Seattle Restaurant Week

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Well, Restaurant Week is upon us once again and there was an article posted on Voracious concerning an issue that restaurants have with reservations during the promotion.

Poppy’s Jerry Traunfeld this weekend tweeted: “Why so many more no-shows during restaurant week compared to a regular night? We’re offering a great deal, have some courtesy and call!” According to Restaurant Week spokesperson Heather Jensvold, other participating restaurants “have seen a bit of this” too, although not every restaurant is reporting problems.

Ok, I have a real problem with people making a reservation and not keeping it – at the very least when you realize you can’t make it, call, tell the restaurant and let someone else have the table. In this economy, you end up hurting small businesses when they can be filling the table with paying customers. The flip side is that generally the places that are completely booked up for Restaurant Week usually have enough walk-ins that they can easily fill the table, so it isn’t the end of the world for them.

One other thing in the article did annoy me:

A third explanation, eagerly advanced by veteran diners, posits that Restaurant Week brings out the worst-mannered eaters. Bargain-hunters who don’t usually eat in white-tablecloth restaurants are notorious for trying to wring the most value from their $28 tabs, demanding endless soda refills and complaining about small portions. Failing to cancel a reservation is consistent with such loutish behavior, Restaurant Week detractors claim.

While I think that there are a small percentage of diners that fit the above description, I think most of the people who are dining out for restaurant week are doing so to try new places to decide if they are worth spending full price for. I usually try one or two places each restaurant week that I would not normally go to, whether it be their normal price point is higher than I can afford or it involves a significant distance (say to West Seattle or the East Side from Ballard), just to see if they are worthy of me paying full price.

The flip side to the restaurant complaint about diners is that I think that in some places, the servers and staff look down upon the diners that are ordering off the restaurant week menu. I have been to places that the service was terrible during restaurant week, even when I ordered off the regular menu. Restaurant Week is the opportunity for these places to pick up some new customers, there is no reason why the level of service should drop, just because as a server you might end up with a slightly smaller tip from someone ordering off the RW menu. If I get good food and service, not only am I going to tip you better than 20%, but I am more likely to come back to the restaurant when it is full price.