Restaurant owners say an extra week of Restaurant Week offers a rare financial cushion as rising food prices, labor costs and heightened immigration enforcement strain D.C.’s dining industry.
The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington decided to extend the promotion — initially slated for Jan. 19 to 25 — through Feb. 8 after last Saturday night’s snowstorm brought dining across the city to a halt. Created by the association to support local businesses during slower periods, Restaurant Week has increasingly become a lifeline for Foggy Bottom, Georgetown and West End restaurant owners who say the added traffic helps them survive in an industry facing rising food and labor costs.
RAMW asks restaurants to choose from two brunch/lunch and three dinner pricing model options. For restaurants offering brunch and lunch service, RAMW lets participating restaurants pick between a $25 or $35-per-person option for brunch and lunch. Eateries advertising multi-course dinners have the option to use a $40, $55 or $65-per-person pricing model.
Paolo Dungca, owner and chef of Filipino cuisine restaurant Kayu, located in Dupont Circle, said Restaurant Week has “drastically” created an uptick in reservations, combating slower demand in recent months. He said he’s been encouraged by the surge in support for his small business during Restaurant Week.
“It’s tough times being a restaurant owner right now, but for me, it’s still rewarding, in a sense, where we still get to do what we love,” Dungca said.
The Trump administration’s implementation of tariffs in early 2025 on a range of foreign imports — including food staples like beef and seafood — has contributed to rising food prices and pushed up ingredient costs for the restaurant industry. According to industry data, D.C. saw 92 restaurants close in 2025, a continuation of a multi-year trend of shuttered doors amid higher food and labor costs, with closures spanning casual eateries to acclaimed establishments like Michelin-starred Reverie and Capitol City Brewing Company after 33 years of business.
Dungca said heightened Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence in the city has not only made Kayu staff concerned about coming into work but makes customers less likely to dine out as people are more hesitant to visit restaurants amid this period of growing uncertainty. But he said the opportunity to participate in Restaurant Week has been a “good tool” in alleviating these pressures, citing an “uptick” in reservations.
“With everything that’s happening within the city and nationwide, with all the ICE raids and everything, it’s making our staff a little bit more scared to come into work sometimes, but also it kind of deters people from going out,” Dungca said. “Also just the rising cost of restaurants now, it’s hard for people to go out and spend money, given where our economic landscape is, so I feel like people are less inclined to go out now, as opposed to before.”
Doris “Ris” Lacoste, founder and owner of the West End American restaurant RIS, said Restaurant Week has been an effective way to boost reservations and bookings. Despite a brief dip in business during last Saturday night’s snowstorm, Lacoste said new reservations quickly followed after they announced the extension. A member of the RAMW board, she added that the organization has hosted Restaurant Week for 23 years and that RIS has participated since January 2010.
“We fill our restaurant in the middle of January, when it’s absolutely dead, so it’s a great opportunity to put your best foot forward,” said Lacoste.
Lacoste said she used to craft a new menu specifically for Restaurant Week and offered her regular menu a la carte. Now, she said she opts to use her regular lunch and dinner menus in order to keep everything fresh and prevent food from sitting out. Lacoste’s menu offers options like French Onion Soup Gratinée and Miso Salmon Tartare for appetizers and Mussels Frites and Scallop Risotto for entrees.
“I found that when we did that special menu for Restaurant Week, and we offered our full a-la-carte menu, the a-la-carte menu food would just sit there,” Lacoste said.
RIS offers a tiered menu, with lower-priced dishes such as clams linguini at $40 per person and higher-end options — like chicken Milanese and duck leg confit — priced at $55 and $65. Guests can choose their meal based on the price tier they prefer.
“Everybody gets to taste the whole menu however they want to do it,” Lacoste said.
Rafael Dolande, general manager at Imperfecto, a Mediterranean and Latin restaurant in West End, said the early winter months always slow demand for restaurants, but coupled with ongoing economic pressures, Restaurant Week has been a particularly helpful tool to boost business ahead of the summer months. The snow forced Imperfecto to close on Sunday and Monday, but Dolande said they were able to rebook the impacted guests.
“We called every single guest just to make sure that they had the opportunity to try our restaurant,” Dolande said. “We’re gonna finish very strong because the next couple days look solid in terms of guests.”
After the 92 restaurant closures in 2025, many business owners have felt the heavy hit of already slow winter sales paired with the struggling economic conditions.
“I think the whole city has been struggling in terms of business. You definitely see, as well, the decrease of demand on the restaurant business,” Dolande said.
To help increase visits and business, Dolande said the team at Seven Reasons — the restaurant group that owns Imperfecto — came up with a Restaurant Week “boarding pass,” where guests receive tiered discounts for visiting other restaurants within the Seven Reasons Group. After a guest visits all of the restaurants — which include Imperfecto, Seven Reasons, The Saga, Quadrant and Sureal — Dolande said the guest is given a $100 gift card to visit any restaurant in the group.
“Yesterday, I had eight guests that have visited all of our restaurants already,” Dolande said.
