So the best week of January is upon us again. Restaurant Week. This is your chance to try all those fancy restaurants that you only go to when you parents are in town. Eat multi-course meals like the fancy person you are for only $35 ($22 for lunch!). But with over 250 restaurants participating it’s going to be hard separating the great deals from the duds. Luckily, we are here to help. Just follow these tips and we will help you have an amazing week of eating.
1. Research, Research, Research
Don’t go in unprepared. With so many restaurants, you may be tempted to pick whatever sounds good. But not all restaurants will give you a good deal. Some may serve special menus, with cheaper ingredients. You want to find those restaurants that are serving dishes from their normal menu at Restaurant Week. There may not be many, but that’s where you will find the best deal. Always compare the Restaurant Week menu with the normal menu, and try to estimate how much you would save if you ate at the during Restaurant Week versus a normal week.
2. Yelp is your friend.
Get picky when it comes to Restaurant Week. My general rule is to only go to restaurants that have 4 Yelp stars or more (with a few exceptions). You may think this is too harsh, but that will still leave you with 59 restaurants to choose from.
3. Check Rankings.
My exception to the Yelp rule is restaurants that are listed as the 100 best restaurants in the DC by Washingtonian Magazine. Sure, some of them have only 3.5 stars, but they are amazing restaurants that are lauded by critics. Read local publications because the critics are educated about food and won’t rate something horribly because they don’t know what a Neapolitan pizza is.
4. Check their Menus
This goes along with the first tip, but don’t go to a restaurant without seeing what they are serving. You want to make sure you actually like what you are getting before going to a restaurant. You only have a week of deals so you don’t want to make any mistakes.
5. Make a reservation
Restaurant week is a very busy time for eating out. And it may be more so since people have been cooped up all weekend. So always make reservations. And if the restaurant you wanted to go to is fully booked? Check out another restaurant on your list.
I hope this list will help you win restaurant week. You have now until the 31st to eat as much good food as possible. Go forth and conquer!