Visiting Seattle During Twenty-Five for $25

[tighe]

If restaurants decide to be mediocre with their 25/25 dinners, I pity their bad attitude.  It really is a waste of a good opportunity to bring in new customers during March (notoriously the slowest month of the year), and show your existing customers that you have the talent to create something great on a limited budget.  $25 is not a tiny amount of money.

There are restaurants in Seattle that do a good job with it (Zoe, Serafina, Nell's, and probably others I haven't tried), so I don't agree with the blanket statement that "Twenty-Five for $25 is bullshit."  Opening up the field to new restaurants would be great, it does get a little stale with the same old places every time.  But that does mean that restaurants like Union would have to lose the snob factor agree to participate.

←

Based on the steady decline in quality that I've experienced, it's apparent to me that most restaurants have realized that the 25F$25 promotion does not lead to follow-on business. What the promotion attracts in bargain hunters that don't generally frequent middle to higher end restaurants and simply wait around for the next promotion and/or take advantage of the numerous places that offer $25 menus all the time now. So then the equation becomes one of pushing down food costs enough to at least break even and, voila, mediocre meals.

Let's talk about Union's "snob factor" a little. Shortly after Union opened, Ethan told me how he had wanted to joing 25F$25 but was denied because only 25 restaurants are allowed to participate (this is an inane rule BTW, in every other city that does similar seasonal promotions, the number of participants is unlimited), so Union independently offered a competing $25 six course tasting menu that blew away anything that the official participants were offering. Eventually though, people started to complain about portion sizes, repeat dishes, etc, plus Ethan reached the conclusion I outlined above, the promotion was undercutting business during the rest of the year, not adding to it, so he stopped.

[dandelion]

Let's talk about Union's "snob factor" a little.  Shortly after Union opened, Ethan told me how he had wanted to joing 25F$25 but was denied because only 25 restaurants are allowed to participate (this is an inane rule BTW, in every other city that does similar seasonal promotions, the number of participants is unlimited)...

Okay, let's talk. I was merely quoting The Stranger article, which said that Union was asked to participate and refused: "Union's been asked to participate, Stowell has conscientiously refrained." And as I said before.... I totally agree that limiting the promotion to the same old 25 restaurants is dumb.

Of course no one HAS to participate... if they don't feel that doing a low cost menu, or a promotional prix fixe menu (whatever it might be called -- 25 for $25, happy hour, etc.) is going to benefit the business, and they're happy with their current group of customers, then that's great. I just don't agree that the promotion is ALL bad, that's all I was saying, because I believe it does benefit some restaurants (Serafina, for example, was fully booked both nights I've been in this month, which is not how it's been other times I've been there).

[Dumpling Girl]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I just came back from Seattle, and had a fabulous time. LOVED Zoe, LOVED Union's Happy Hour, and (a place my friend brought me to) LOVED Dix's Barbecue (Yes, I met the man). Anyhow, more details later, as I'm at work right now, but I'll let you know all about it, or provide a link to my blog postings once they get written. My Zoe experience was the best, I think. Best service I've had in a while, and some things that were SO tasty (their foccacia and their gnudi in particular).

[tsquare]

Tighe,

I think you need to visit E&O for dessert:

White Hot Chai with Bacon-Ginger Cookies!

[Marc Olson]

Seattle restauranteurs sound off on the 25-for-25:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nanc...46_taste22.html

[tighe]

Seattle restauranteurs sound off on the 25-for-25:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nanc...46_taste22.html

←

The limit on the number of participants is bogus enough, but the fact that they're letting chains and corporate restaurants in ahead of local places is even worse.