This year saw the opening of many significant event and meeting venues in Boston. Here's a look at the best restaurants, party rooms, hotels, corporate event venues, conference centers, and private rooms to open in 2015. These new and renovated Boston venues suit groups large or small for private and corporate events, business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, weddings, and more.
Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly identified the view from the Hyatt Regency Cambridge's President's Ballroom.
The bar and restaurant Committee, which opened in mid-June, serves Mediterranean fare in a modern and industrial seaport location. A 200-square-foot private room seats 18 people or holds 25 for receptions, and a patio can be booked for semiprivate seasonal events. The venue’s audiovisual capabilities include a projector, a screen, a television, and Wi-Fi.
Tucked into the Innovation District’s new Envoy Hotel, Outlook Kitchen and Bar is a 153-seat restaurant that serves sophisticated American cuisine. For private events, groups may book the 123-seat dining room, the 12-seat private dining room, or a semiprivate dining space for about 20 guests. The venue also has a 28-seat bar and a 48-seat patio. There’s also the chef’s table for two guests. It opened in September.
Following a renovation, 25,000 square feet of meeting and event space at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge premiered in July. The President’s Ballroom holds 1,000 guests reception-style or seats 900 theater-style in the 7,000-square-foot space. It also has 1,300 square feet of prefunction space and an adjacent courtyard. The Charles View Ballroom, which offers floor-to-ceiling windows and views of Boston’s cityscape, is ideal for groups of 400 for receptions or 220 for banquets. The multilevel, 3,262-square-foot Empress Ballroom with a private balcony and Charles River views holds 350 guests for receptions or seats 220 for banquets. The Patriot's Hallway, a combination of five smaller rooms, holds 150 guests per room for receptions.
The luxury yacht Spirit of Boston underwent a $2.5 million transformation that finished in June. The redesigned vessel, which has 9,900 square feet of event space, features contemporary furniture, an outdoor bar, remodeled interior bars, and new dance floors. The dining and cocktail menus also were updated. The ship holds about 600, while private decks can accommodate groups of as many as 350. Semiprivate space is available for smaller groups.
Ocean Prime, the steak and seafood restaurant from Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, opened this week as the anchor in the new 100 Pier 4 building in the seaport district. The 10,500-square-foot restaurant seats 272 diners and is available for buyouts. It also has three private dining rooms available for events: the 12-seat Cambridge Room, the 14-seat Seaport Room, and the larger Back Bay Room, which holds 48. It’s the 12th location of the upscale concept and closely follows the debut of a sister restaurant in New York.
The chilly Frost Ice Loft (the temperature is kept at 21 degrees) now has a sister space for those who prefer room temperature. The Gallery at Frost Ice Loft is a sunlit event space and home for the arts overlooking Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. The 2,600-square-foot Gallery has 15-foot-high ceilings with hardwood floors and a rotating lineup of ice sculptures. The gallery, which opened in early July, holds 130 guests for receptions.
A co-working space by day, the newly refurbished Oficio has doubled its square footage while creating a cozier vibe. It has a 750-square-foot event space available for weekend or evenings that holds 50 for receptions or seats 20 and has wireless speakers for music. There are also two breakout rooms, one that seats 10 guest and the other for four guests. Each includes an HD monitor for presentations, direct phone lines, and glass markup walls. The renovation finished in June.
The first New England outpost of the popular New York eatery Serafina opened in early April in the former Radius space downtown. Known for its thin-crust pizzas, the restaurant’s bright and airy 12,000-square-foot space has a design that combines modern Italian with a New England farmhouse. The Vault, a lower-level private event room that once was as a bank vault, retains its original metal security door. The room fits three farmhouse tables that seat 24 guests total. Another private event space just off the lower-level lounge holds 100 guests at 10 wooden farmhouse-style tables.
Bliss Spa, located at the W Boston, underwent its own face-lift and reopened in March. The theater district spa added amenities with the introduction of a new high-tech nail lounge featuring mani-pedi stations with personal iPads. For groups, the 5,800-square-foot space holds 30 for private events in one of five studio spaces, where planners can offer catering and activities. Guests can then be called individually for treatments.
Offering East Coast Revival cuisine, the East Cambridge restaurant Loyal Nine opened its doors in late March. The menu features a variety of lesser-known shellfish, vegetables, and meats. The dining room seats 94, with additional seats at the bar, or the room holds 130 guests for receptions. The space can be combined with that patio that seats 30 or holds 50 for receptions. A smaller café area seats 30. Buyouts of the 4,000-square-foot venue are available.
