What does のですが mean in the following sentence?


> 焼き鳥屋さんで集まった **のですが** 、とても楽しい、かつ有意義な時間を過ごしました。




～のですが (or ～のですけれども, or ～んだけど, or any of a number of variants) is often used in
this way to "set the stage" and provide a context for a succeeding clause or
sentence. Here, the purpose of ～のですが is to mark information that will help the
listener understand the second half of the sentence. As such, the が here is
best translated into English as "and", not "but".

This is one of the many [uses of ～のだ to provide supporting
information](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1859/what-
connotation-does-add/1863#1863) for other statements.

