CHIGuide
Whether you're looking for a terrace that fits 30 or an indoor room for a group of 10, here are your best options for private dining.
Have you been tasked with planning your best friend’s birthday? Did you realize that your sister’s bridal shower is a month away and you haven’t made a reservation? Sounds like a Private Dining Problem. Whether you’re looking for an intimate room for a group of 10, or an underground beer cellar that can fit 45, check out these Chicago restaurants that currently offer private dining rooms.
photo credit: Christina Slaton
American•
West Loop
Capacity: 8-28, more if you combine rooms
Avec is one of our favorite restaurants in the city—the West Loop location has been around for 20 years, but the food is still interesting enough to keep us coming back. They do seasonal Mediterranean small plates with Midwestern twists, and keep long-time staples (like the chorizo-stuffed bacon-wrapped dates) on the menu. You can choose to have these dishes served family-style or as a buffet in one of three bookable rooms in the private dining space on the second floor of the restaurant.
Mediterranean•
Fulton Market
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Capacity: Up to 40
For $150 per person, you can host a private dinner for up to 40 of your favorite people at Rose Mary, one of our go-to spots in the West Loop. If you no longer talk to every single person you graduated high school with, you can book the private dining space for 16 people at half size instead. There’s a set three-course menu (plus dessert) of excellent Italian and Croatian dishes chosen ahead of time. This means more wine and less debate about what to order.
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American•
River North
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Capacity: 18-84
Chicago is known for steakhouses, and there’s a 99% chance that someone you know will want to celebrate at one. RPM Steak is a solid choice. The food is great, and it’s moderately celebrity-adjacent since it’s owned by a former reality show star. The semi-private spaces are on the upper-level mezzanine and overlook the main dining room below—a perfect backdrop to toast your friend’s accomplishment of getting cast in the Real Housewives of Lincoln Park. Pricing starts at $95-$115 per person, and will get you things like oysters, broiled black cod, and some very expensive cuts of steak like wagyu tomahawk or a dry-aged porterhouse.
American•
Gold Coast
Capacity: 10-300
We told you Chicago was known for its steakhouses. Out of all 2,094,734, Gibsons is the most iconic. It’s perfect for experiencing all the things people love about this city. Not only does it have fantastic steaks with traditional sides, but the atmosphere is relaxed and the private dining rooms have sweeping views of the Gold Coast. There are six different spaces to choose from, and you can start celebrating as early as brunch—because everyone in Chicago knows a well balanced breakfast includes a 19 ounce New York strip.
Japanese•
River North
Capacity: 10
On the surface, Sushi-san in River North seems like a spot that’s trying very hard to be cool—hip hop music plays at a volume that’s club-level-loud and the bathroom sign is a poop emoji. Underneath the over-the-top exterior, though, this Japanese restaurant is making seriously great sushi, and you can experience it with fewer distractions in their private dining space. The Omakase Room seats 10, and it will only get as rowdy as the number of drinks your group puts away during dinner. It’s a good option when you want to ease into having a celebratory night, and maybe go bar hopping on Hubbard St. afterward.
Peruvian•
River North
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Capacity: Up to 70
Tanta is the third of five River North restaurants included in this guide. But love it or hate it, River North has some great restaurants. Tanta is always a fun spot (helped by clubby lighting and a pop playlist), with great pisco-based drinks and Peruvian food like cebiches, empanadas, and lomo saltado. It’s even better when you’re eating that food on a lovely rooftop terrace with 70 of your closest friends, or 70 not-so-close colleagues. If you hate sunlight, warm weather, or other nice things in life, there’s an indoor private room that seats 55 people as well.
Japanese•
River North
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Capacity: Varies, contact restaurant for accommodations
Sunda is a very high-key, Asian-fusion spot in River North that’s been around since 2009, and you probably only remember that it exists when you’re here for someone’s office holiday party. In fact, maybe this year it’ll be the annual Arbor Day celebration that you’re in charge of for some reason. Sunda has multiple options for private dining whatever the size and event. You can decide on a seated dinner, passed plates, buffets, or chef stations with things like hamachi tartare, Hainanese salmon, oxtail pot stickers, and pork adobo fried rice.
Chinese•
Fulton Market
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Capacity: Up to 18
Like everything in the goat empire (for example Girl & The Goat and Cabra), Duck Duck Goat is a fun spot with solid food. You’ll find Chinese dishes with twists—like glass noodles with smoked blueberries—plus options incorporating goat, like the Xi'an goat slap noodles. The Jade Lounge is available for private dinners up to 18, but you’ll probably want to invite fewer people because that means more soup dumplings left for you.
American•
Fulton Market
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Capacity: 36-60 depending on room
This guide is full of steakhouses, but so is Chicago. And there’s a reason we included Swift & Sons here—it’s everything we like about a traditional steakhouse combined with everything we like about Fulton Market. That means great food (including wonderfully cooked steaks and seafood, a wedge salad, and lots of potatoes), friendly service, and a buzzy atmosphere. You can host a seated dinner or cocktail reception in one of their two private dining rooms, or have a private party for up to 60 people in the Wellington Room, which comes with a private entrance and bar.
Greek•
Logan Square
Capacity: 35-60
For a place that’s popular and busy but not full of chaotic energy, check out Andros Taverna. This Greek restaurant in Logan Square is spacious and has great food, like the must-order kataifi cheese pie, mezze spreads, and the best spanakopita we’ve ever had. Besides the food, a big draw is their Kipos Greenhouse—a glass-enclosed dining area that can be booked for 35-60 people.
Italian•
River North
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Capacity: 14-50 depending on room
Siena Tavern has all the traits of a typical River North spot: it’s loud, crowded, and has giant booths. But it’s also a really good Italian restaurant with great pizzas, pastas, and softball-sized meatballs. Book one of their secluded rooms, like the wine cellar, for a family-style meal with 14-16 people. Or try their semi-private elevated dining room (seats 20) that looks over the main dining area—you’ll be thankful for a distraction when your least favorite cousin Bobby traps you in a conversation about his 14 rescue cats.
Spanish•
Lincoln Park
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Capacity: 25-80 or more if you combine rooms
Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba! has been around since 1985, and it’s a Lincoln Park staple for a reason. This Spanish spot does it up big—a big space, a big menu full of tapas like chorizo-wrapped dates, and big noise from lots of large groups having celebratory dinners. Their six private and semi-private spaces are great options for birthday dinners, bridal and baby showers, rehearsals, or any event that might involve pitchers of sangria.
photo credit: Christina Slaton
American•
Pilsen
POWERED BY
Capacity: 25-100 depending on room
Dusek’s in Pilsen is in a huge, refurbished, very possibly haunted building from the turn of the century, and it has a couple of spaces for private dinners. In the basement is the Beer Cellar, a private room you access through a revolving bookcase (you read that right)—and next door is the Tack Room, constructed over an old stable. Wherever you choose to eat, an event at Dusek’s will get you a lot of history, as well as dishes like endive salad, beef tenderloin, and cast-iron mussels. And ghosts, we’re pretty sure.
Latin•
Fulton Market
Capacity: Varies depending on room
Carnivale is a Latin restaurant in Fulton Market with a wide range of influences. You’ll find dishes like ropa vieja, empanadas, and paella—plus lots of people celebrating birthdays, retirements, and eighth-grade graduations (though probably not at the same table). While the colorful space is huge and ideal for groups in general, there are a variety of spaces available for events of all sizes.
Places to try when you weren’t going to do anything for your birthday, but now you are.
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AmericanSeafood•
River North
Joe’s is consistently one of the best steakhouses in town, and you shouldn’t even order steak. Stone crabs are where it’s at.
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