gleff

Restaurant Week has become popular phenomenon in major metropolitan areas throughout the United States.

Top-notch restaurants lower their prices for a week, offering special deals that make their cuisine available to people who might not ordinarily be able to afford to try it. Or so the theory goes.

I have no problem with this. I like the idea of people being able to try things that they normally cannot.

But please don't think that you get the same experience for the lower price.

With the lower prices comes a sharp increase in the number of covers that each restaurant is handling -- often double a usual night. And quality suffers.

I don't even mean that quality is bound to slip as the kitchen gets stretched. I mean that kitchens plan to offer lower quality meals for the lower prices. They aim to just serve each table and move on, rather than offering each dish with the same care that they normally apply. I know one nationally recognized chef in town tells his kitchen staff, "think Applebees."

Don't plan that romantic evening for Restaurant Week. Your dining choice wants you in and out in under an hour, rather than encouraging you to linger on for tow or three. And with restaurants so crowded, service (not just the food) suffers.

Plus, with so many diners, you're just a number even in the places that normally cater to each customer.

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad that top-quality restaurants are made accessible to folks who normally don't go. But don't fool yourself into thinking you get the same thing for less.

As for me, when everyone else is crowding the restaurants during Restaurant Week, I stay home... and I give my favorite kitchens a few days to recover after it's over... and then I return and enjoy my favorite meals.

Just my two miles worth.

Gary

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View from the Wing: A blog about Free Miles and Free Markets

hhonorman

I went to the Bay Tower Room in Boston for Restaurant Week last year and it was very good, but not as good as full price. However, the discount was less than half what we'd normally pay, so I was willing to expect less than the best. The food was excellent, but the waitress did seem to be rushing things a bit. When she realized that we planned on lingering, she stopped rushing us and all was well.

rfrost

I DO make an effort to get out to lunch at as many restaurants as my schedule permits (some years quite a few, others at most 1) during RW, even though I agree with much of what gleff has said. Partly it's curiosity just to see what a particular spot is doing for RW. Here in NYC, there are a number of restaurants that dumb down their menus and a couple where service is downright contemptuous, but then there are several that offer an absolutely wonderful experience at half the price you'd normally pay for very similar food.

slawecki

I agree with gleff. I went to Signatures in DC to wine tasting dinners on consecutive Tuesdays. The first had about 10 patrons other than the tasting. The second, we could not get in the door, and through the bar area to get to the tasting. The front area was a madhouse, and very noisy. I cannot imagine that service or food was worth the saving.

The tasting dinner was spectacular. None of the staff was pulled to handle the patrons in front.

techgirl

I agree with gleff but that does not stop me from patronizing Restaurant Week in my town.

What I *will* do, however, is request a regular menu along with the Restaurant Week menu. About half of the time I end up ordering off that instead of the RW menu (when I figure out that the RW special isn't so "special" or when the menu truly draws me in to spend more) and most of the time if I order the RW special, I will still supplement with something else the restaurant is known for (a special appetizer, a great dessert).

kokonutz

I freaking HATE it.

I can't get a reservation at my favorite restaurants because they are full of RWers. And when I can, they have these horrible, puny restaurant week menus they make your order from. Then they rush you through the meal.

If the only experience I had of some of my fav restaurants was a RW experience they would NOT be my fav places.

RW just destroys the dining out experience for everyone.

I just hate it.

flyinbob

What is "restaurant week"?

365RoadWarrior

Presumably discounted prix fixe lunches and dinners offered in coordination throughout a city.l for a week.

kokonutz

http://dc.about.com/od/restaurants/a/RestaWeek.htm

Ugh. Just reading about it gets me pissed off all over again.

Yahillwe

Then don't read about it.

Order in for a week.

missydarlin

I've never had a restaurant limit me to the RW menu. You'd think they'd be happy to serve the full priced items?

TrojanHorse

Since you know when it is and what its like

why haven't you just planned around it

eat in (cook, take out, delivery) etc
eat in other locations

MADPhil

Restaurant week in Madison is quite civilised. Regular menus are available, places are busy but not hopelessly crowded and the prix fixed menus are good. We use it try places we haven't been and eat out on nights when we wouldn't normally bother. Which is presumably the point.

kokonutz

I expect the world to plan around me, not vice versa! ^

Honestly we got back from a 5 mile walk at 5:30, sat down with Open Table to pick a dinner spot and nothing was available. And I said: oh ...., it's not restaurant week, is it? It is.

I suppose we could have done Paisanos or Chinese takeout, but we felt like treating ourselves after our nice long walk! And I. Do. Not. Cook.

Yes, you would think so! But as you may have seen from my facebook rant, we managed to get into Willow tonight which I love for the black truffle flatbread they do. But they were not serving from the a la carte menu tonight, only the RW menu.

The other thing I hate is that dessert is included. So I end up piling a bunch of empty calories onto my meal.

A lot of restaurants extend RW for a week, but offer both the RW prix fixe AND the regular menu. If RW worked like that I could forgive it. But it doesn't (at least in most of the nicer places).

milepig

I just take a week off and eat in. Yes RW is hateful for all the reasons the OP lists. Easier to ignore the whole thing.