Private Dining by Sepia

ith a private entrance, the space feels unique and grand. The subtle coloring worked wonderfully with neutral flowers and allowed the chandeliers to really shine! A few months before the wedding we went in for dinner to get a sense of the menu (just a note, Sepia does not offer a true tasting, but neither do most restaurants that we spoke with). Both of us being vegetarian, we wanted to make sure that we would be able to eat something more inventive than risotto! We trusted our planners suggestions on the meat entrees (ale braised short ribs and grilled sturgeon) and were absolutely blown away at the chef's creation for our entree (roasted butternut squash steak, smoked onion, braised chickpeas, wheat berries, tahini)! The creativity of the dish and seasonal influences were exceptional. With a background in fine dining and with many guests being avid "foodies" dinner was obviously very important for us. It truly was a legendary evening and our guests our still talking about the food and service months later. In particular our first course, a sunchoke soup with charred sweet onions, was a standout for everyone. The event planners at Sepia were extremely accommodating and helpful through every phase of the process. The evening of the event, the service staff made sure every guest had a drink in hand and seemed to go above and beyond. For the soup course, presentation was amazing, being poured table side for each guest. If you are looking for a smaller, unique and memorable dinner I would highly recommend Sepia!

ry-free venue for your small-ish wedding (we had 29 people), look no further. I was very hands-off and trusted the professionals to do what they do best. Andrea and the Sepia team did not disappoint! My husband and I wanted to be able to enjoy our day and we did exactly that. It was like we were guests at our own wedding - We felt so comfortable and taken care of throughout the whole process. We opted for a 5 course tasting menu that the Chef personally created for us. How cool is it to have a menu unique to your wedding prepared by a James Beard Award nominee at a Michelin Starred restaurant?!?!? The food was indescribable. That's how good it was! The venue itself is stunning (those chandeliers!!!) so not much is needed in the way of decor. They have a collection of mercury glass votives and other items to add to your floral arrangements if you want. The space was perfect for our group as we had one long table for all of us and the rest of the space was used for mingling and dancing. I would say a group of 50-60 would also have been comfortable in the space. The service was absolutely great. The staff is friendly, attentive, there when you need them - gone when you don't. They really made sure to take care of my grandparents, which I thought was a nice touch. All in all, I am SO happy with how everything turned out. Nothing went wrong the whole night... how many people can say that about a special event???

and we could not be happier with our choice to use Sepia. From the first communication to the actual night of the event, every single person involved was professional, accommodating and happy to do anything we needed. Delicious food is a guarantee with Sepia, but the event coordination was so well handled. I had nothing to worry about as the bride (Sepia even provides votives, small decor, menu cards and place cards -- they make it so easy!). All food and beverages at our wedding were served with the same attention to detail and fabulous service you'd get at the restaurant. Dinner courses were presented to all guests uniformly, flatware was provided for each course, and nothing went without prompt refill. We and our guests felt pampered and well-treated, which was very important to us, along with making quality food our first priority. We love to go out to eat in Chicago and wanted to give that experience to our guests. As I said before, amazing food is a given at Sepia so we knew we'd be able to treat everyone (and ourselves!) to an impressive meal. It should also be noted that everything I've had tried from the pastry chef is just perfect. I really can't recommend Sepia enough based on the fantastic experience we had. I wish we could do it again every weekend! :)