If a month of culinary chaos where 600+ restaurants across all five boroughs slash their prices excites you, welcome to NYC Restaurant Week – the city’s annual feeding frenzy that runs from July 21 to August 17, 2025.
Whether you’re a Restaurant Week first-timer looking to indulge in a fine dining venue typically out of your price range, or a seasoned gourmand searching for the city’s hottest new chef, these tips will help you work the restaurant scene like a savvy New Yorker.
What is Restaurant Week?
I can tell you what it’s not: Restaurant Week is not the businessmen’s wheeling and dealing corporate lunch special seen in the movies. It is, however, an elevated exploration of New York cultures, deliciously wrapped in 2-course lunches and 3-course dinners for $30, $40, or $60 (plus tax and tip). That Michelin-starred spot you’ve been stalking on Instagram? Or that celebrity chef’s latest venture? All suddenly within reach.
PRO TIP: Saturdays are not included in the program, and Sunday participation depends on the restaurant. (We all know the best nights to go out in NYC are Monday to Thursday anyway.)
Be Smart About Your Strategy
With 600+ restaurants to choose from, you don’t need to salivate over the same ten “must-have” restaurants everyone else wants to visit. There’s more to life than following trends.
The smart move is to use the filters on the official NYC Restaurant Week website. Cuisine type, borough, neighborhood, meal type, accessibility – this is your secret weapon to personalizing your top ten “must-have” restaurants.
PRO TIP: Check the Restaurant Week prix-fixe menus before committing to a reservation. If you’re gluten-free, vegetarian, or just particular about your food, a quick menu preview will help guarantee you’ve chosen the right spot.
The Power Move
Restaurant Week is your opportunity to embrace your adventurous side, without the risk of melting your credit card. That Korean BBQ place in Queens you’ve been too intimidated to try? Book it. The hole-in-the-wall Ethiopian spot your foodie friend keeps raving about? Time to find out what the fuss is about. The fine dining temple you’ve been dying to scratch off your bucket list? Now’s your moment.
PRO TIP: Give your Restaurant Week shortlist to your dining partner and ask them to make the selection and reservation. Tell them to keep the location a mystery until the day of the reservation and to text you on the day with the address where you’ll meet. It will be a scrumptious surprise when you arrive at your dining destination.
Beyond the Plate
Why limit yourself to just eating? This summer’s Restaurant Week coincides with NYC’s 400th anniversary celebrations – the city is throwing itself a year-long party, and you’re invited.
Stack your dinner plans with Harlem Week festivities (August 1-17), catch free concerts at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn (through August 18), or bookend your meal with rooftop cocktails and discounted Broadway shows. Turn one reservation into an entire New York experience.
PRO TIP: You don’t need to spend more money to continue your adventure. When you leave the restaurant, toss a coin: heads you walk uptown, tails you walk downtown. Toss again: heads you walk west, tails you walk east. Treat yourself to discovering something new.
The Unwritten Rules
- Tip appropriately. It’s customary to tip on the full menu price, not your discounted Restaurant Week menu total. Your server is 100% committed to bringing you the same full experience you would enjoy any other month of the year.
- Don’t be shy. You have almost a month and hundreds of options, so treat this like a culinary marathon and try multiple restaurants.
- Book ASAP. Popular spots fill fast.
Start Planning Now!
This isn’t about scoring the “right” reservation or checking boxes on an arbitrary foodie list, although The New York Times 100 Best Restaurants in New York City 2025 list is definitely worth a look. Restaurant Week is your annual permission slip to explore, experiment, and eat exceptionally well without the usual financial gymnastics.
The city’s dining scene is waiting for you.
AWNY | Australian Women in New York 