Our company holiday party this year was held at The Peachtree Club, a private club and event space…read morelocated on the 28th floor of the 999 Peachtree building at the corner of 10th and Peachtree in Midtown. This is the same building that houses popular Atlanta restaurant Empire State South on its ground floor.
Ever seen the movie The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)? This place reminds me of the scene where Leonardo DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughey had lunch, high above the Manhattan skyline. Video: https://youtu.be/wM6exo00T5I. It's got an old-fashioned, formal, elegant setting; like a nice country club without the golf, tennis, and swimming pool. In other words, it's a city club and it's got some magnificent views of Midtown.
There were several beautiful spaces to the club and I believe we had access to them all. The entrance had a coat check and was nicely decorated with wreaths and Christmas nutcrackers. There was a small study in front with an absolutely gorgeous Christmas tree. The main doors led to a bar area with lots of standing and seating room. The bar connected to various dining rooms/spaces (I counted five). Just about every room had terrific views of the city. There was also a covered patio with tables, seating, heat lamps, and illuminated snowflake decor for the holiday season.
The patio is the best place to take in the views. Photo: https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/the-peachtree-club-atlanta?select=C8BsutGj3QGmsegeybIrjA. The patio is located on the north side of the building, so the main view faces north up Peachtree Street towards the PwC tower. One criticism I have about the patio is the coverage wasn't very good. Our party took place on a cold, wet Saturday night (6pm to 10pm) and drops of water were still falling onto us from above. Another small critique I have is there were only two heat lamps for the entire patio and one of them wasn't working (it may have run out of gas). A nice touch I liked was the basket of shawls placed by the patio door in case anyone needed a wrap for warmth.
Catering was not provided by a third party, but by the club itself. There were four dinner stations set up inside. Two were manned. I liked how the stations were spread out to avoid crowding issues. I believe the guest list was about 120-130. The bar got pretty crowded during cocktail hour, but spacing was more comfortable once dinner was served. Seating was a bit tight at dinner. The tables were white tablecloth with candles and centerpieces.
Here were the stations and menu items:
Asian Station
- Vegetable fried rice
- Chicken sate (satay) with peanut dipping sauce
- Thai vegetable noodle bowl
- Pork pot stickers with dipping sauce
- Fried wontons
- Edamame with sea salt
Rudolph Riviera (staffed by chef/server)
- Crispy garlic bread
- Penne pasta with chicken in a garlic cream sauce
Under the Christmas Tree (staffed by chef/server)
- Bacon-wrapped turkey tenderloin over butternut squash-scented risotto
- Sage-crusted pork loin over celery-whipped potatoes
- Cranberry chutney
Dessert Station
- Various cake and brownie bites, tarts, cream puffs, and more
In general, I thought the food was OK. The pot stickers and penne pasta were my favorite items. The penne pasta was served out of a cheese wheel for presentation purposes. The noodles at the Asian Station looked more like a pasta dish than a Thai dish. Not really authentic. The noodles were prepared with a coconut sauce. The turkey and pork station was manned by a chef from Italian restaurant Campagnolo, which is located just a couple blocks east of the club. He works as a chef for both Campagnolo and The Peachtree Club.
Admittedly, I do think the food I've had from local caterers like Affairs to Remember and Bold American Events has been better.
There was an open bar with friendly bartenders. After dinner, there were no servers serving coffee nor was there a coffee station. Instead, coffee was served at the bar, which I thought was interesting (and uncommon, in my experience). In general, I thought all of the staff did a fantastic job, from the managers to the coat check lady.
We brought in Cobalt Strings (https://www.yelp.com/biz/cobalt-strings-atlanta) to perform live holiday music. We had this same trio perform at our holiday party last year at the Atlanta History Center. They are that good.
The Peachtree Club opened in 1989.