How to plan a rooftop party in Agra

Somebody has to organise it, and in every group it is the same person. If that is you this time, here is the order to do things in. It is written from the restaurant’s side of the counter, which means it is mostly the list of things we wish people had decided before they called — not because it makes our life easier, but because a party planned in this order costs less and goes better.

One: settle the headcount before anything else

Every other decision hangs off this number, and every venue will ask for it first. It also moves. Plan for the number who will actually come, not the number invited — for a weekday evening in Agra, expect somewhere around eight in ten of the people who say yes.

The number matters because seating areas are fixed sizes and a party either fits in one or it does not. Splitting fifteen people across two areas on opposite sides of a roof is not a party; it is two dinners. Ours are these:

A party of 18 fits in any of the three. A party of 30 has to be the terrace or the indoor room. A party of 50 is the terrace, and on a Saturday in November that is a conversation rather than a form. The booking form takes up to 60 guests — past that, call and we will plan it properly.

Two: pick the day, then the hour

The day is worth more thought than people give it. A Tuesday or a Wednesday buys you a quieter roof, more of the staff’s attention and a much better chance of getting the exact area you asked for. Friday and Saturday after eight are the two busiest slots in the week anywhere in this city, and a large group booked into them is competing with everybody else for the same forty minutes of kitchen.

On the hour: for a party, earlier is better for a reason that has nothing to do with the view. A group that arrives at seven has finished starters before the rush begins, so the mains land while the kitchen is still calm. The same group at nine gets everything, but it gets it in waves.

Three: decide à la carte or set menu, and decide it now

This is the decision that changes the evening most, and the one people leave until they are sitting down. There are two ways to feed a group and they are genuinely different.

• À la carte, up to about fifteen people. Everybody orders what they want, the bill is what it is, and it is usually cheaper. Past fifteen it stops working: a kitchen cannot send thirty different dishes at once, so the food arrives in waves and half the table eats while the other half watches.
• A set menu per head, past about fifteen. Fixed courses, agreed in advance, veg or non-veg or a mix. Everything lands together, nobody reads a menu at a party, and the total is known before anyone sits down — which is the part that matters if people are splitting it.

We work the second way for groups, from a Party & Celebrations menu that is built from the same kitchen as everything else. It is priced per head and quoted on the phone, because it depends on the headcount, the veg-to-non-veg split and what you want on the table — we are not going to print a number here that turns out to be wrong for your party.

What a party actually comes to

Nobody publishes this, so here is ours, worked from today’s menu prices for ten people ordering à la carte. It is an illustration rather than a quote — a real table orders differently — but it is built from prices you can check on the menu right now.

That is about ₹936 a head, with no service charge and no cover charge on top — we do not levy either. Four or more people can use the code TABLE20 for 20% off the food bill, capped at ₹800, which brings the same table to ₹8,516, or roughly ₹852 each. Both codes and their conditions are on the offers page.

Four: the things that get forgotten

• The cake. Somebody will bring one. Ask about the cakeage charge before you arrive rather than after — a per-kilo fee for cutting a cake you brought is common and is a bad surprise at eleven at night. We do not charge it.
• Decorations. Ask what is allowed and how early you can get in to put it up. Anything that has to be stuck to a wall or lit needs saying in advance.
• The wet-weather plan. A roof needs one. Ask whether there is an indoor room of the right size and whether it is the same kitchen. Ours seats 40 with air conditioning.
• The way up. Somebody in a group of thirty will not manage four flights of stairs. Check the lift goes to the top floor. Ours does.
• Parking. Thirty people is eight or ten cars. There is open parking at the foot of our building; it fills fastest between eight and nine on Friday and Saturday, and there is a service lane a short walk away that the locals use.

The order to do it in

1. Get the headcount. Everything else depends on it.
2. Pick a weekday if you can, and an hour earlier than feels right.
3. Book the area by name, not just “a table”.
4. Decide à la carte or set menu, and if it is a set menu, agree it on the phone.
5. Say what the occasion is when you book — it is one line and it changes the service.
6. Sort the cake, the decorations and the parking a week out, not on the day.

That is the whole job. If it is our roof: the booking form handles anything up to 60 people and confirms straight away, and for anything larger, or anything with a set menu in it, call +91 84451 00365 and ask for the manager. There is more detail on the celebrations page, including what we do for birthdays and anniversaries specifically.