The Hater: Why I Hate Restaurant Week
By BankersBall on Jan 26, 2007 in Bankersrant, Lifestyle, NYC, The Hater
I’m sure many of you were waiting with fingers poised over your keyboards, eager to bash the next post from The Hater. Unfortunately, Dan will not be writing for BBalle as our Hater of all things bankerly, so please refrain from lame comments directed at him. Direct them at us. Anyway, we’ve revised the concept a bit and will just use it as a forum to express all of the things we hate in general, in some cases pertaining to bankers and banking, and in others, pertaining to Things in General. We begin with one of our most hated hoaxes.
A few times a year, NYC plays this big trick on the eating body called “Restaurant Week.” The concept is a noble one: a three-course prix-fixe lunch is $24.07 and a three-course prix-fixe dinner for $35.00 at some of the city’s finest restaurants. Well heck, who wouldn’t take that opportunity to sample famed food at a cheapie price?
Well, I, for one. And here’s why. First of all, I’m not sure when it happened, or if it’s been a gradual process, but the participating restaurants just aren’t really places I would want to eat at. Or, if that’s a bit too harsh for you, there aren’t that many places that I’ve been dying to eat at on the list. Check it out for yourself. Of the list, the Gramercy Tavern, the Modern and One if by Land are the only ones I find appealing. The majority of the restaurants are in the middle or end of their lifecycle — the likes of the Cub Room and Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse. And they’re very middle of the road in terms of price, too, so it’s not as clear cut that RW is a deal.
But my larger issue is with what you encounter when you go to one of these restaurants. The entire purpose of going to the restaurant is undermined when you’re given the choice of Option A or Option A (okay, more like Option A or Option B). The choices are not limited, they’re severely limited. And I’ve often found the quality, portion size and presentation lackluster if you order off the RW prix-fixe menu. Or I’ve found the choices so unappealing I’ve just ordered off the regular menu.
And then of course there’s the feeling that you’re the poor relations come to dine at the big house for a night. Yes, you’re dining in the restaurant’s space, but you’re kidding yourself if you think you’re having the restaurant’s food.
On Jan 26, 2007, Krystle said:
and some of the places are not really good deals because they have similarly prices prix-fixe menus year-round anyway
On Jan 26, 2007, Hey said:
These promos are horrid in every city. Beyond the problems you note there are 2 dramatic issues.
First, they bring out huge crowds, making a night out at any restaurant a painful experience. The staff are run off their feet by a crowd that doesn’t go out, or at least to similar quality restaurants, and the service suffers. This is much more of a problem in other cities where you can regularly walk up at any restaurant or at NYC places that aren’t at Per Se/Waverly levels of insanity.
Second, you don’t save any money. Never eating at home and eating at a nice restaurant 3+ times a week means that you don’t go for tasting menus, desert, etc. So you end up paying about the same price as a main for 2 extra courses you don’t really want. Then with the games they play with the wine lists during these promos… everything goes to hell.
Overall you pay as much as, if not more than, your regular meal for worse food, worse wine, a crowded and annoying atmosphere, distracted and pissed servers, and you look like a chump to anyone that sees you or dines with you. Some of my favorite restaurants run anti-promotional weeks with more expensive and exclusive menus to offer a refuge to the regular restaurant clientele that doesn’t want to suffer the invasion of their regular places. It’s a great idea for the middle/upper middle of the road restaurants, but horrid for the higher end customer that represents the revenue base of upper middle and upper scale restaurants.
On Jan 26, 2007, Bankers are assholes said:
Bankers are trash. Move to Westchester, jerkoff.
On Jan 31, 2007, BankersBall said:
Let me guess. You surfed on over from Gawker, didn’t you? I wish I was a unhappy wannabe hipster.
On Oct 31, 2007, Anonymous said:
Unos Restaurants Has the worst pizza I have ever had in my life