Washington (CNN) Less than a week before President Donald Trump's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he settled down to dinner to discuss the upcoming visit -- and America's approach to Mideast peace -- with his guests for the evening: billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

Working dinners have become standard fare for Trump. Long after the President's official day has ended, his workaholic tendencies have him hosting a rotating supper club at the most coveted address in Washington.

At least four nights a week, he welcomes a steady stream of Cabinet members, staffers and members of Congress to the residence to brush up on national security issues and foreign affairs over steak, fish and salads, according to Trump aides.

Since moving to the White House, Trump has dined alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis, among others. Some evenings, he'll break bread with top staffers, including senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, chief strategist Steve Bannon or chief of staff Reince Priebus.

The high-intensity working dinners are just one semblance of structure Trump's team has aimed to build around him as the reality television star settles into his new role as the leader of the free world.

The President's operating style

The barrage of meet-and-greets suits Trump's operating style, aides said. He's not a delve-into-a-briefing-book kind of commander in chief. Instead, he learns by peppering people with questions and prefers to pluck opinions from a rotating cast.

But the dinners also ensure the President is engaged well into the evening, allotting less time for some of Trump's less productive pursuits -- gobbling up cable news and engaging in Twitter wars.

In the wake of the travel ban debacle, Trump and his aides have acknowledged they need to move at a more deliberate pace to ensure the President's agenda is executed as seamlessly as possible. Trump himself declared to staffers that things needed to go better.

But while the pace of executive actions and legislation may have slowed, Trump is still operating on overdrive.

"You've never seen so much paper on a President's desk, and it's because we're negotiating lots of deals for our country, which will be tremendous," Trump boasted during a recent meeting with the chief executive officer of Intel.

Aides and advisers insist the President is content -- and keeping busy.

"President Trump is brilliant, with the strength and stamina to match," said Hope Hicks, Trump's director of strategic communications, when asked about how he's adjusting to the pace of the White House.

Others close to him aren't so sure. They say he feels cooped up in the White House and stymied by the slow confirmation process for many of his Cabinet members. He's still grappling to find a routine that suits his fast-paced preference for doing business.

Family unit missing in White House

Trump has been getting situated in Washington without his wife, first lady Melania Trump, or his 10-year-old son, Barron, by his side. They're expected to move to White House at the end of the school year.

Trump's two adult sons, trusted sounding boards for the President, are engrossed in the day-to-day operations of the family business in Manhattan, leaving Trump in the White House without the familial structure he once relied on.

One Trump ally said his family adds a layer of normalcy to his daily life, an element largely missing in the White House.

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"I don't think it's great that he doesn't have Melania and Barron there," this person said. "I think he got really tired of Trump Tower where he couldn't move, and now he's basically got another version of it. But at least she was there."

Whatever void exists is filled with as much official business as possible -- foreign leader calls, congressional meetings at the White House and huddles with his legislative team.

And then, there are the roundtables.

Trump has held court with airline executives, county sheriffs, small business leaders, Harley Davidson executives, union leaders, cyber security experts, pharmaceutical executives, veterans affairs officials and officers in the Green Beret's Qualifications Course.

"He is first and foremost a 'listener,' " said one senior administration official. "Roundtables give folks a chance to actually come in and speak their mind."

That doesn't always mean he and his guests are tackling the thorniest issues. Natalia Luis, co-owner of the Maryland-based M. Luis Construction Co., appeared with President Barack Obama at the White House during his administration and eagerly accepted an invitation to return for a listening session with Trump.

"I am a product of this country's immigration system and how it can work. I'm also a product of the American dream," Luis, an American citizen and Portuguese immigrant, said in an interview. "With that responsibility on my shoulders comes the responsibility to pay it forward, to give back, to show up, to be at the table."

While the group spoke about small business regulation, Luis didn't broach Trump's history of provocative comments on immigration.

Avoiding those awkward issues appears to be a common theme for White House invitees. An airline executive insisted Trump's travel ban never came up in their meeting.

Still, Luis was somewhat shocked -- albeit pleasantly -- to be visiting the White House so early in a Trump administration.

"When you're in a presidency and it's nine or 10 days in and you're meeting with someone like me who is such a small dot in this journey we call life, it surprised me, it really did," Luis said.

Photos: Donald Trump's rise President-elect Donald Trump has been in the spotlight for years. From developing real estate and producing and starring in TV shows, he became a celebrity long before winning the White House. Hide Caption 1 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump at age 4. He was born in 1946 to Fred and Mary Trump in New York City. His father was a real estate developer. Hide Caption 2 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump, left, in a family photo. He was the second-youngest of five children. Hide Caption 3 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump, center, stands at attention during his senior year at the New York Military Academy in 1964. Hide Caption 4 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump, center, wears a baseball uniform at the New York Military Academy in 1964. After he graduated from the boarding school, he went to college. He started at Fordham University before transferring and later graduating from the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania's business school. Hide Caption 5 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump stands with Alfred Eisenpreis, New York's economic development administrator, in 1976 while they look at a sketch of a new 1,400-room renovation project of the Commodore Hotel. After graduating college in 1968, Trump worked with his father on developments in Queens and Brooklyn before purchasing or building multiple properties in New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Those properties included Trump Tower in New York and Trump Plaza and multiple casinos in Atlantic City. Hide Caption 6 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump attends an event to mark the start of construction of the New York Convention Center in 1979. Hide Caption 7 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump wears a hard hat at the Trump Tower construction site in New York in 1980. Hide Caption 8 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump was married to Ivana Zelnicek Trump from 1977 to 1990, when they divorced. They had three children together: Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric. Hide Caption 9 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise The Trump family, circa 1986. Hide Caption 10 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump uses his personal helicopter to get around New York in 1987. Hide Caption 11 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump stands in the atrium of the Trump Tower. Hide Caption 12 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump attends the opening of his new Atlantic City casino, the Taj Mahal, in 1989. Hide Caption 13 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump signs his second book, "Trump: Surviving at the Top," in 1990. Trump has published at least 16 other books, including "The Art of the Deal" and "The America We Deserve." Hide Caption 14 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump and singer Michael Jackson pose for a photo before traveling to visit Ryan White, a young child with AIDS, in 1990. Hide Caption 15 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump dips his second wife, Marla Maples, after the couple married in a private ceremony in New York in December 1993. The couple divorced in 1999 and had one daughter together, Tiffany. Hide Caption 16 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump putts a golf ball in his New York office in 1998. Hide Caption 17 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise An advertisement for the television show "The Apprentice" hangs at Trump Tower in 2004. The show launched in January of that year. In January 2008, the show returned as "Celebrity Apprentice." Hide Caption 18 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise A 12-inch talking Trump doll is on display at a toy store in New York in September 2004. Hide Caption 19 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump attends a news conference in 2005 that announced the establishment of Trump University. From 2005 until it closed in 2010, Trump University had about 10,000 people sign up for a program that promised success in real estate. Three separate lawsuits -- two class-action suits filed in California and one filed by New York's attorney general -- argued that the program was mired in fraud and deception. Trump's camp rejected the suits' claims as "baseless." And Trump has charged that the New York case against him is politically motivated. Hide Caption 20 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump attends the U.S. Open tennis tournament with his third wife, Melania Knauss-Trump, and their son, Barron, in 2006. Trump and Knauss married in 2005. Hide Caption 21 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump wrestles with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at WrestleMania in 2007. Trump has close ties with the WWE and its CEO, Vince McMahon. Hide Caption 22 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise For "The Apprentice," Trump was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in January 2007. Hide Caption 23 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump appears on the set of "The Celebrity Apprentice" with two of his children -- Donald Jr. and Ivanka -- in 2009. Hide Caption 24 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump poses with Miss Universe contestants in 2011. Trump had been executive producer of the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants since 1996. Hide Caption 25 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise In 2012, Trump announces his endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Hide Caption 26 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump speaks in Sarasota, Florida, after accepting the Statesman of the Year Award at the Sarasota GOP dinner in August 2012. It was shortly before the Republican National Convention in nearby Tampa. Hide Caption 27 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump appears on stage with singer Nick Jonas and television personality Giuliana Rancic during the 2013 Miss USA pageant. Hide Caption 28 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise In June 2015, during a speech from Trump Tower, Trump announced that he was running for President. He said he would give up "The Apprentice" to run. Hide Caption 29 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump -- flanked by U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio, left, and Ted Cruz -- speaks during a CNN debate in Miami on March 10. Trump dominated the GOP primaries and emerged as the presumptive nominee in May. Hide Caption 30 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise The Trump family poses for a photo in New York in April. Hide Caption 31 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump speaks during a campaign event in Evansville, Indiana, on April 28. After Trump won the Indiana primary, his last two competitors dropped out of the GOP race. Hide Caption 32 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump delivers a speech at the Republican National Convention in July, accepting the party's nomination for President. "I have had a truly great life in business," he said. "But now, my sole and exclusive mission is to go to work for our country -- to go to work for you. It's time to deliver a victory for the American people." Hide Caption 33 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump faces Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the first presidential debate, which took place in Hempstead, New York, in September. Hide Caption 34 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump apologizes in a video, posted to his Twitter account in October, for vulgar and sexually aggressive remarks he made a decade ago regarding women. "I said it, I was wrong and I apologize," Trump said, referring to lewd comments he made during a previously unaired taping of "Access Hollywood." Multiple Republican leaders rescinded their endorsements of Trump after the footage was released. Hide Caption 35 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump walks on stage with his family after he was declared the election winner on November 9. "Ours was not a campaign, but rather, an incredible and great movement," he told his supporters in New York. Hide Caption 36 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump is joined by his family as he is sworn in as President on January 20. Hide Caption 37 of 37

Shaping policy comes with challenges

The roundtables also highlight the campaign mindset that persists in an administration struggling to shape policy without a full Cabinet in place and stocked with aides with little White House experience.

"They've really still got too much campaign in them and not enough governing," said a person close to Trump, noting that the lack of a full Cabinet compounds the problem. "I'm sure the Democrats are doing that to irritate him so he looks like he's irritated. And they're having some success I hate to say."

Sources close to Trump say the administration is also missing someone to gut check the President and steer him from unnecessary confrontations. It's a void New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who had lunch with Trump Tuesday, filled at points throughout the presidential campaign before the relationship between the two men grew strained.

By now, everyone has become accustomed to the fact that Trump sleeps only few hours each night. Aides are often alerted that the President is awake by his early morning tweets, ricocheting across the Internet and, often, driving the agenda for the day. He's on the phone with staffers beginning early in the morning, and doesn't usually end his workday until 11 p.m. or midnight, one administration official said.

Aides have mapped out a rough schedule for him stretching to nearly mid-March, but what the President could truly use is a change of scenery, according to sources close to Trump.

Aides are looking at more opportunities to get him out of Washington, including a visit to South Carolina later this week.

Multiple sources close to the White House said the President would prefer to be on the road -- and adding campaign-style rallies to the mix.

The trips to Mar-a-Lago provide a bit of an escape -- particularly when they're intertwined with work. This weekend he hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe there, mingled with the club's members and even popped into a wedding reception in the Grand Ballroom to pose for a photo with the bridesmaids.