Epicure is absolutely fantastic for hosting large groups.
I just organized a large 17 person dinner here this past weekend on a saturday evening and I could not have been more pleased with the quality of service and food.
Key points:
- Private Room:
They hosted us in an upstairs private room for no additional charge or minimum spend for a large group, set up the room with one large square table with everyone being able to face each other rather than being at a long skinny set up in many restaurants where you can only really talk to the people right beside you
- No fixed menu:
We were able to create our own custom "shortened" menu from their full menu consisting of 8 appetizers and 7 entrees
- Separate bills:
For all guests and this included multiple shares (sharing of wine, sharing of food amongst different people)
- Everyone's food arrived at the same time and tasted great. (FYI the portion sizes are also huge for entrees that are between $16 - $20 and everything including steaks were cooked correctly which is a very difficult thing to do for such a large group)
The manager Nicole was so accomodating and kind, always responded back to emails promptly and attended to us the whole evening.
To plan this event I called/inquired to over 10 different locations along Queen adn King Street and chose Epicure because they were the only establishment to offer a non prix fixe menu, a private room and Nicole had been so kind at our inital meeting taking time to show me the room and even send a past photo of what it would look like once it was all set up and they 110% delivered on all these aspects.
I will come back again for the food alone, but for anyone else looking to host a large party in a great central location I would 100% recommend Epicure :)