Restaurant Private Hire and Group Bookings
Some occasions are too big for a table for two and too good for the parish hall. A fiftieth that deserves better than a buffet. An office Christmas do that has to survive contact with the actual office. A hen or stag party that has already lost its cardigan and is looking for a proper feed. These are group booking situations, and they are exactly what we do.
Private hire at Luso means the restaurant, the kitchen and the crew, working for your table. There is no separate function room, no laminated party menu and no conveyor-belt carvery. You get the same room everyone else gets, the same food everyone else eats, and the same people who cook and serve it every Thursday to Sunday evening, pointed at your party and told to do their worst. They have never once let a group down. They have seen a lot of groups.
What a group booking actually gets
The menu is the menu. That means sourdough Neapolitan pizzas, the dough proved for seventy-two hours and baked in our stone oven for about ninety seconds, with the open, blistered crust that three days of patience buys you. It means dry aged smash burgers made from beef that comes from Herd Butchery in Butlersbridge, a few miles up the road. It means wings, loaded fries and sides that vanish in the first ten minutes of any gathering, and dessert for anyone who has left room, which is never as many people as you would hope.
A table for twelve or twenty is a different sport from a table for two. Everything has to arrive together, hot, and in enough quantity that the conversation does not stop because someone is waiting on chips. The kitchen has done the group circuit long enough that it does not rattle, and the pass works like a production line when it needs to.
Birthdays, Christmas parties and everything in between
We take group bookings for birthdays, retirements, christenings, the office do, the whole works. The full lowdown on birthdays and Christmas parties — the spreadsheet, the Secret Santa, the relative who orders a pizza that is not on the menu — is on our birthday and Christmas party page, and it is worth a read before you book, if only to know you are not alone.
How it works
You do not need a final headcount to book, just a sensible one. Rough numbers, a date, and any dietary requirements — the kitchen is used to the questions, and it is much easier to answer them before a busy Saturday than mid-service. Vegetarian and vegan options exist on the menu, and if you have specific needs, ask when you book and we will sort it. If you want to bring a birthday cake, say so when you book and we will handle the logistics, the plate and the sparkler. If you would rather not carry a cake through the car park, the dessert board has you covered.
We will talk you through the details — numbers, timing, how you want the food run, whether you would rather keep it simple with a stack of pizzas and a mountain of wedges — when you book. That conversation is free, by the way. It is the one part of the evening that definitely will not cost you extra.
The crew
The people who will look after your party are the same people in the photos on this page and on our party page. That is not something every restaurant can say without a lawyer present. They have hosted everything from quiet family gatherings to nights that will not be discussed in polite company, and they still smile.
The practical bit
We are at 9B Church Street, Abbeyland, in the middle of Cavan town — H12 C8P7 if the satnav needs convincing. The entrance is round the back of the Black Horse Inn, off the Newcourt Car Park; you can also walk straight through the pub. If you stand on the main street looking for a sign, you will miss us, and that is deliberate. Parking is free for two hours in the Newcourt Car Park during the day and essentially free everywhere in town after five. Full directions and the honest version of the parking situation are on the location page.
We open Thursday and Friday from 5pm to 9pm, Saturday from 4pm to 9pm and Sunday from 3pm to 8pm. Group bookings are subject to availability, which is a polite way of saying December goes fast, so book early if you want the good dates.
Book your group in
To book a table for your group, head to our booking page or get in touch through the contact page and we will sort the rest. If you are organising a gift for someone instead of a party — or for yourself, we are not judging — the gift voucher page has you covered. And if anyone in the group wants a pizza for the road, the takeaway collection page has the details — same kitchen, same dough, same everything. Now go and round up the numbers. The table is the easy part.