<p>Anyone with a great suggestion on where we could go for a college graduation dinner (about 10 people on a Friday or Saturday night) in Pasadena or San Marino? Thanks! We like pretty much all types of food and are thinking of spending about $40-50/person. Favorite votes for restaurants, anyone?</p>
<p>Il Fornaio in Pasadena has nice small private rooms. You can get a good meal for that price point.<a href=“Wine Spectator”>Wine Spectator;
Call ahead for the private rooms.<a href=“http://www.ilfornaio.com/images/pasadenaphotos/venezia.htm[/url]”>http://www.ilfornaio.com/images/pasadenaphotos/venezia.htm</a> Ask for the Venezia room, it seats
8-12</p>
<p>Thanks! That’s definitely something I’ll look into. Any other suggestions?</p>
<p>Smittys (on Lake) has a small private room and if you like Mediterranean food [Cafe</a> Santorini | The Rococo Room](<a href=“http://www.cafesantorini.com/photogallery.html]Cafe”>http://www.cafesantorini.com/photogallery.html) , last week I went to a fun festive evening with 12 people seated at their out door patio) but NOT inside.
Normally, I would recommend the Parkway Grill, but they have seen better days.</p>
<p>We’d prefer inside seating, since we are sensitive to cold and hot, so at least indoors we have more control over temperature. Will look into this as well.</p>
<p>Houston’s, The Raymond</p>
<p>GO TO BABITA.</p>
<p>You will not be disappointed.</p>
<p>[Babita</a> Restaurant, San Gabriel, CA](<a href=“Google Maps”>Google Maps)</p>
<p>It’s the tiniest little Zagat-rated place you’ve ever seen, and you’ll get nervous driving up to it, but the food is <em>heaven</em>. There are about eight tables in the whole place. The daughter is the server and her parents cook in the back. The soups are amazing. The beef filet with mint sauce is spectacular. The CHIPS AND SALSA are DIVINE… and I’m not a chips-and-salsa type person, but they make the tortillas by hand, and then cut them in half and then fry them as chips, and I can’t help but want to cry when I think of how insanely fresh and delectable they are, but it’s MERELY A MICROCOSM of how spectacular the rest of the food at Babita is.</p>
<p>It’s not going to be a bustling nightmare of insanity like so many other places are. It’s in San Gabriel, which is very near San Marino and Pasadena. It is <em>perfect</em>. Definitely call ahead and do reservations, but it is <em>perfect</em> for what you’re looking for.</p>
<p>The aforementioned Raymond is good, but you will end up paying substantially more than
40/50 per person for dinner.</p>
<p>Thanks for these thoughts. Have not heard of most of these restaurants before and will look into them.</p>
<p>Twin Palms (not sure if there’s a private room), Parkway Grill, Saladang for Thai. </p>
<p>If you could reschedule to lunch, there’s Julienne’s in San Marino. You could go there for breakfast one morning.</p>
<p>Want a Chinese restaurant?
More bang for your buck.
Not if you want to dress nicely, tho.</p>
<p>Twin Palms closed!</p>
<p>You probably get enough of him at home, but Roy Yamaguchi has a nice restaurant on Colorado Blvd near Lake. His Prix Fixe menu is reasonably priced. [Roy’s</a> Restaurant - Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine - Prix Fixe Menu](<a href=“http://www.roysrestaurant.com/cuisine/prix_fixe_menu.asp]Roy’s”>http://www.roysrestaurant.com/cuisine/prix_fixe_menu.asp)</p>
<p>Nah, I’m not so much into Roy’s, as they advertised a special but didn’t say it wasn’t honored in HI & when we called & made reservations, they confirmed that sure we could have the special we saw on the web. When we were seated at the restaurant in HI, they said they didn’t honor the special in HI, only the other restaurants in his name! Grrrr! They didn’t really even apologize or offer anything for our inconvenience so we left & went to another restaurant & had a great time there. We were thoroughly disappointed & they made no apoplogy as we left.</p>
<p>I have eaten at Julienne with my GF when the rest of the family had other plans. It was very nice but somehow doesn’t seem like my S as much.</p>
<p>La Luna Negra (belly dancers, fun)</p>
<p>Yujean Kang’s–chinese</p>
<p>Akbar;;indian</p>
<p>holly’s bar and grill;;atmosphere</p>
<p>the first 3 are in Old Town, other is close by</p>
<p>ps–i posted in my order</p>
<p>All of these are excellent suggestions–thanks so much & please keep them coming, as we will have connections to the area for the extended future and welcome good ideas on where to dine.</p>
<p>We love food and are always happy to learn of great places to eat. I’m looking forward to Babita especially, since your description sounds amazing! We love lamb, so will proabably order that & several of their other dishes.</p>
<p>Hands down, the best restaurants in the area (especially San Gabriel) are Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese. The very best is Yoshida in San Marino. Live Uni and Sweet Shrimp. Yoshi is a true sushi master. My favorite Chinese is Newport Tan Cang Seafood in San Gabriel. I didnt mention them, since they are not really appropriate for your special occasion. Hope you have a wonderful trip and celebration.
**If you are looking to go just a bit further afield, we love celebrating special occasions with out of town guests at the beautiful restaurant at the Getty. VERY good food and a view to die for.
[The</a> Restaurant at the Getty Center - Brentwood - Los Angeles, CA](<a href=“http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-restaurant-at-the-getty-center-los-angeles]The”>http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-restaurant-at-the-getty-center-los-angeles)</p>
<p>Thanks for these suggestions. Have added them to the growing list–YUM!</p>
<p>Is your graduate or anyone in your group at Caltech or JPL? The Atheneum (Caltech Faculty club) is a great place for a meal and/or celebration if you have someone in your group who is a member. Other fun places are Porto Alegre (Brazilian, must love meat) and Mijares (great Mexican, indoor/outdoor dining, can be loud). My daughter loves Mi Piace in Old Town, but it is trendy enough to be difficult at times.</p>
<p>We used to go to La Parisienne in Monrovia for special dates when we were in Pasadena and even had our rehearsal dinner for our wedding there. To my surprise it’s still there, still getting (mostly) good reviews.</p>