Opened by the creators of Town Kitchen & Bar in South Miami, HOUSE Bar & Restaurant is located in the Colonnade Hotel in the heart of Coral Gables. The restaurant inherited a great space as well as some sound equipment.  The restaurant has four separate zones each with a distinct purpose: a bar/DJ booth, a dining room, a private event room, and an outdoor area. HOUSE’s goal was to have the ability to give guests a different vibe in each of the restaurant’s four zones and to control all of the audio and visual from one source.

In the bar, Midtown Video connected the DJ booth to the audio infrastructure and mounted two 49” monitors.  Two more 49” monitors were mounted in the outside area. That part was pretty straightforward.

The main challenge was the private event room.  HOUSE Kitchen & Bar wanted their private event room to be multipurpose, so it could accommodate, say, a corporate business presentation luncheon as well as an anniversary party.  The order here was for Midtown Video to configure the room with an audio and video system that was user-friendly and could appear and disappear as needed.

Midtown Video’s installation team mounted a projector to the ceiling and installed a motorized, easily retractable projector screen, so it’s out of sight when not in use. They also installed an auto-sensing HDMI/VGA wall plate where guests can plug in their device to project to the screen and play music from their personal music source (iPad, iPhone, etc.).  HOUSE Kitchen & Bar General Manager, Dan Cahill, reports that this “ease of access alleviates a lot of pressure that can come with hosting private events.”

To control the AV system, Midtown Video provided a Key Digital 8×8 HDMI Matrix switcher and a Crestron 12/x Audio DSP, which routes all video and audio sources to the zone of their choosing. Video sources include four cable boxes, a laptop, and a USB drive for the projector, and whatever customers bring to the table. Any of these sources can be played on any of the video displays.  Also, any audio source (Pandora, Cable Boxes, Laptop Plate, DJ booth, or 3.5mm jack for iPhone) can be played in any of the four speaker zones throughout the restaurant.

One of the best parts of this installation is that the entire system can be controlled from an iPad, which Midtown Video outfitted with a customized app programed specifically for HOUSE’s needs. Dan concurs, “We’re happy with it. The system is very convenient and great for our business.”  He adds, “Everyone at Midtown Video was great helping us get acclimated to it.”

Now, HOUSE Kitchen & Bar can set a different mood and tone in each zone.  Management has the flexibility to turn on a Heat game by the bar while the DJ spins music and play jazz music in the dining area, while a private event looks at a slideshow or boogies on down at a disco party…all from the touch of an iPad.

HOUSE Kitchen & Bar
180 Aragon Avenue
Coral Gables, FL  33134
786-482-5599
http://www.housekitchenbar.com