Bachelorette Party in DC

For my sister-in-law's bachelorette party it was decided that we would have a sit-down dinner followed by dancing.  Which brings me to the following judgment.

For dinner we went to Oyamel a high-end Mexican restaurant that is part of the Think Food Group, to which Zaytinya (head chef and top chef Mike Isabella)and Jaleo also belong. I had stopped in Oyamel before, but just for a drink and wasn't sure what to expect with the food.  I knew I loved the smaller, intimate space with Mexican/modern decor and a lively young crowd; therefore, I thought it might be the perfect space for 12 ladies to share a meal in honor of their friend.

I called Oyamel to make a reservation and they explained to me that because we have 12 people, the group would be considered a party.  This meant that we would choose from a set menu and larger space would be prepared.  Hillary, the event planner, was extremely helpful, she sent me the menus in an e-mail, helped me with all of my related questions (and there were quite a few), and answered e-mails almost instantly.  I decided to go with a three course meal, guacamole made table-side (a fav of the bride), and an open bar with margaritas, sangria, beer, and wine.  All of this would last for two and a half hours.  Event planner judged as super helpful especially considering this was just a party of 12.

When we arrived that evening at Oyamel we were introduced to our waitress, who was recently married and incredibly nice.  Our table was ready and a few special details were added, such as cocktail napkins, candy, and a tiara for the bride, which I purchased ahead of time.  The staff was incredibly helpful about setting this up. They quickly brought the bride her drink as well as one for all of her friends and then showed us to the table.  Serve judged as above and beyond!

We started the meal with the table-side guacamole, which was delicious.  It had more lime than other places, but everyone agreed that we liked the extra lime and judged it as a good guac.

For our meal we had three course, all served on small, sharable plates.  In the first course we received a salad, gaspacho, and, a tostada.  The salad, ensalada de aguacate, was a fresh fruit salad served with an orange vinaigrette that was both refreshing and flavorful.  In the second course we enjoyed tacos with bbq pork and picked onions, albondigas a.k.a. meatballs, tamal verde, and seared arctic char.  The arctic char was the highlight of this course.  It was cooked perfectly.

For our dessert course we enjoyed a chocolate sorbet and rum cake.  The chocolate sorbet was out of this world, anyone craving chocolate would cure their craving with just one spoonful.  Judged, the best chocolate frozen treat. The rum cake was judged as having enough booze to count as one of the bachelorette's shots.

For dancing that night we went to Shadow Room, which claims to "challenge ourselves to provide an unparalleled level of service and experience that exceeds anything that is currently available." We booked a table with bottle service through club promoter and co-owner of DC Hosts, Jason.  We arrived at the club and were on the list, directed to our table, and promptly brought a menu to choose our bottle.

Once inside the waitress was really nice, the DJ played everything we wanted to dance to, and the bouncers outside the door kept a good count on the number of people in the club so we never felt crowded, which was so nice, since we wanted to go dance, not get pushed around.  The only downside was that random people kept sitting at the table we had reserved, it probably would have helped if there had been some sort of barrier between the dance floor and table benches.  Overall, we had a great time and danced the night away.  Shadow Room is judged as a fun place to go dancing in DC.