I’m so blessed to have such a loving mother. My dream one day is to have a mother-in-law suite in my backyard for her to live with me as she gets older. Being the only child, I put a lot of stress on myself to ensure I can provide my mom with the best since she’s always done that for me! That’s why I wanted to throw her a cute little 60th brunch birthday party with all her friends and family.

My mom’s requirements were to have it have a French restaurant (one of the more expensive cuisines..) and to have a capacity of 50 people. However, the requirements were way more than that. I knew with my family I had to make sure that 1. the food was good 2. parking cannot be a pain 3. it can’t be outside because they’ll get sick / allergies 4. it can’t be too far out from the South Bay. So basically I couldn’t go anywhere past Menlo Park as most of my family lives in San Jose.

I reached out to the following restaurants:

Left Bank - Santana Row, San Jose, CA
1. Minimum Cost: $4K (before sales tax (9.375%), gratuity (20%), and event fee (6%))
2. Different rooms: ~ 25 - 56 capacity
3. Food: Banquet Menu Provided
Mademoiselle Colette - Menlo Park, CA
1. Cost: $50 per person + $1,300 (before tax & tip)
2. Back Patio: 50 capacity
3. Food: Catering Menu
Chez Philippe - Los Gatos, CA
1. Cost: $60 per person (before tax & tip)
2. Rose Room: 35 capacity
3. Food: Their normal menu that you can order
La Foret - San Jose, CA
1. Minimum Cost: $6,500 (before tax & tip)
2. Different Rooms: 50 capacity
3. Food: Lunch & Dinner Banquet Menu
4. Extra notes: They are not open for brunch on Saturdays. This price is for 50 people, however, they have many different prices. They have room capacities that ranges from 20-150 with prices from $3K-$15K.
Le Papillon - San Jose, CA
1. Minimum Cost: $2,500 (before 22% tip)
2. Different Rooms: 50 capacity
3. Food: Catering Menu
Epernay Bistro - Los Gatos, CA
1. Minimum Cost: $2,500 (before 22% tip)
2. Different Rooms: 50 capacity
3. Food: They have their menu & they are able to accommodate with whatever you want to add to the menu!

I ended up choosing Epernay Bistro and I could not have been happier. They were so extremely nice to work with, willing to work with me to change up the menu to my mother’s liking, and closed the restaurant down for our private event. I will say the downside was that parking can be a pain during brunch, and it was a tad tight with 50 people as I did buffet style. However, the food was amazing and my family absolutely loved it.