NYC Restaurant Week Hacks: How To Snag A Tasty Deal This Summer
From coast-to-coast across the country, advertisements are popping up for “Summer Restaurant Week.” Many of the offers are so appetizing that they are almost irresistible!
In New York City, the week is actually more than three weeks long, extending from July 20 to August 16 this year. Prices are slashed for fixed-price, multi-course lunch and dinner menus that are priced at $30, $45, and $60.
For food lovers, it’s a time to sample new restaurants, try different cuisines and discover new dishes, or to return to tried-and-true favorites at much reduced prices. For restaurant owners, it’s an opportunity to showcase and attract new patrons during the traditionally slow summer season (when many people are away on vacation).
Here is some information about Summer Restaurant Week in NYC and some hacks to make the best of the experience:
NYC Restaurant Week: By The Numbers
New York was the first city in the nation to create a Restaurant Week in 1992, and it is now a twice-yearly tradition (January and July). It’s also the largest and most ambitious such celebration
This year, there will be an abundance of choices. The event features over 600 participating restaurants serving 45 different types of cuisine in over 70 neighborhoods across all five boroughs.
The large majority of restaurants (519) are located in Manhattan
How To Book A Table
Head to the NYC Restaurant Week Website, where you can filter your restaurant search by cuisine, borough, neighborhood, meal types and more.
Participating in this culinary event is the next best thing to an international getaway without needing a passport or plane ticket.
8 Restaurant Week Hacks: Tips for Taking Advantage of Restaurant Week
Here are some tips to make the most of Restaurant Week this summer:
- Many of these “weeks” (like the one in NYC) extend longer than a week; be sure to check the dates. Individual restaurants in New York City will have the option to extend their offering to Labor Day.
- Lists of participating restaurants, which usually grow and vary from year to year, include old standbys as well as newcomers.
- Fixed-price menus are generally offered for both lunch and dinner—although there are restrictions. Be sure to read the fine print. For example, the special menus may not be available on Friday and Saturday nights. In New York City, participation on Saturdays is explicitly excluded.
- The restaurant menus are more limited than regular ones, so make sure they include selections you would want to order. (You may find that the restaurant where you are dining has a regular fixed-price lunch menu—available throughout the year—that includes some of your favorites for only a few dollars more.)
- Popular restaurants get booked early, so make reservations as soon as possible; you can often make them on OpenTable. Some cities, like NYC, have sophisticated websites that let you search for restaurants and make reservations on the same site.
- To find out about restaurant weeks available in your city or one that you’re traveling to, Google the “name of the city” and the term “Restaurant Week.”
- FindRestaurantWeeks.com is a helpful website that catalogs restaurant weeks across the U.S. by state.
- Most cities/towns have two restaurant weeks, one in winter and another in summer. If you miss the summer offerings, you can always look forward to winter!
This post has been reviewed and updated on 7/15/2026.
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Restaurant food weeks are always fun and a good way to try out new dishes and new restaurants. Thanks for the great article and the great photos! Always a pleasure to read your articles and enjoy the photos.
Thanks for visiting, Lauren! Are restaurant weeks also popular in Canada?
Yes, we also have some very interesting and diverse restaurant weeks here in Canada. I love trying many different types of food. It’s fun and entertaining.
It looks like we managed to be on a cruise ship in the Sea of Cortez during Philadelphia’s 2 winter restaurant weeks this year. I’m “down the shore” for the summer. I googled Atlantic City Restaurant Week. Not surprisingly, it’s in March because the summer is their high season—-while Philly is a ghost town–relatively speaking. The next restaurant weeks in Philly are in September, but I’m hoping to still be hanging out in NJ. Your suggestion to Google restaurant week and the city/town to which you will be traveling is a good one. In fact, real foodies might even time their visits to coincide with restaurant weeks.
We’ve had some wonderful meals by taking advantage of restaurant week!
We’ve sampled a few new-to-us places in DC and NYC on previous restaurant weeks – and look forward to trying more in the future.
We used to live in DC two decades ago when it was barren of good restaurants. It’s really become a foodie town!
Just read that it was Restaurant Week in NYC next week so I can’t wait to book a lunch reservation. We’re going to the MET Costume Exhibit so I’m going to plan to try Fig and Olive on the upper east side.
Sounds like an agenda for a fun day!
As a lover of good food but alas, not a “foodie”, I have to confess my ignorance of Restaurant Week so thanks for the introducing me to this great way to discover new restaurants and dishes. After salivating over your pic of the pan-seared scallops, I’ll have to make sure to google the “Find Restaurants Week” website next time we visit the US.
Now you’re in the “know”!
I remember restaurant week in NYC, so many good memories. Such a great time to try a bunch of new restaurants.
We have it in Vancouver too but have sometimes found that many serve a subpar menu during the event.
Makes trying new more tempting…
Great tips for foodies everywhere!! I have sampled offering in NYC during restaurant week. Amazing food at excellent prices.
I agree!:-)
Great advice on taking advantage of Restaurant Weeks. Most cities have them and it’s a great way to eat at places that might be beyond your typical dining budget. I love the idea of the claim check for the lefties. We have a restaurant in Chicago The Italian Village that’s a favorite when going to the theater. They’ll hold your leftovers and you can come back and pick it up after the show. It’s less than a block away from one of the most popular theaters so it’s just perfect.
Agree!