Long Island Restaurant Week deals start at $25
The Pandara market butter chicken is one of the specialties on the Fall Restaurant Week menu at The Onion Tree in Sea Cliff. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
The leaves are turning and it’s time for another Long Island Restaurant Week. From Nov. 1 to 8, more than 115 eateries in Nassau and Suffolk counties will offer patrons a choice of fixed-price options: Restaurants may offer a $25 two-course lunch and/or a three-course dinner for $30, $40 or $48. These menus are in effect whenever the restaurant is open, with the exception of Sat., Nov. 7, when the deal only needs to be in effect until 7 p.m.
It may seem like the discounted meal promotion has been around forever but, in fact, it celebrates its 20th anniversary this fall.
It was in November 2006 that about 50 restaurants banded together to offer fixed-price three-course meals (for $21.95!) whose proceeds benefited The INN (Interfaith Nutrition Network, supporting Long Islanders facing hunger, homelessness and poverty) and the Family Service League. The idea was hatched by Steve Haweeli, the beloved public relations executive who died in 2022. The company he founded, WordHampton, continues to run the program.
"One thing about a restaurant week is this: It's going to get people through the doors," Haweeli told Newsday in 2006. "And any confident restaurateur will say, if only I can get people through the door, I know that our food and our service and our decor is going to win people over."
Since it launched, Long Island Restaurant Week has donated more than $40,000 to local food banks and charitable organizations, including more than $10,000 to The INN. To celebrate, the promotion is also expanding its popular gift card giveaway. This fall, 20 winners will each receive a $100 gift card to a participating restaurant of their choice. The sweepstakes will run Oct. 26 through Nov. 9. (To enter, visit longislandrestaurantweek.com during that period.)
The signature Swedish-style meatloaf is on the Fall Restaurant Week menu at Jack's Grill in Speonk. Credit: Newsday/Erica Marcus
Restaurant Week offers a great opportunity to sample new restaurants like Jack’s Grill in Speonk, The James in Garden City (as well as the original in Babylon), Lola's Kitchen & Cocktails in Eastport and Westhampton Beach Brew & Grille (in Manorville and Westhampton Beach).
And every Restaurant Week features old restaurants that are new to the program such as La Volpe in Center Moriches (which is under new ownership), Opus Steakhouse in Jericho, Crabtree's Restaurant in Floral Park, American Times Restaurant & Tavern in Oakdale, Sunday's on the Bay in Hampton Bays and Wuyang Casa BBQ in Lake Grove.
See the whole list (plus an interactive map) at longislandrestaurantweek.com.
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