Here's a look at the best new and renovated venues in Boston such as corporate event venues, party rooms, conference centers, restaurants with private rooms, unique venues, and more. These event and meeting spaces can accommodate groups large or small for fall entertaining including business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, and private and corporate events.
The financial district's Society on High restaurant is within walking distance to some of Boston’s biggest companies, as well as South Station. The main dining room seats 45 or holds as many as 100 for cocktail receptions. A private dining room seats 25 or holds 30 for cocktails. Buyouts are available for 225 people. A multimedia platform allows for online conferencing, built-in video displays, and a separate sound system. A patio will soon be available for events.
Devastated by the effects of the Boston Marathon bombings, Forum reopened on August 15. The two-story 11,000-square-foot restaurant was redesigned, combining a vibrant bar and lounge area with booth seating and communal high-top tables. The menu features classic New England fare like Maine lobster chowder with shrimp and crab galette and arugula and strawberry salads. A seasonal patio and alfresco lounge area offer Back Bay views for 352 guests.
At HandleBar Indoor Cycling Studio in South Boston, event planners can organize teambuilding or networking sessions over spinning classes. The 1,700-square-foot studio opened in June and started hosting private events in August. Teams of six or more can reserve a block of seats within an existing class at $20 per seat. For buyouts of the 30-person studio, HandleBar will provide free shoe rentals and water. The staff can coordinate photo booth rentals as well as a cocktail or pressed juice reception after the class.
The team behind Boston’s Improv Asylum and Nick’s Comedy Stop have joined to create Laugh Boston, a new stand-up comedy venue at the Westin Hotel Waterfront, adjacent to the Boston Convention and Expo Center. The 6,000-square-foot space will seat 297 guests and offer a menu of light bites such as spring rolls and empanadas, as well as paninis and flat-bread pizzas. Opening September 21, Laugh Boston is within walking distance to some of the city’s best restaurants and hotels, as well as South Station and the financial district.
Located in Hingham’s popular Derby Street Shops, Legal C Bar is the third installment of Roger Berkowitz’s casual-yet-chic Legal Sea Foods spin off. The 6,500-square-foot restaurant, which opened its doors over Memorial Day weekend, offers Legal’s trademark seafood like calamari and oysters but with a bar-centric attitude and a stainless steel and concrete open floor plan that fits 195 guests. An entire lunch menu is devoted to wheat and gluten sensitivity, giving guests the ability to customize meals without extra effort.
Groups can learn how to brew beer at Hopsters, a new 4300-square-foot community brewery in Newton opening September 15. Groups of 20 to 60 people can experience a two-hour brewing session and book as many as 10 kettles to create 30 cases of beer with a custom label. Brewers can leave the beer with Hopsters to ferment, and the brewery will deliver it after two to three weeks. Guests can enjoy local craft beers along with cheese and meat boards as they learn more about becoming a brew master.
Three miles from downtown, the Holiday Inn Boston-Bunker Hill is located in Somerville’s Union Square. The 184-room hotel, which was renovated before reopening at the end of July, includes more than 10,000 square feet of function space for as many as 400 guests. Amenities include audiovisual equipment, complimentary Wi-Fi, the ports-theme restaurant Draft, and a new fitness center featuring a rock-climbing wall, a pool, and a basketball court.
The Boston Harbor Hotel is one of the city’s most regal waterfront locations. At its newly renovated Rowes Wharf Bar, 140 guests can sip cocktails on the harbor overlooking the million-dollar yachts. The bar, which opened August 30, boasts one of the most extensive selections of fine Scotches in greater Boston, as well as a new beverage menu with an expanded, temperature-controlled wine list of more than 100 labels. The 2,400-square-foot interior is heavy on leather accents and custom carpets in warm hues. Think a chic country club, minus the attitude.
Chef Evan Deluty of the much-beloved South End eatery Stella headed to the suburbs to open 29 Sudbury, a 9,000-square-foot space that boasts American cuisine with Italian influences like fresh pastas, coal-fired pizzas, and an all-local raw bar. The hot spot, which opened in mid-August, has a 20-seat rectangular bar on the first floor with a lounge area, a brick patio that seats 30, a dining room, and open kitchen with an eight-seat chef’s bar overlooking the coal-fire oven. A second floor features a 15-seat granite bar overlooking the dining room, as well as a private dining room for 14 and an outdoor deck that seats 12.
Nick Varano and his well-known Italian food empire Strega moves to the suburbs with Strega Prime, located in the former Beacon Grille space at Trade Center 128 in Woburn. The sprawling 10,000-square-foot steak house seats 312 indoors and 45 on the patio.
