I don't have any info on group lessons, but I think reading menus is not simple stuff, because a lot of Chinese dishes have exotic names with characters that are not frequently used. Most people who learn written Chinese (as adults) are able to read simple articles and novels long before they are able to completely decipher a menu in a Chinese restaurant.
I'd recommend to make a list of dishes you like and learn their written forms. This saves time and won't be too boring.
The traditional versus simplified Chinese issue is impossible to answer in general. It depends on your own circumstances. For example, if you expect to stay or live in Mainland China for extended periods, then simplified Chinese makes more sense. If you are mostly in Hong Kong, Taiwan or overseas Chinese communities, then traditional Chinese is probably more useful. Actually, there are only a few hundred simplified Chinese characters that look totally different from the traditional ones. So the additional effort of learning to recognize both variants is quite small in comparison of the overall effort of learning written Chinese.