Private dining rooms come with varying capacities and can accommodate all gathering sizes – no matter how big or small. Smaller spaces, with a capacity of up to 20-25 are great for sit-down dinners. While the midsized spaces can hold up to 70-75 guests with a combination of sitting and standing tables. The larger spaces, however, can be manoeuvred to hold grand gatherings – depending on your final headcount and the type of event you are organising – they can hold up to 200-250 guests in a sitting/standing split arrangement.

Venues that also operate as restaurants/bars will most likely allocate members of their team, specifically catering, to your party. However, other venues that operate as dedicated event hire spaces may not supply you with any staff, so you may need to contract them independently from an external agency. In some cases, venue management can organise this for you or can at least recommend reliable agencies they have worked with.

There are a couple of metrics you can use to compare which option is working out the best for you. Based on your approximate head count, you can begin by shortlisting venues that can fit your gathering size. Additionally, you can factor in the location of the venue – if it's well connected through the public transport networks and will be it convenient for most of your guests. Then, you can compare the price and offering to further narrow down the options – what's included and what's not, can they accommodate external food and decor requests, etc.

Lastly, you can read the online reviews and ratings of your top 3 shortlisted venues to make the final call.