Well, here it is day two of Uber Restaurant Week and you’re wondering why I haven’t told you about it before this. Because no one told me about it, either.
This particular Restaurant Week was sprung mid first-day Monday by Uber, the ride-sharing company that cooked it up. Though it all seems a little half baked.
I like the idea. There are seven participating restaurants, not a big number but some well-respected names among them, that have devised special, super-secret menus for the promotion. To avail yourself of the menu, you must get to the restaurant via Uber, something I’ve supported — and done — ever since the service came into town. I’m all for letting someone else do the driving whenever craft cocktails and bottles of wine are to be imbibed.
So you get to the restaurant, show the host or server your smartphone displaying your just-issued receipt, and you’ll be handed the menu. When the press release announcing the promotion dropped yesterday it did not include any information about the menus. Those details were finally posted on the Uber Newsroom website page last evening. Up until then, readers (riders?) were expected to buy a pig in a poke. That’s always a little iffy, even when said pig is a ravenous one. Ravenous Pig is one of the seven restaurants. The full list is:
● The Ravenous Pig
● Cask & Larder
● Seito – Baldwin Park
● Seito – Sand Lake
● Slate
● The Osprey Tavern
● Swine & Sons
Most of the menus are three-course prix fixe’d but not all the same prix. The Ravenous Pig is offering a menu at $35 with some of its signature dishes, including a starter of Shrimp & Grits and a dessert of Pig Tails. A quick check of the popular restaurant’s regular menu shows that going with the Uber menu will save you several dollars.
Slate, on the other hand, has a $45 menu that includes a “shared appetizer” and “shared dessert,” and none of the items on the Uber menu are listed on the Sand Lake Road newcomer’s sample menu on its website. So a decision about value is difficult to assess.
Something else to consider: This Restaurant Week runs only until Friday, December 11.
It’s a nice idea, but maybe next year — or next week? — there will be better advanced planning.
You can see all the menus at the Uber Restaurant Week web page.
Oh, and if you’re new to Uber, use this code — scottj126 — for a free first ride (up to $20). (I’ll get a ride, too, if you use the code.)
