Dinner and dancing in NYC?

[saludas]

Posting this for a friend who wants to know of a good place for dinner and salsa dancing for their department to go as a work outing. Any ideas in the NY area?

[yippee1999]

In order to recommend places that make sense, it all depends on:

day/days of the week they're looking salsa dance (different venues for different nights)

how many in their party? (some places good for larger groups, some not so good)

what part of town will they generally be hanging out in/staying in?

[saludas]

In order to recommend places that make sense, it all depends on:

day/days of the week they're looking salsa dance (different venues for different nights)

how many in their party? (some places good for larger groups, some not so good)

what part of town will they generally be hanging out in/staying in?

Weeknight / small group 8-10 / part of town not important (they work in NYC)

[yippee1999]

If Monday night, dinner and salsa dancing at Taj (one of few places where you can dine AND salsa dance.)

Also on Monday night, but way Uptown (where some feel it's too far and "dangerous") is a really beautiful place called The River Room. It overlooks Hudson River and GWB. Menu is southern/soul food. They have salsa dancing right in the middle of the restaurant, every Monday from say 6-10p.

If Tuesday, dinner somewhere down in Union Square, then salsa dancing at LINK.

If Wednesday, dinner near Grand Central, then dancing at "latin dance club" LQ.

If Thursday, dinner around Times Square area, then salsa dancing at Club Cache.

[DCR]

Friday you can go either to sob's or Gonzalez y Gonzalez
Sunday Wish 26 serves some good food as well as good dancing


enjoy!

[noobster]

If Monday night, dinner and salsa dancing at Taj (one of few places where you can dine AND salsa dance.)

Also on Monday night, but way Uptown (where some feel it's too far and "dangerous") is a really beautiful place called The River Room. It overlooks Hudson River and GWB. Menu is southern/soul food. They have salsa dancing right in the middle of the restaurant, every Monday from say 6-10p.

If Tuesday, dinner somewhere down in Union Square, then salsa dancing at LINK.

If Wednesday, dinner near Grand Central, then dancing at "latin dance club" LQ.

If Thursday, dinner around Times Square area, then salsa dancing at Club Cache.
Geez, I would avoid Cache unless they are all hard-core dancers. The atmosphere is sort of gritty and not conducive to socializing. Agree with the other recommendations though.

Some places I didn't see mentioned:
- On Saturday there is apparently a salsa night at the China Club on W 47th, though I've never been.

- Tuesday is salsa night at the Copacabana on W 34th, I've been a couple of times. It's not a favorite of the hard-core on-2 crowd, but some of them do show up (I saw a bunch of familiar faces last Tuesday). It is a nice large club and there is lots of room to dance on Tuesday (as opposed to Sat when there are people standing all over the dance floor). The floor is a lot bigger than at any of the other places. E.g., Taj's floor is mobbed with people taking a lesson and then practicing early in the evening, it only clears out a little bit after 8 or 9 pm. Copa also has free dinner with admission on Tuesdays, but that might be a little weird/cheapskate for a group outing. The food is pretty good though, and an amazing deal all told ($5 for dinner and dancing, +lesson if you are so inclined).

Link is more of an on-2 place, nice atmosphere, you could eat dinner there too. There are two smallish floors that are pretty clear early in the evening, then crowd up later at night.

Latin Quarter has a variety of dancers, on-1 and on-2, floor is kind of small, admission is gender-biased ($10 for men, women free).

Cache, as mentioned: gritty atmosphere and hard-core on-2 dancing. Not for the timid.

SOB's: have not been for their salsa night, but they also have kind of a small floor

Gonzalez y Gonzalez: I was only there once, it was very crowded. Poor service for dinner and the music sucked IMHO (more pop stuff vs salsa dura) but that's a matter of taste and could vary night to night