reserving a venue: any tips and expectations?

I'm throwing my 30th bday party soon and ideally, would like to reserve a venue's space so that my friends and I can DJ there. The hard part is that it will be on a Saturday and some places may already have resident DJs or other DJs booked. FYI, I'm in NYC.

I've reserved tables in the past, but I haven't reserved an actual space. An old coworker mentioned that he reserved the basement floor of a venue with a minimum bar tab of $4,000!! :blink: All-in-all, I'm not looking for anything fancy, just any bar that can accomodate DJs.

I checked out How to launch a Club Night: Part 1. here on DJTT, but my situation pertains to more of a one-time private party scenario. I'd like to know if any of you have any knowledge of what's expected in general or in terms of HOW the cost may be negotiated, i.e. bar tabs/fees or door cover (I don't want to have to charge my friends to come to my own party :p).

For those familiar with NYC venues, I'm considering:
-Fat Buddha
-Bar 13
-Affaire
-People
-The Delancey
-White Rabbit (suggested to me)
-Tammany Hall (suggested to me)

i have only rented a whole space once (for my 18th birthday with 2 other friends, 3 years ago) and they told us how much they needed to make profits for themselves (something like 5000$, the minimum they do on a normal saturday) and if our guests didnt get that high with consumation at the we would have had to pay the rest. but it all went really good, the people (about 150) were spending much more than expcted (probably some because they were underaged and no one got IDd :ohmy: ).

the 4000$ bar tab you mentioned means the same i guess?
just calculate how many people you expect (lets just say 100) and then you see that everyone has to spend 40$ on drinks. in my opinion that is totally doable and not really exaggerated.
and since you are going to dj yourself you also save some cash by not having to pay for one.

come on mate, it's your 30th, can aswell do a big one and spend some cash on it:thumbup: