Ann Arbor Restaurant Week, was “incredibly successful” at drawing patrons to downtown Ann Arbor restaurants during a usually slow time, according to Maura Thomson, director of Ann Arbor’s Main Street Area Association.
The event — which lasted from Jan. 17 through Jan. 22 — gave customers the chance to try Ann Arbor restaurants at heavily discounted prices. During Restaurant Week, participating restaurants offered a selection of $12 lunches and $25 three-course dinners. Some lower priced restaurants like Parthenon Restaurant and Old Town Tavern offered two-for-one meal deals.
The first Ann Arbor Restaurant Week last June drew patrons to 23 participating downtown restaurants. The most recent Restaurant Week featured 28 participating restaurants.
“The June event exceeded our expectations, and the January (event) was bigger and better than June,” Thomson said.
Restaurant Week is organized by the Main Street Area Association, a non-profit organization that works to attract people to downtown Ann Arbor. Restaurant Week, which the MSAA plans to make a biannual event, is purposely scheduled during traditionally slow times for Ann Arbor businesses, Thomson said.
“January, for downtown, is a slow time,” Thomson said. “(The goal of Restaurant Week is) just to bring people downtown, give downtown a little boost and give people the chance to eat a little something special and affordable.”
Despite the usually light traffic this time of year, downtown restaurants were packed last week, according to Thomson.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever had lunch in downtown Ann Arbor here in the week, but it’s typically not very busy,” Thomson said. “I just love seeing crowds — crowds in restaurants at lunch. It’s wonderful!”
Thomson said the event was originally inspired by a trip by local business owners James and Kathy Macdonald to California, where they attended San Francisco’s Restaurant Week. At the time, they owned Bella Ciao, a restaurant on West Liberty Street, and thought that copying the event could draw attention to Ann Arbor’s diverse cuisine.
Brandon Johns, owner of Ann Arbor restaurant Grange Kitchen & Bar, which opened last August, said he did not hesitate to participate in Restaurant Week.
“It’s a good way to bring business in January, simple as that,” Johns said. “We haven’t been able to take a reservation for four days.”
On its regular menu, Grange Kitchen & Bar’s main courses start at $21, but for restaurant week they offered select menu items at a discount based on variety and cost.
“We want to be cost-effective as well because it is such a deeply discounted dinner for us,” Johns said.
Grange’s Restaurant Week dinner selection included a choice of soup or salad, a main dish of pan roasted chicken, grilled lake trout or cider braised beef and a choice of dessert — all for $25.
Binod Dhakal, manager at Shalimar Restaurant, said that in addition to bringing in new customers, Restaurant Week can be a good time to test potential new items on its menu, which offers traditional Indian dishes.
“We are introducing new items so we can get feedback to reference so we can put those items on our menu,” Dhakal said.
Hope Mleczko, manager of vegetarian restaurant Seva on East Liberty Street, said Restaurant Week can be a great chance to reach new patrons.
“We did see a lot of regulars as well, but in addition to them there are a lot of other people — a lot of new faces,” Mleckzko said.