Restaurant Week offers chance for businesses to rebound

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh’s Summer Restaurant Week starts Monday, with more than 30 restaurants participating.

“This is a big year of rebound,” said Pittsburgh Restaurant Week Director Brian McCollum. “We’re excited to have the restaurants we have on the list. It is a smaller list than typical Summer restaurant weeks, but the ones that are on it are really excited to get the diners back into the dining room.”

For many restaurants, the biannual event serves as an opportunity to reel in new customers, by featuring special features or multi-course menus.

This year, prices range from $20.21 to $40.21. Many participating restaurants are offering the special menus for two straight weeks instead of one, including Ocean Treasures.

“I’m hoping to get a lot of new customers who will be returning just by trying our special,” said Manager Niambi Sesay.

Not all of the typical participants are taking part this year, however, as restaurants continue to be faced with challenges brought forth by the pandemic. Channel 11 has recently reported on worker shortages and food cost increases presenting new problems for owners.

“There are restaurants that have participated in almost every restaurant week that just said ‘I can’t this year,’” McCollum told us. “They’re looking at their staff and their staff is already tapped out, so to be able to execute at a weekend level all week long is a really a struggle if they aren’t staffed properly.”

A full list of participants can be found here: https://pittsburghrestaurantweek.com/restaurants/summer-2021-restaurants/

Some of the restaurants are offering their special menus for take out, and some also have outdoor options for patrons who are concerned about COVID.

The launch of restaurant week comes as Allegheny County remains in the “substantial” COVID transmission category per CDC data.

Community members we spoke with aren’t afraid to dine.

“I think it’s a lot better this year because there are a lot of people vaccinated,” Carol Rex of Bellevue told us.

Participating restaurants may have varying safety policies.

At Ocean Treasures, unvaccinated staff members are being asked to wear masks, and Sesay said they have a large dining room to spread guests out if requested. There is also a sign on the door asking unvaccinated patrons to mask up.

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