lady from Taphouse) has to say about the gratuity and stuff.
Arco on
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That is some good stuff Arco. Do you know how big the room is? I want to make sure that we won't be too cramped. Also with that many people we'll certainly want our own bartender. Otherwise it will either be us in long lines, or just waiting a long time for drinks. Adding a extra $1-2 to smooth the evening out is probably worth it in that regard.
Cronus on
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
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Last year, a bunch of people from the train decided to get together and do a post-PAX dinner and decided on the Taphouse. I forget the exact details, as I was not one of the planners, I just went along, but we had about 20 people in our party (I guess it's more of a raid at that point :P) and both the service and food were amazing. What made the dinner stand out in my mind is that you can order a sampler of 4 half-sized glasses (probably about 8-10 oz) of whichever beers you want. About 10 people in the group got this, and we had something like 25 different beers at the table, and we all kept passing them around for everybody to try. Very awesome communal experience.
For my dinner I had seafood fettuccine that was more delicious than it had any right to be. But that could have been the half hour or so of drinking various beers beforehand, too. And even though the staff was flustered with such a huge group showing up (I can't recall, but I think the original planner had a reservation for half the group's number, and tons more people got invited) they handled us perfectly. I'm really looking forward to going back this year and it'd be cool if it could be an official thing so we could get the pool tables.
It is fairly expensive. Nobody else wanted to keep the marked up receipt after we finished calculating who owed what into the tab, so I saved it. $640.62 for the roughly 20 of us after gratuity, so it was an average of $30 per person for the night. Obviously less if you weren't buying a bunch of beer. I think my own tab was about $45. But damn it if wasn't worth every cent.
So yeah. My vote's for the taphouse.
I don't know if it's the best payment setup, but lets get some other ideas here. I just think that if we're going to have 65+ people it will be a bitch and a half to divide it out among everybody if all payment happens separately. To make it quicker payment, you could also strongly recommend paying with cash.
Cash is pretty much a requirement with this many people. Also at that point you're pretty much just splitting it evenly. A lot of people, let alone ones who have been drinking and eating for a couple hours, just make it too much of a pain to split things correctly.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
We're talking about nerds here. People are looking for reasons to bust out the spreadsheet app on their smartphone. :P
Pre-PAX Dinner | Tri-Wizard Drinking Tournament | Post-PAX Party
2012 Prime Buttoneer (Main | Bonus)
Ravenclaw Death Eaters, Head Boy - Ravenclaw DE is on Twitter and Facebook!
Ok, well I'll lay down a few bills and then meet you guys when you're done the next morning.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
Speaking from experience, this man's idea makes excellent sense.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
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Of course, it's a moot point if the age limit is only on actual consumption, not entry to the taphouse.
But I doubt that.
Thanks for bringing that up.
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
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Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
That is indeed true. Red Robin has a full bar and will serve you anywhere in the restaurant. We'll be fine at any restaurant.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
Which, as I mentioned, is probably ideal for us anyhow.
Edit: Not it.
We're counting on you Arco!
I sent them another e-mail today. If that doesn't get a response I might have to resort to, gasp, the telephone.
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Since we're going to have limited space pretty much anywhere we go, we're going to have to have people pre-confirmed to go. So I was thinking of selling tickets, similar to the Pre-PAX dinner. We could get a final per-person tally for the total cost of the dinner and sell tickets for that much, via PayPal or something. Send the tickets out via mail or just put people on a list for the dinner. That way we would definitely have the cost of the dinner covered before hand, we'd have a final list of people confirmed and paid to go before hand, nobody would be in danger of getting stuck with the bill for a table or something, and we wouldn't have to worry about sorting out massive amounts of cash, or plastic, at the end of the night.
How does that sound to people? What are the glaringly obvious problems with that, that my little brain has overlooked?
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
Satellite Theater for life!
I think that is a great idea. The only issue I can see is trusting one person with hundred of dollars that they won't run away with once they receive it through PayPal. I doubt that would happen since there would be lots of people that would beat their ass if they did. But that seems to be the simplest solution.
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
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That too lol
The room we're looking at, at the Taphouse sounds pretty awesome. Their menu choices are things like beef medallions with crimini mushrooms or coconut curry rice noodles with tofu. We'd have two 120" projectors and maybe even HD TVs on top of that in the room with us that we can hook consoles up to, plus four full sized pool tables to play on. This is much fancier than, say, pizza in the park. I don't think it's overpriced for what we'd be getting, but it is a step up.
So if we do go ahead and get this room, it will be one hell of a party. I'd love to bring a Wii and maybe a 360, get some games going, play pool, have food, drink some good beer, and generally have an awesome, fun time.
However, it's going to be like $40 per person, maybe more after I factor in things like the $100 A/V fee (if we use the equipment), bartender fee, tax, and gratuity.
Personally, I'm in favor of this option. It's spendy, but it's awesome. I'm willing to pay for awesome, especially if it means no hitches. We don't have to worry about anything with these guys - food, audio/video, seating, and entertainment is all included. But I do recognize that it's spendy.
So what do you guys think? According to the poll $30+ is the second most popular choice, but it's a pretty distant second.
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Did the Taphouse say what the limit is as far as number of people?
90 for the big room, but we can always get another room if we need it. As long as everybody's paying for dinner they can accommodate however many.
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After all, it kind of changes it from just a dinner to all-out ending uber party, and I can feel free to lay down the bills for that.
So yeah, I'm cool with spending whatever really.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
The minimum bill they need to rent us the room is $2500. If we spend $2500, we get the room. No room rental fees, etc. They just need us to spend $2500. This doesn't include 20% gratuity or 10% tax, so it's actually $3250. This also doesn't include the $100 audio/video fee for the equipment in the room, or the $125 if we want our own bartender (probably unnecessary). I'm double checking about the gratuity, tax, and fees to make sure those are on top of the $2500. I think they are, but I want to be 100%. The lady for the Taphouse got back to me, and she's been real good about answering my questions.
SO. If we do have to pay all of that, the total amount of money we have to give them is $3475. That's $34.75 per person if we get 100 people. Not quite as bad as I thought.
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edit - Taphouse for $25 sounds awesome, especially if it gets cheaper per person. I would suggest setting a fixed price for the dinner no matter what, though, because we won't know the cost until we know how many people are going, and people don't know if they're going because it depends on how much it costs, etc. etc. Any money above and beyond the $2500 could just be put to awesome foods and such, yeah?
Speaking of food, is the $2500 just for the space?
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
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"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad