While some Moose Jaw restaurants are gearing up to offer fully-booked New Years meals and gatherings, others will be closing early to avoid the hubbub.
“We put on a New Year’s dinner every year (at Harwoods),” said Avery Kober, food and beverage manager at the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa Resort. “We have set a five-course menu and we’re offering three different seatings at 5 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.”
While Harwoods guests will be ringing in the new year with a bottle of bubbly, Boston Pizza’s dinner guests will have to head out when the restaurant closes at 9 p.m.
“We’re doing a New Year’s luncheon dinner, but we’re not doing a big bash,” said Janet Smolinski, the manager of Boston Pizza’s north location.
Smolinski said there are still openings at the restaurant and reservations are only necessary for parties of more than six people.
“We have a special New Year’s Eve menu and we always have a lot of people on New Year’s Eve,” said Glady Tierce, owner of Hopkins Dining Parlour.
“At midnight, we ring the new year in with champagne and lots of noisemakers and free wings this year.”
People looking to ring in the new year at Houston Pizza are advised by manager Darren Barr to call ahead.
“For them to be able to get in on New Year’s Eve, they should definitely call,” said Barr. “We’ve got five different specials that we’re going to be doing ... (and) they are all made from scratch.”
Meanwhile, according to Shane Caron at Cordova Bistro, customers calling for reservations to his restaurant might be disappointed.
“We are 100 per cent booked already until about 9:30 p.m.,” he said, adding that the restaurant is “in the midst of putting together” their New Year’s dinner, which will include chicken cordon bleu and steak and lobster.
“We have a pretty extensive wine menu,” said Kober. “We do have around 40 wines on the list already, as well as a couple champagnes ... we’ll bring in more of the higher-end products into our inventory, like Dom.”
The reason, Kober said, is because the restaurant tends to move more wine as the night progresses.
“The whole lustre (for champagnes) is more for midnight,” he said. “The wines are more sought out, generally speaking.”
