As far as I know, I am the only DCist Food and Drink staffer who does not have Restaurant Week reservations. It wasn’t because I forgot or because I signed up too late to score a reservation to my preferred destinations. Unlike Adam, I am not a big fan of Restaurant Week, and it was a conscious decision to skip out on what might be considered prime time dining for a cheapskate like me.

First off, I do agree with Adam, who wrote, “As a Restaurant Week proponent, I view this unofficial dining holiday as a chance to try out places I’ve never been, and think restaurateurs should use the time as an opportunity to reach out to people who don’t dine out all that often but need a regular “nice place” to take guests and whatnot. Some places do this successfully; others do not.”

My issue is that I’ve found more failure than success in my experiences. I’ve noticed that the quality of the food seems to take a dive at some restaurants. One of my prior RW visits was to Beard Award-winning Vidalia. For a restaurant that is so lauded, neither my friend nor I were impressed. It seemed as if they had cut prep time on the food, and many of the flavors were not suffused through. Maybe it was the result of having to cook for more people than usual, but this was an opportunity for Vidalia to shine and win over two more customers. Instead we were disappointed. The quality of the food might have been okay for the reduced price, but it certainly did not have us hankering to return. On a full-priced visit to Vidalia, the food was better than during RW.

Photo from dabdiputs