Restaurant Week Dining - Promotion Hot Table Cheap Date

Restaurant Week - Hot Tables and Cheap Dates

Last Updated: May 20, 2010

In cities large and small all across the country, restaurants are joining together in what is perhaps the most inspired and most successful dining promotion idea ever: citywide Restaurant Weeks.

Everywhere from Sarasota to Ann Arbor; from San Francisco to Boston, and in hundreds of cities in between, restaurant-goers who have otherwise been put off by a flagging economy, are being lured into the very best eateries in their areas by the promise of top-notch, multi-course dining at a fixed, manageable price.

In New York City, Restaurant Week ws extended by popular demand from January 25 thru February 28, 2010. New York's top restaurants served three-course lunches for $24.07 (a play the city that is alive and buzzing 24/7) and dinners were $35.00.

Boston will be holding restaurant week again for two separate weeks this summer - August 15-20 and August 22-27, 2010 with two course lunches for $15.10, three course lunches for $20.10, and three course dinners for $33.10, exclusive of tax, tip, and beverage. Diners will have their choice of 228 restaurants in greater Boston and the suburbs. In Atlanta Restaurant Week will held July 26 - August 9, 2010.

This summer 2010 New York's Restaurant Week will start in July, excluding Saturdays. A typical offering is that of Ristoranti Bice in Midtown. There, diners will choose as a first course either hearts of palm with avocado, romaine, asparagus, corn, tomatoes and olives tossed in dressing, or asparagus with balsamic vinaigrette and shallots, or beef carpaccio with parmesan cheese, arugula, hearts of palm and lemon dressing.

For their main course, they may select either ricotta cheese and spinach ravioli tossed with tomato sauce and basil, grilled Atlantic salmon with broccoli, oven dried tomatoes and Dijon mustard sauce, or saut�ed chicken breast in Marcela wine and wild mushroom sauce.

Dessert choices consist of profiteroles filled with banana sorbet and chocolate sauce, Bice style tiramisu served with anglaise sauce, or Sicilain cannoli filled with marsacpone cheese and vanilla sauce with pineapple ice cream. Not at all bad for $35.00!

As it grows quickly in popularity as a win-win concept for both restaurants and customers, Restaurant Week continues to evolve as a work in progress. Many restaurants elect simply to extend the promotion by one or more weeks. In January customers at the Gramercy Tavern in New York, were surprised at the end of their meals to be handed gift certificates for $24.07 at lunch and $35 at dinner, good through the end of March. Provided that they used their certificates, their restaurant week meals had been completely on the house. It was not the first time that restaurant had made the same gesture during Restaurant Week.

During Austin's restaurant week last March, the concept was tweaked a bit by adding a list of nightcap restaurants and bars where special drinks for before or after dinner dining were made available at promotional prices and a share of proceeds went to the city's Capital Area Food Bank.

Even small towns are jumping on the bandwagon, often with the support of their local chambers of commerce. The offerings may be more modest, for instance, a single deeply discounted entr�e, but the idea is the same.

By and large, the reviews have been fantastic. Rather than cutting corners to offset the lower prices, restaurants typically take advantage of the large influx of new patrons to showcase the very best they have to offer.

To find Restaurant Week in your town:

Google your city with the terms "Restaurant Week" and it will pull up all the information for Restaurant Week in your town.
Visit the web site OpenTable where nationwide Restaurant listings and prix-fixe promotions are published periodically as they become available. Search for "Special Offers and Events" on your city's OpenTable home page.

This is a trend in restaurant promotion that is unlikely to subside any time soon. so be on the lookout for the schedule in your area and be the first to reserve the best table in town.