Restaurant Week Relief
Posted by Foobooz on August 24th, 2009
Restaurant Week isn’t without its casualties, namely the staffs of the restaurants who wind up overworked, often undertipped (remember you’re getting a $50 dinner for a reduced $35 tab, tip on the $50 value) and generally haggard.
Pub & Kitchen comes to the rescue with 2 weeks of latenight (11pm to 1am) specials including a heavily discounted “half” Windsor burger and a host of other options.
Check them all out after the jump.
- 9.13.09 – $3 Yards Firkin
- 9.14.09 – $5 “half” Windsor burger
- 9.15.09 – $4 Sangria
- 9.16.09 – $1 Oysters
- 9.17.09 – $3 Beer in a Can
- 9.18.09 – $4 House Wine {gls}
- 9.20.09 – $3 Blueberry Vodka Lemonade “coolers”
- 9.21.09 – $5 “the classic” Shot & Beer
- 9.22.09 – $3 Victory
- 9.23.09 – $4 Sixpoint
- 9.24.09 – $3 “Sirena Gorda” Margarita
- 9.25.09 $3 Yards Firkin
Pub & Kitchen [Official Site]
1946 Lombard St, Philadelphia, PA
Related Tags: Center-City-West, G-Ho, Pub & Kitchen, Restaurant-Week
August 24th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
re: “remember you’re getting a $50 dinner for a reduced $35 tab.” While I strongly empathize with the overworked staff and tip accordingly, the $35 dinner price is often exactly what you get when eating out during restaurant week (very limited choices that always include chicken, etc.). There are laudable exceptions, but I more often encounter menus that would not warrant more than $35.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Epices6 is right — while that may have been true the first time they did restaurant week, it no longer is the case. Portions are much smaller and options are much more limited than the regular menus now-a-days. Frankly, barring a few great places (namely Garces’ places, Le-Bec Fin Mercato), you’re actually better off going to most places and eating their regular menu at some other time. Restaurant week seems to have turned more into a way to rip people off than anything else. This isn’t to say servers deserve any of the brunt — this is entirely the fault of the owners.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Agree with the above… there is no way i would go to a restaurant and get 2 appetizers and 2 desserts either… one of each, or only one at all, usually suffices and I can walk out of there with a food bill of way under $70 for items on the regular menu (not including drinks of course).
August 25th, 2009 at 10:02 am
glad i wasn’t the only one who feels this way. i’ve also found that service is often brusque during restaurant week as owners and staff seem to want to push as many $30 diners in and out the doors as humanly possible.
August 25th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Restaurant Week backlash!
August 25th, 2009 at 10:37 am
i worked at a restaurant during restaurant week once.
…once.
August 25th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Agree with the above comments. I have avoided Restaurant Week for last couple of years and some of my friends never understood why. Even the couple of places where it is a “deal” you save only a few bucks! Ryan hits it right on the head too – you have to commit to dessert which you might not normally get.
August 25th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Its not that staff and service are trying to put everyone out, its that cheap people want to eat out too. When a restaurant is full at 5:30 you are pushing the limits of what kind of service you can expect. It is those great restaurants that actually deliver stellar service
I avoid restaurant week all together. It totally screws up restaurants with bogus reservations through opentable. People that don’t show up don’t even bother to call.
August 25th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
restaurant week is what it is. i just like the idea of relief for the people that work it. cudos P & K.
August 26th, 2009 at 9:33 am
I live in the city and always eat at home that week. It’s the one week where you can be sure you’ll be rushed through your meal and treated with indifference by the majority of hostesses and waitstaff.
I thought that restaurants would want to showcase their best dishes, but was sadely mistaken there too.
I realise that it’s the people that have gone before me that have caused the problem: those who have the two dinners with tap water as the beverage of choice and leave a 15% tip. Maybe.
August 27th, 2009 at 6:13 am
The thing that strikes me as funny about RW is that people will make reservations at places like Zahav and Bistro 7. You get the exact same deal every other day of the year. Why not pick some place where you at least stand to save $10 like Tinto? If you look at the RW week menu for Zahav, it is exactly the same as their regular menu. The only difference is that they’re forcing everyone into the “choose your adventure” fixed price option on the menu, cutting the cost by $1 and calling it a deal.