CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The President of Buzz Food Services, the company that’s host to Charleston’s annual Restaurant Week, says to make your reservations now, as the weeklong event honoring local eating establishments kicked off Monday.
Buzz Food Service’s Dickinson Gould said Monday on The Dave Allen Show that a total of 16 restaurants around the city are participating this year for the 10th annual event.
He said it’s an event everyone looks forward to every year, particularly the restaurant operators, who always see much success with it.
“It’s traditionally a slow time in the restaurant business, so this promotion is just to shine a little bit of light on locally-owned establishments and get the public thinking about eating out again after the credit card bills and once they’ve shaken off their New Year’s resolutions, so it’s time to eat, time to make your reservations,” Gould said.
The participating restaurants offer a three course meal at a fixed price during the event, and customers will get to choose from two options for each of the appetizers, entrees, and desserts.
Gould said Restaurant Week is actually an 11-year-old event, but they had to take a year off during the pandemic.
He said while they had already formed the plan to host the first Restaurant Week back in 2014 just before the Water Crisis hit the city, the plan blew up following the crisis after restaurants were given the go-ahead to re-open, he said giving everyone all the more reason to eat out.
“It gave the public a good reason to come out and really support local restaurants, really turn up the tips as they say, and really take care of the hospitality and wait staff that had really been struggling for a couple of weeks, and it just snowballed after that,” he said.
In addition, Gould said two new restaurants are participating this year, Fernbank Public House on Bridge Road in Southills, and the Volstead Room, a below-ground restaurant on Dickenson Street.
Gould saying on The Dave Allen Show that he hopes these new restaurants know what they’re getting themselves into, because the event always brings out the crowds, which is especially the case for new establishments.
He said the restaurants always make an effort to do up the event and make it as great as it can be.
“It ends up being a really significant and busy week for every participating restaurant,” said Gould.
Gould said it’s particularly important people make reservations this week when deciding to go out to eat in the Capital City.
Restaurant Week lasts through this Saturday, Feb. 3. You can find the available menus the restaurants have released for the event here.
Below is a complete list of the participating restaurants:
. 1010 Bridge
. Adelphia Sports Bar and Grille
. Barkadas
. Black Sheep Burrito
. Bricks and Barrels
. Bridge Row Bistro
. Dem 2 Brothers (Summers Street location)
. DT Prime Steakhouse
. Fernbank Public House
. Ichiban Pan-Asian Cuisine
. The Lookout Bar and Grill
. Ristorante Abruzzi
. Sam’s Uptown Café
. Soho’s
. Tidewater Grill
. The Volstead Room