Hook Logo

Prime Dime: Discount dinners take chilly town by storm

by Courteney Stuart
published 3:21pm Tuesday Oct 5, 2010
Bookmark and Share letter Write a letter to the editor

biltmoreThe recently renovated Biltmore is one of several Corner spots participating in the event.
FILE PHOTO

Charlottesville’s first “Dinner on a Dime” kicked off with a bang on Monday, October 4, with participating eateries reporting a spike in business as wallet-conscious diners chow down with abandon— thanks to the $9.99 price for an entrée and appetizer or dessert.

“People realize it’s a good deal,” says Andrew Laurence, general manager at Enoteca wine bar on the Downtown Mall. One of the 12 local restaurants participating in the Hook-sponsored event, Enoteca reported a 30 percent increase in its Monday night business, but it’s not alone in seeing reservations swelling.

“I’ve had constant calls,” says Mono Loco general manager Alisha McLaughlin. “It probably gets people out that haven’t been to the restaurant before.”

That “nouvelle Latin” eatery on Water Street did, however, report a wrinkle in the form of some people trying to stretch the deal even further by trying to split an order. “You gotta order for however many people are eating,” urges McLaughlin.

Downtown eateries aren’t the only ones benefiting from the week-long buzz, as Maharaja in the Seminole Square shopping center also saw a “good crowd” on Monday, according to Raymond Madeira, the owner’s uncle.

The event is a sibling of sorts to Charlottesville Restaurant Week, the semi-annual smorgasbord that offers a $26 price tag for a three-course meal at the town’s most upscale restaurants. Dinner on a Dime offers two courses at more casual establishments so diners can treat a family of four to dinner for less than $40 (excluding libations, tax, and tip.)

While many venues are accepting reservations, some— including Brookville on the Downtown Mall— says they’ve switched to a walk-in only policy in response to the high demand. (And, due to the chillier temperatures, Mono Loco switched off its gazpacho in favor of warm tomato bisque.)

The event runs nightly through Sunday, October 10.

open

7 comments

  • [email protected] October 6th, 2010 | 11:37 am

    nice photoshop :P

  • Greg October 6th, 2010 | 12:28 pm

    It is disingenuous to show a picture of college kids drinking at the Biltmore as if they are participants at this Hook-sponsored event.

  • meanwhile.... October 6th, 2010 | 12:36 pm

    Greg! How dare you! This is BIG NEWS and SHOULD BE trumpeted to the skies by all media!

    The fact that the hook sponsors this event and receives advertising dollars from participating restaurants is COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT to this juicy, fact filled news story!!

    Maybe the hook will get another central virginia, small media outlet prize out of this excellent, excellent journalism!

    Kudos to the hook’s staff for putting this together. Heck! I smell a Pulitzer!!!!

    Betting may commence on how soon this comment gets “deleted by moderator”……

  • Logan October 6th, 2010 | 4:01 pm

    Man people are tough on the Hook. While I agree that the picture is a bit disingenuous, I highly doubt that it was intentional, more likely it was a stock photo of one of the participating restaurants. Yes this is a fluff piece, but the hook is also a community newspaper who is promoting an event that they put together. What do you honestly expect?

    I went with a group to west main last night and had a great time. Overall the food was good and a good value. I imagine that that it was a positive for west main as well, our alcohol bill made up for any loss they had on the food. They also got 6 people through the door that they wouldn’t have had otherwise, and we are likely to go back now. That on top of the fact that the local foodbank got a $6 dollar donation they wouldn’t have otherwise. Sounds like a win/win/win to me.

  • local girl October 6th, 2010 | 4:37 pm

    well said, Logan.

  • meanwhile... October 6th, 2010 | 10:11 pm

    nothing wrong with keeping any media outlet honest. The hook deserves the respect it earns and deserves to be called out when necessary. the coin has two sides.

  • cookieJar October 7th, 2010 | 1:07 am

    meanwhile… That was pretty gosh darn clever of you to put that bet thing in your earlier post. No way they could delete your stinging and insightful commentary after that without proving you to be “the MAN” I can just imaging the Hook staff standing around, heads hanging in shame, while Hawes whips them all by reading it aloud.

    -yawn-

    Keep up the good work buddy!

    -yawn-

Leave a reply

* People say the darndest things, but language stronger than "darn," insulting words like "stupid," ethnically or racially disparaging language, and comparing people to Hitler usually results in deletion of the comment and may get you blocked from further commenting. Ditto for posting unverified and/or potentially libelous allegations, and even off-topic digression. And to avoid spam, any comment containing more than two weblinks gets eaten by Bigfoot.

Comments for this post will be closed on 4 November 2010.

login | Contents ©2009 The HooK