I want to hear about anything $50 and under (base cost per person - not incl tip/tax/alcohol), but ideally I’m aiming for $30 or less. If that’s not doable I’d also consider catering if the quality is good and they help out with the setup/etc. I’m looking for a Saturday/Sunday in mid-December.
Nice to haves, in rough order of preference:
Within the rough bounds between the 101, 405, and 10 (a bit further west of the 405 is also ok)
Allows BYO-liquor (low/negotiable/flat fee corkage ok)
Comfortable seating/environment
Easy parking
Allows custom playlist
Book 5-6 Chinese banquet tables (10-12 people each, with each table costing $300-$400). With that buying power, you can leverage a partitioned private room, bringing in your own music, and lowering (or outright negating) corkage fees from the management.
Empress Harbor (Monterey Park) partitions rooms nicely and does grand banquets. As does 888 Seafood. But these leads are just the proverbial tip of the iceberg if you should so choose to walk down this path.
In Chinatown, so south of 101, east of 405, and north of the 10.
BYOB
Very casual (read: comfortable come-as-you-are vibe)
Easy, validated parking in underground structure
Custom playlist? Not sure, but if you’ve got 50+ people you’re going to have to reserve the entire restaurant, so at that point if you wanted to play Marcel Marceau’s greatest hits, I’m sure no one would really bat an eye.
