The first ever restaurant week came to Dundee this summer, and diners and venues have had their say on the 11-day discount foodie event.
Running from June 29 to July 9, 40 restaurants, pubs and cafes across the city offered discounted meals and menus to encourage people to come out and eat.
Over 12,000 diners signed up for the free Dundee Restaurant Week pass which unlocked the offerings.
One of them was Lennox Kelly from Dundee, who shares her dining experiences on social media.
She believes Dundee Restaurant Week is a great concept.
“It’s giving us locals the opportunity to save money and try out new places,” she says.
“I started my Lennox Eats Instagram and TikTok last year as a hobby, but have had so much support from local restaurants.
“It feels great taking part in restaurant week where I can give them support back, all the while supporting Dundee’s community cafes with our donations – it’s win, win, win!
“Supporting these local businesses is so important for Dundee, to keep the food scene thriving as it is now.
“It’s fantastic to see that Dundee Restaurant Week has done exactly that.”
Food Instagrammer Emma Findlay from Wormit agrees, and has added lots of new venues to her list of places to try out following the event.
Emma says Dundee Restaurant Week was the perfect opportunity to try new restaurants and make use of the good deals.
“I went to three venues during the week, The Giddy Goose, Loco Rita’s and Dundee Espresso Lab,” she lists.
“I’ll definitely be heading back to all the venues and I really hope to see more things like this happen in Dundee.
“It’s great for the venues and the customers.”
Dundee Restaurant Week came at wrong time
City Square restaurant Gidi Grill didn’t notice an influx of diners. Unfortunately, owner Mo Adeniyi reveals it was the quietest week they’ve ever had.
He thinks restaurant week came at the wrong time of year.
“Maybe if it wasn’t for restaurant week it would be completely dead, but compared to other weeks it was quiet,” he says.
“I think everyone was on holiday, so it wasn’t so good. This week has been better, it’s coming up like a normal week.
“These past two weeks we’ve had the lowest sales since we opened in City Square last year.”
The restaurateur expanded to Aberdeen in November last year, and took part in Aberdeen Restaurant Week in January. Mo says taking part really helped the business.
He’s not sure if Gidi Grill will take part in Dundee Restaurant Week again if the opportunity arises.
“If it’s during the summer, I’d say no, but during the wintertime, yes,” he says.
“Any deal is good, but the timing needs to be right. If there is nobody to take part in the deals, why do the deals?
“The first two weeks of full holidays people go away, so why put restaurant week around that time?”
‘Improvements need to be made’
The Dundee Evening Telegraph audience also ventured out for discount scran during restaurant week. We asked for their thoughts on Facebook.
Adam had to leave one venue disappointed as “they wouldn’t offer the deal as they were ‘undergoing rebranding’.”
Some diners deemed the event too complicated and not worth the bother, as the variety of offers wasn’t great enough.
Jennifer wrote: “Like the idea, however improvements need to be made.
“Visited the Barrelman, menu was limited and some of the dishes were not available on the reduced menu. Disappointed.”
