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Chew on This: Who Does Restaurant Week Best?

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By Kate Nerenberg   Published Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Restaurant Week, during which nearly 180 local restaurants offer $20.09 three-course lunches and $35.09 dinners, kicks off on Monday. We know from years past that some all-star dining rooms will offer nearly their whole menus, while others will stint on options as well as portions. Based on your prior experiences with Washington’s Restaurant Week, which places are worth trying and which ones should you avoid? Let us know in the comments!

Related Links:

• Todd Kliman's Guide to Restaurant Week
• Washingtonian Restaurant Reviews
• Write Your Own Restaurant Reviews
  

 

Comments

I have been to Grillfish several times, and I was delighted to hear that they were continuing their restaurant week menu for another week. They offered most everything on their menu - an appetizer, main course, and dessert along with a glass of wine. Great deal and a lot of great food!

Posted by: Jaime, Mar 04, 2009 09:55:56 AM

again vidalia kicked ass durring restaurant week!!!!!!

701 is like retro madness style food is bad service is so aweful.

35 bucks at vidalia is a steal

Posted by: bruce, Feb 26, 2009 07:58:15 PM

At 701 Restaurant I had the best lamb risotto...it was mouth watering! For main course a beautifully presented trout dish that was absolutely amazing! The wine, the service, the food...Incredible!

The chef came out of the kitchen and greeted our table...it was refreshing and completely unexpected!
Great Food...Great Time!

Posted by: Sam, Feb 26, 2009 05:45:47 AM

701 Restaurant...food is like no other! It is like the chef there puts his heart into everything you taste. The restaurant week menu was a great menu, you didn’t feel like you were getting a less extensive menu...I had I hard time choosing!!!

Thank you for a wonderful meal!

Posted by: Angie, Feb 26, 2009 05:40:36 AM

My favorite was Butterfield 9, and I’m still mourning the closing... Sad.
This year, I had a really great experience at Ceiba, which offers all of the entrees on its menu, with a small surcharge for 2 of the items. The service was spectacular, even for our group of 13, and $5 margaritas on Friday made it even more fun.
Also, I had a great time at Firefly--I love the atmosphere there, and the menu didn’t leave me feeling like the chef had chosen the cheapest things possible to make, although there was a surcharge for a couple of the entree choices. As usual, the food was spectacular.
The lunch menu at Poste was lacking--but everything I tried from the very limited menu tasted good. Not spectacular, but good nonetheless.
Lunch at Capital Grille has Poste beat by miles. While the lunch menu was somewhat limited, the food was spectacular-- and also the biggest portions I’ve seen on any lunch menu in a while, Restaurant Week or not!

Posted by: Bethany, Feb 23, 2009 08:10:05 AM

Restaurant 3 this season is a steal! Full menu... so much delicious food!

Posted by: Laurie, Feb 19, 2009 02:22:15 PM

701, chef there is great, food is incredible!

Posted by: Tom, Feb 18, 2009 11:54:40 AM

Vidalia? Really? I thought this place closed ages ago! I mean I know it was still there, but do people really go there anymore? The menu has long since dropped any spectacular appeal! Sounds to me like an employee is giving a review!

Posted by: Charles, Feb 18, 2009 09:55:57 AM

I think Vidalia and Farrah Olivia are the best!

Posted by: Dining in DC (blogspot), Feb 18, 2009 09:09:49 AM

So Mr All Caps, you’ve eaten every single RW lunch and dinner special in the DC metropolitan area multiple times and can empirically prove this? Seriously? I wish I had that kind of time.

Posted by: Ben, Feb 11, 2009 01:33:18 PM

Well Ben,

YOU MUST NOT HAVE EATEN THERE LATELY!!!!! WE WENT FOR THE SUMMER RESTAURANT WEEK AND IT WAS AWESOME!

YOUR BIAS FOR HAVING ONE MEAL THERE. TRY EATING THERE OFTEN. THEY HAVE A 20 LUNCH TASTING THAT IS BETTER THEN ALL THE FOOD IN ALL THE RESTAURANTS IN DC FOR RESTAURANT WEEK!!!!!!!

Posted by: Bruce, Feb 11, 2009 07:05:30 AM

I have to differ with Mr. All Caps here-- Vidalia is not a good pick for restaurant week. Full menu or not, all of the food is subpar and the the service is rushed and rude. I’m glad that I learned to make fried green tomatoes recently just so I could see how easy it is to make a better product than the ones we had there. Though the restaurant deserves the high marks it gets for its cuisine the rest of the year, I think Jeff Buben’s contempt for RW diners is fairly well known at this point.

Posted by: Ben, Feb 10, 2009 03:39:17 PM

You should only go to a restaurant if it offers the full menu. Otherwise, the chefs are just cooking up huge batches of something cheap. Vidalia’s a great option.

Posted by: Logan Circle, Feb 10, 2009 02:51:00 PM

Nobody does RW as well as Rasika!

Posted by: Amy, Feb 10, 2009 02:02:00 PM

I had a great experience at Cafe Atlantico--also offered a wine list of relatively cheaper bottles. I thought Vidalia was good, but not the service.

Posted by: Erin, Feb 10, 2009 01:42:28 PM

THE BEST AND ONLY RESTAURANT IN THE TOP TEN THAT DOES RESTRAURANT WEEK!!!!!!

VIDALIA A STEAL TO EAT A JAMES BEARD WINNERS FOOD AT THE PRICE POINT FOR LUNCH DINNER AND FIVE COURSES FOR 50.09 DAMN DUDE IM IN!!!!!

Posted by: Bruce, Feb 10, 2009 01:39:25 PM

I’ve had good experiences at Ceiba (years ago), Taberna (limited selection but good value), DC Coast, Cafe Atlantico. Mendocino Grille is a little upcharge-tastic (though delicious). Bobby Van’s was mediocre (though I went for a biz lunch not even remembering it was RW).

Posted by: Missy, Feb 10, 2009 12:52:36 PM

I concur with linz...Charlie Palmer didn’t even offer steak on their menu last year...what a joke!

Posted by: Dennis, Feb 10, 2009 12:40:00 PM

Based on our past experiences, my boyfriend and I have created our Restaurant Week rules to guarantee we get a good deal:

- No steakhouses. Weak portion sizes for everything, not just the steak.
- If we’re going for lunch, it needs to be at least a mid-priced restaurant (two $ out of four)
- If we’re going for dinner, it needs to be at least three $ out of four
- It has to be somewhere we’ve never been to before.

From these rules, we’ve found some amazing places, and I’d recommend Le Mistral, Cafe Atlantico (for lunch) and Equinox.

Posted by: linz, Feb 10, 2009 12:22:11 PM

I love Zola’s. I think any restaurant that does their full (or almost full) menu is the place to be: DC Coast, Acadiana, etc. I’d avoid places like I Ricci who in the past have done a "special" restaurant week menu, though maybe that’s changing this year. Restaurant Week should be the time when you experience a place that you wouldn’t normally take the risk (say it’s normally too expensive) but you go to take advantage of the pricing and then love it and go back. That’s how I fell for Zola. I’m looking forward to Vidalia’s this year.

Posted by: Zena, Feb 10, 2009 12:19:33 PM

The only restaurant week place I ever tried was Butterfield 9. RIP.

Posted by: Emily, Feb 10, 2009 12:06:23 PM

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