This deal isn’t too sweet.
Some restaurants participating in NYC Tourism’s semi-annual Restaurant Week are giving customers less bang for their buck, The Post has learned, by skimping on fries or entire menu dishes altogether due to rising operational costs.
The prix fixe cost to dine during the event, which runs from Jan. 21 to Feb. 9 this season, hasn’t budged from its $30, $45 and $60 options since 2022.
While a good price for customers, some restaurant owners complain the fixed prices haven’t kept up with inflation — and say 2025 may be the last year they offer some deals.
Loycent Gordon, owner of Neir’s Tavern in Woodhaven, Queens, told The Post he has historically been able to offset rising costs and keep the price of his $30 Goodfellas Burger (named for the movie partially filmed there) by cutting down on portions of fries — but noted “it’s not sustainable” anymore for his business.
“For us, integrity is very important, so we will never skimp on quality,” Gordon told The Post. “But what is customary – when prices increase, wholesale prices increase – restaurants typically cut back on portion sizes.
“Because we’re living in an industry where it’s a luxury, in so many words, to go out and spend money at a restaurant, people are very price-sensitive,” he added.
Gordon said he was forced to raise all burger prices by $1 within the past year, and has cut down patties from eight to seven ounces – particularly as beef prices have soared to record-highs in recent months.
“The average mom and pop restaurant in Queens can’t charge $25 [for a cheeseburger],” Gordon quipped. “When you talk about the working class families that we have in this neighborhood, you won’t get away [with it]. You’ll be out of business tomorrow.”
A request for comment from NYC Tourism, which sets the annual price tiers, wasn’t immediately returned.
NYC Tourism’s website lists over 500 participating eateries this season, down roughly 100 from last winter and summer.
Ricardo Valdez, of Parisian-inspired Lower East Side eatery Excuse My French, told The Post he is only able to maintain the price-fixed menu of the city promotion because he slashed a number of expensive dishes from his menu in recent years – such as yellowfin tuna, the foie gras and duck confit – due to increased costs.
“I think for the longest time we try to maintain prices … now I can see I’m not able to pay a lot of stuff,” Valdez, 53, said. “I think we need to go on very high prices, which I don’t think people are going to [go for].
For now, the restaurant won’t be cutting corners to keep things profitable – but ballooning costs aren’t the only problem, the owner said. Since rebounding from the pandemic, the bistro owner has seen a visible decline in foot traffic.
Restaurant Week was a way for the French eatery to make a profit in years past, Valdez said – until this past summer, when the bistro lost money during the promotion. This season, Valdez expects he’ll break even.
“What’s hitting me literally is the fact that nobody’s coming out,” Valdez told The Post. “There are days where I have like four couples.”
Nevertheless, several restaurants told The Post they’re hopeful this season will continue to bring in return customers.
“The [foot] traffic increases during restaurant week,” said Nicola Marzovilla, owner of Nonna Dora’s in Manhattan’s Kips Bay. “As far as the cost goes, it doesn’t really affect us that much, and it’s also marketing, so I think at the end of day it’s a win-win situation.”
“We just want people to try our meat and hopefully come back right after the restaurant week, too,” said Gissel Molina, the 27-year-old manager of Mable’s Smokehouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Danudol Ithisuphalap, senior staff member and restaurant co-manager at Bushwick, Brooklyn’s Tong reports he gets more foot traffic than usual during the bi-annual event – which doubles as a test kitchen for new dishes.
“It gives our chef his free time to come up with something new,” Ithisuphalap, 32, said. “We don’t make a lot of money at all [on restaurant week]… [but] it’s okay if [we] don’t make a lot of money during this period.
We don’t maximize the profit — we minimize the losses,” he added.
Crown Heights married couple MK Luff, 35, and Eliseo Anton, 37, told The Post they dined at Tong in Bushwick, Brooklyn for its Restaurant Week deal – but described their visit as the “last time we go to a restaurant in a very long time” due to sky-high dining prices.
Menu prices rose 3.6% over the last 12 months, according to the National Restaurant Association.
“Because of all of this we’re going to start budgeting, because of the mess that is happening, the prices,” Anton said. “Going to a restaurant instead of paying $90 bucks now, it’s … $180 for two people.”
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