Tips for Navigating Summer Restaurant Week

From Ashley Lusk Check out Ashley’s blog Metropoetrylis and find her on Twitter at @arlusk.

The DC Summer Restaurant Week is next week, August 15-21. Considering how hot it’s been, it may just be worth the $20.11 price for lunch and $35.11 for a three-course fixed-price dinner to have some reliable air conditioning.

If you’re planning to stick around Borderstan, you’ll want to check out the list of participating restaurants below. Some restaurants are listed as lunch-only options (we’re talking to you, Georgetown), so be sure to visit Open Table to secure a reservation.

Finally, don’t forget that beverages, gratuity and tax are not included in the fixed-price menu; be kind to your waiter to ensure you are remembered well the next time you return when there isn’t a meal deal.

Six Tips

The real scoop on Restaurant Week? Read Alejandra’s Restaurant Week: Love It… or Hate It.

She has six tips and offers this perspective: “The complaints I hear most often about Restaurant Week are that service is slow, menus are limited and the plates are unimpressive. In turn, restaurant industry folks say that people have unrealistic expectations, that restaurants are slammed with numbers far beyond usual and that it’s not a true showing of what a restaurant can give you. I can appreciate both perspectives.”

Make Your Dollars Work for You

Of course with restaurant week you want to blow out your dollar, make it really work for you when your meal would be double that price any other time. With that in mind, I’d skip the places that are offering an extended restaurant week (Mio’s, Levante’s, Dino’s, Casa Nona, CoCo. Sala The Grill from Ipanema, etc.).

Instead, I’d go to a few places I haven’t been because they aren’t on the beaten path (BlackSalt Fish Market), or go back to a place that rocked a previous restaurant week (Oval Room). For my money, Odean’s menu is fine: you will get the most meal for your dollar, and has fantastic options for every palette.

Vegetarian note: Many of the menus have limited or no vegetarian options. Make sure to call ahead and see if there is a restaurant week substitution planned.

Participating Borderstan-Area Restaurants

Dupont: 17th Street

• Agora, 1527 17th Street NW
• Sushi Taro, 1503 17th Street NW

Dupont: P Street / Connecticut Avenue

• Bistro Bistro DC, 1727 Connecticut Avenue NW
• Buca de Beppo, 1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20009
• Casa Nonna, 1250 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC, 20036
• Darlington House, 1610 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20009
• Ezme, 2016 P Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20036
• La Tomate, 1701 Connecticut Avenue NW
• Ruth’s Chris Steak House – Dupont Circle, 1801 Connecticut Avenue NW
• Urbana Restaurant, Hotel Palomar, 2121 P Street NW
• Vento Restaurant, 2120 P Street NW

Logan Circle / 14th Street

• 14K Street, 1001 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20005
• Birch and Barley, 1337 14th Street NW
• MASA 14, 1825 14th Street NW
• Policy, 1904 14th Street NW

Thomas Circle / Scott Circle

• Beacon Bar & Grill, Beacon Hotel & Corporate Quarters, 1615 Rhode Island Avenue NW
• Zentan, Donovan House Hotel, 1155 14th Street NW

U Street Corridor

• 1905, 1905 9th Street NW
• Tabaq Bistro, 1136 U Street NW

Downtown / Just Below the Hood

• Acadina 901 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20001
• Dirty Martini DC, 1223 Connecticut Avenue NW
• Firefly, 1310 New Hampshire Avenue NW
• Grillfish DC, 1200 New Hampshire Avenue NW
• Melting Pot – DC, 1220 19th Street NW
• Mio Restaurant, 1110 Vermont Avenue NW
• Morrison-Clark Restaurant, Morrison-Clark Inn, 1015 L Street NW
• The Palm, 1225 19th Street NW
• Smith & Wollensky, 1112 19th Street NW