I've had decent Restaurant Week experiences at local (non-chain) places. We like to try newer, upscale places during that week...places that would probably be $60-75/person regularly. Even if they downside the menu a bit, we still get a good feel for whether we'd go back later.

I don't mind if they downside the menu and then I'm getting good value for it. The worst is when they downside the menu, *and* charge you more, *and* the whole service/experience sucks. Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve, etc.: that's when we completely avoid restaurants.

Thankfully, to date, our RW experiences have been okay.