Lure : Atlanta, Georgia

Because it is a restaurant and not a hotel, we’ll focus on the kind of dining experience you and your fellow maties or…seamen can expect at Lure.

THE DISH: The maximum guest capacity fares around 170 guests if you opt for a restaurant buyout. The private dining room holds up to 55 guests. The patio space venue, where you’ll be able to gaze off into the horizon and pretend that you are watching seagulls fly by, is able to hold up to 60 people. There are options for semi-private dining, too. That way, you won’t have to be an enclave and can enjoy the rest of the ambiance.

Coming from a 10 year event planning background I think Lure would be perfect for rehearsal dinners, welcome receptions, post-wedding brunches, birthdays, showers, you get where this is going. To boot, it's both casual and contemporary and pricing on their private dining menus are attractive. You can get a Three Course brunch or lunch starting at $30 or dinner private dining menus starting as low as $50/guest for an appetizer, entree and dessert.

Lure, Atlanta says it best "our restaurant can accommodate a variety of different private and group dining scenarios—lunch, brunch, dinner or cocktails; formal or casual" and "our dining room, full of wood-heavy nautical décor, feels like an adventure trip in the dark, cozy cabin of a weathered whaler. And while the menu delivers a strong sampling of classic American seafood, Lure also ventures out into foreign waters, with a keen eye on the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and Asia. Our menu excels in simple yet modern flavors like salty fried calamari and flaky fish and chips covered in a flavorful sourdough batter. Our tender steamed Calendar Island mussels demanded additional bread to soak up the last drops of their citrusy beer and crème fraîche broth."

There is a 200 year old anchor from Boston Harbor featured right at the entrance. The history’s pretty interesting, too, and the local merchants would probably tear your ear off just to give them a listen. Some of the décor features WWII spotlights and bomber shells used as lighting fixtures. I highly recommend the grilled octopus and pork lettuce wrap with vermicelli and Vietnamese sauce. The oysters are fresh and sweet and the peekytoe crab dip is delicious for an appetizer to share as well as the steak tartare with its grilled eggplant purée, seaweed tapenade and rice crackers, though it's not seafood but stands on its own well! Another thing I really loved at Lure, is that they don't come and ask if you want flat or sparkling or tap water (thus charging you some absorbitant fee for water) but instead they filter the water and you can choose from flat or sparkling water, or both. Even cooler is that it's served  in a really awesome, large glass bottle!