Just to throw out another option, my friend mentioned an Italian place right by the Moscone Center, Buca Di Beppo. They have a menu with prices listed for their San Francisco location here.

http://www.bucadibeppo.com/m_storeMe...&menuTypeId=13

Yeah, Bucca Di Beppo should be convienient as well, it's also about half way between the Moscone and the Pickwick. I have never eaten at one in California, but I have eaten at several in other states. The food was always decent, but the atmosphere is always a good time. I'm fine with there as long as no one else has an objection.

We should think about getting a time locked down, Macworld is only a few weeks away. We may have to get a reservation made as well. Perhaps one of the locals can help out with that.

Jeez, it’s been ages since I ate great Tex-Mex food. But I’ve never been able to argue with a good Italian meal either. I’ll leave all that to the local experts.

More importantly, it would be really nice to have enough space, and a noise level that’s low enough to allow for great, fun conversation.

I think either one will offer plenty of room and good food...maybe not great food though.

As for great Tex-Mex... well you can find plenty of great (and often cheap) Mexican food (better than Tex-Mex in my opinion) in the Mission district, and plenty of good Italian food in North Beach.

I like the food at the Steps of Rome Trattoria in North Beach and I've heard a lot of good things about the Pancho Villa Taqueria in the Mission. A fun fact... San Francisco has the highest number of restaurants per capita in the United States... so you'll have plenty of chances to find great food. The hotel staff will surely know of some good restaurants that are near by.

I'm fine with either Italian or Tex-Mex... and I like the 6:00 time that was suggested as that's when the Expo ends for the day ;-)

I agree with the quality comment, but there is something to be said for conveinence. I say we go with 6 PM though, I think that would work nicely. Someone pick a place, I'm fine with anything.

Side note: Breen I didn't realize who you were until about 5 minutes ago, when I was reading about the feature presentations in the conference brochure. I've read a lot of your stuff over the years, but never drew the connection. Small world. :)

LOL!! No, I'm not Chris Breen. It's his last name but my first. (He got a very funny look on his face one time when I won a tchotchke at the MacWorld booth...)

Breen

OOPS, honest mistake. ;)

No problem. It's not a common name. I sometimes drop by the local outlet of the Evil Coffee Empire, where they're required to ask your name so that they can put in on the cup.
As often as not, the barista just punts and I get an unlabeled cup... ;)

Well, at least we got that ironed out :D We still need to get a place and time nailed down here before too long. Since you're local Breen, you may have a suggestion.


Also:
Which Users Conference are you hosting Griffman? I have a Users Conference pass, so I'll be sure to attend.

I just saw on www.macobserver.com that TechRestore has restored (refurbished) iBooks.

http://www.techrestore.com/xcart/pro...cat=254&page=1
remember to use the coupon code "BRIGHT" to save $100.

They have several other models of restored iBooks and PowerBooks if that one isn't what you want.

*EDIT* Apple has a refurbished 12" 1GHz G4 iBook 256MB/30GB/CD-RW-DVD combo drive for $799 in their Special Deals section of their online store. I thought it might be more along the lines of what you're looking for.

OK, I put up the Official Notice™ on the main site this morning. There's been a lot of banter here, all good, but now it's time to iron out the final details. So as noted on the main page, please send an email to mwsf2005@macosxhints.com if you'd like to attend the dinner, and include the number of people you'll have in your group.

Once I have a semi-final tally, I'll pick one of the spots that have been mentioned here and see if I can't reserve a room or area for us.

-rob.

I just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone for participating in this thread.

... and a special thanks to griffman for pinning the topic and posting a blurp on the homepage.

I wasn't sure if anyone would respond to the topic, but I'm glad you all did. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you in SF.

We're at 14 or so people after a half-day, so hopefully we'll wind up with a good-sized group!

-rob.

I started reading this thread yesterday, but wasn't sure if it was a small group or a general pow-wow. I'm game, I'll send an email to the address.

Also, if you need help scouting any places out, I live in San Francisco.

I think it came down to Chevy's and Bucca Di Beppo. Both within a block or two of the Moscone Center. If you can stop by and check them out for large seating areas, noise level that would be great. If you want to try the food and service even better ;-)

Also if you see another option that is within say 3 or 4 blocks of the Moscone Center that looks good and has several dinner items in the $10 - $15 range let us know. As far as I know nothing is set in stone yet. And it's probably a good idea to give Rob multiple places to try to get a reservation for a large group as there are likely to be other groups with the same idea.

Cool, lets see...Chevy's and Buca are both good for groups. Both have ample space and aren't too noisy.

I personally like the food at Buca better, the only drawback being it's family style. The Linguine Fruti di Mare serves 4~5 people. At least if we go to Chevy's we can each order our own dishes and share the bucket-o-beer.

Update...

I have rooms reserved at both Chevy's and Buca (someone on the main site mentioned Thirsty Bear as an option, but a glance at the menu showed the prices to be somewhat high, and the food is authentic Spanish, which may not suit everyone's tastes). So at this point, we need to make a decision on which one the group would prefer (it's expanded to about 25 people now!).

Some info that I can see from the web, and from the phone calls...

• Both places will *only* do a group bill for a group of this size (though it appears that Buca will do separate tabs for drinks). So if you're not comfortable with splitting the bill amongst the group, we could have a bit of an issue. I have a feeling that any place we call with a group this size will insist on a combined bill.
  
• I think Chevy's is a bit less expensive than Buca, but the portions at Buca are big "family size," designed to be shared.
  
• Both are quite close to Moscone.
  
• Relevant websites: Chevy's (corporate site); Buca (SanFran location specific)
  

I need to call one of them back and cancel before the end of the weekend, so speak now, or I'll just make a choice :). I can't add a poll, I don't think, so just voice your comments here (or email me directly).

-rob.

I vote for Bucca, just because of the drink thing. I would say that everyone should pay for their own drinks, but we take the total price of the food (plus 20% for tip) and divide it by the number of people (split it evenly).

I'm my experience this is a better way to do it than figuring out exactly what each person owes. That becomes a mess.

With the size of the entrees there, we'll only need 6 or 7 dishes to feed a group of 25. It won't be that expensive and everyone will end up sharing.

Sounds good! I assume that any restaurant, including Bucca, has at least one non-carnivore dish. :)
I need to know where I can get ahold of someone in the group the old-fashioned way - cell phone / sms. Please drop me a note by this Monday.

Looking forward to this get-together!
And really looking forward to spending a few days in San Francisco again before and during MacWorld.

Two favors I'd like to ask:

First, somebody take a couple of pictures and we can have them posted here or on the main site;

Second, for those of us who'd dearly love to attend but can't, maybe someone who's there can post an update or two about what they see.

Also, there is an IRC area for the site you can read about here. For myself I'll probably keep iChatAV up and running in case anyone wants to do a realtime.

Hope you all have a wonderful time; and don't neglect the Asian cuisine while you're in S.F. :cool: