11 New Options for Business Entertaining in New York

Loews Regency New York Hotel reopened in January following a yearlong $100 million renovation. As part of the project, the hotel opened a new restaurant, the Regency Bar & Grill, which is the new home to its famed "power breakfast." The hotel introduced the concept in 1975 and still draws the city's business, political, and other players. The restaurant has a 135-seat dining room and a 32-seat bar and lounge. The hotel's redesign also covered the 379 rooms and as well as four private meeting spaces. It's also is home to the new 10,000-square-foot Julien Farel Restore Salon & Spa flagship.

The newly opened sports bar and restaurant Suite 36 Restaurant & Sports Lounge offers semiprivate suites with climate control and personal TVs. Other amenities throughout the 6,500-square-foot place include 42 TV screens, a 50-foot bar, and skylights that frame views of the Empire State Building. The entire venue holds 300 people for events. The mezzanine level is available for events of 75 people.

The famed King Cole Bar & Salon at the St. Regis hotel underwent a makeover, reopening in November with a more extensive lounge, an open fireplace, and a new partnership with chef and restaurateur John DeLucie. The stylish first-floor space serves an international menu of small plates as well as cocktails including its signature Bloody Mary, which the hotel is said to have invented in 1934. The Maxfield Parrish mural “Old King Cole” remains above the bar.

For casual, outdoor gatherings, Merchants Hospitality and the Lure Group have opened a downtown beer garden, Clinton Hall. The indoor-outdoor space starts with a rustic barroom with glass doors that open to a courtyard with communal tables and benches. The bar features 20 beers and ciders on tap that are regulated with a flux capacitor to control the gas blend for each beer. The 4,000-square-foot space has 200 seats and is available for buyout.

Fabio Cucina Italiana, an Italian restaurant in Midtown East, opened in February with space for presentations and business entertaining. The space has large red and gold banquettes in the center of the room that are divided by a table of Italian cookbooks. There is a 12-seat private dining room on the main level as well as a 25-person dining room downstairs that has audiovisual equipment for presentations.

For an event with a view, the Skylark in the garment district offers full-length windows overlooking the Hudson River and Manhattan skyline, including the Empire State Building. The fashionable cocktail bar accommodates 200 people in its 7,000-square-foot space or hosts smaller gatherings of as many as 30 people in private rooms. The enclosed lounge is open year-round, while a 140-person roof deck is seasonal. The small plates menu from Abigail Kirsch includes dishes such as lobster tacos, wild mushroom kebabs, and mac 'n' cheese cupcakes. The space opened in October.

An instant hot spot as soon as it opened in February—Alexander Wang’s fashion week party was at the venue—Gilded Lily is a subterranean bar and club. Guests enter through a black elevator into an interior designed by Roman & Williams. There is a floor embedded with gold glitter, a sunken dance floor, and a massive chandelier that is synced to the music. The 4,000-square-foot space seats 150 guests or holds 250 for receptions.

Chalk Point Kitchen, a market-to-table restaurant in SoHo, and the Handy Liquor Bar located beneath it, opened in March. Both venues are from IndieFork and feature menus from chef Joe Isidori, a specialist in sustainable seafood who previously worked as executive chef for Donald Trump and his resort properties. The 70-seat restaurant is designed in a vintage farmhouse style with decor sourced from antique markets in Pennsylvania and upstate New York. Succulents and herbs growing in planters are used as decoration and in cocktails. Downstairs, reached through a separate entrance, is the bar. With dark woods, Chesterfield sofas, and a fireplace, it has a club-like feel. There is a baby grand piano and a Wurlitzer jukebox, as well as audiovisual equipment and free Wi-Fi. The room holds 160 for receptions. Both spaces are available for buyouts, and they are soundproofed to allow for separate events to be held simultaneously.

Bodega Negra, an offshoot of a British concept, opened at the Dream Downtown hotel in February, replacing the former Marble Lane. Its design elements include a copper-penny disco ball, screens made of repurposed Mariachi uniform details and guitars, and banquettes upholstered in reclaimed military tents, animal hide, and traditional Mexican serape textiles. The Mexican eatery seats 108 and provides private dining for 24 guests.

As part of the Lexington New York City's $46 million renovation, the Midtown hotel has opened the Mixing Room, a lobby-level bar available for private events. The bar seats 60 guests in its Art Deco-style space. In one of the hotel's nods to the Jazz Age, the New York Jazz Workshop performs live each Tuesday.

The Upper West Side restaurant Domain NYC, which opened in September, offers several spaces for private events. The first floor seats 30 for dinner and has a chef's table in the back for 12. The entire second floor hosts receptions for 200 or seated dinners for 50. A heated patio hosts dinners for eight. A private dining room on the third floor seats eight. Partial and full buyouts are available.