Restaurant Week Explained: How to Eat Well for Less
Restaurant Week is a city-wide promotion where participating restaurants — often ones you'd normally consider too pricey for a casual meal — offer a fixed-price, multi-course menu at a set discount.
How it typically works
- Most major U.S. cities run their own Restaurant Week, usually twice a year, often in winter and summer.
- Participating restaurants offer a prix-fixe menu (commonly 2-3 courses) at a set price point, frequently well below what those same courses would cost ordered individually.
- The event usually runs for one to two weeks, hence the name, even though it's rarely limited to exactly seven days.
What's not included
- Drinks, tax, and tip are almost always separate from the fixed price, so factor those into your budget.
- Menus are often limited to a curated selection, not the full regular menu.
- Popular restaurants book up fast — reservations for the best-known spots can fill within days of the event being announced.
Reservations and no-shows
Because Restaurant Week reservations are in high demand, many restaurants enforce a stricter cancellation policy than usual during the event — sometimes charging a small no-show fee per person if you don't cancel with adequate notice. Book only if you're reasonably confident you'll make it, and cancel as early as possible if plans change to free the table for someone else.
Tipping on the prix-fixe
Since tip isn't included in the fixed price, it's standard practice to tip based on what the meal would normally cost à la carte, not the discounted prix-fixe total — the kitchen and serving staff are doing the same work regardless of the promotional pricing.
How to use it well
Check your city's official Restaurant Week page or the restaurant's own site to confirm current dates and menus, since these change yearly. It's a good opportunity to try a restaurant above your normal budget rather than a place you'd eat at regularly — the discount is usually deepest relative to that restaurant's normal pricing.