Early Bird Specials

Back in June, the Wall Street Journal had an article on NYC fine-dining restaurants that offered early bird specials for people who made 5:30 reservations. I have looked through this index as well as other sites and cannot find a similar discussion for Chicago fine dining restaurants. I looked at the websites for Goosefoot, Elizabeth, Balena, Les Nomades, 42 Grams, Travelle, Tenchermen, The Bristol and Grace and none of them mentioned anything about discount dining for early time slots. Does anyone know of any Chicago area restuarants that offer specials for early dining? Weekday dining? Maybe people in Chicago eat early, so there is no incentive for restaurants to offer early bird deals.

Elizabeth and Alinea have variable pricing with lower prices for early or late seatings and cheaper tickets for non-weekend days. The difference at Elizabeth has been pretty sizable in the past - anywhere from $55 on Tues/Wed early or late to $150 on Saturdays at 7, but the current prices on their site have smaller variance.

Not quite the same as an early bird special - Open Table has 1000 point reservations available for certain restaurants at early bird type hours.

In downtown the Dim Sum restaurant Yum Cha has a (Happy)Power Hour 50% select dim sum plates from 4:30 - 6:30PM:

Code: Select all

Join us for Power Hour! We're serving a selection of half priced dim sum plates, along with drink features. Power Hour is available Monday-Friday, 4:30pm-6:30pm in our bar and lounge.

Picture of Happy hour menu:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 2731_n.jpg

Yum Cha
333 E Randolph
Chicago, Illinois
http://www.yumchachicago.com/

Everest offers a three course pre-theater menu for early diners at a significantly reduced price from a normal meal there.

As mentioned above, Elizabeth offers dynamic pricing and the prices fluctuate greatly. Some meals occasionally are as inexpensive as $35 per/person while other times pretty much the exact same meal goes for $175. Well worth monitoring Elizabeth's Facebook and/or Twitter account as sale prices are advertised via social media. Early seating on weeknights often is usually at a lower price than other days/times, but be on the look out for the drastically reduced special pricing.

Some Chicago restaurants offer good deals based on the day-of-the-week more so than time of the dinner; i.e. Simple Sundays at Embeya ($29 prix fixe), $5 specials at Table Donkey Stick on Mondays etc. - so if looking for good values, do not limit yourself to seeking out early bird deals.

This post reminds me of the Friday AYCE California roll lunch special at Daruma on Central in Evanston. RIP.

Gonzo70 wrote:Everest offers a three course pre-theater menu for early diners at a significantly reduced price from a normal meal there.

That's correct. It's available for 5:30 seatings (and 5:00 on Saturdays). Last time I checked, it was $50ish. I believe it's a fixed menu (only one choice available per course).

Gonzo70 wrote:Some Chicago restaurants offer good deals based on the day-of-the-week more so than time of the dinner; i.e. Simple Sundays at Embeya ($29 prix fixe), $5 specials at Table Donkey Stick on Mondays etc. - so if looking for good values, do not limit yourself to seeking out early bird deals.

Good advice. You can find some of those bargains discussed in this other topic:

Your Favorite Weekly Food Specials/Deals

As I've aged into my mid-sixties, I find it's not so much that I get hungry earlier or need to preserve my fixed income or need to go to bed by 7, as that I no longer care about the "shame" of eating early. An unspoken rule of society is, "You're a real loser if you're eating dinner in an empty restaurant at 5:00." Happily, I no longer give a rat's ass about the reservation-that-dare-not-speak-its-name.

With a 7 P.M. bed time for our daughter, my wife and I have become very early eaters and I have no problem with it... as long as wherever we go can accomodate her simple palate of plain, grilled chicken.

We eat earlier than average -- it started when we had kids in the house, and is helped by one or both of us working out of the house at any given time over the past 15 years: we're home to cook when quittin' time comes around. A 5:30 chow time is on the early side, but a 7PM one sometimes feels late.

In Europe we often are first in a restaurant for the evening (particularly tricky in Barcelona, where opening times might be 9PM or later), which can help avoid the need for reservations.

Happily, I no longer give a rat's ass about the reservation-that-dare-not-speak-its-name.

This, I love.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions!

In anticipation of an upcoming trip to NYC, I emailed Colicchio and Sons Restaurant to see if they had any prix fixe deals. They wrote back that they did not but asked when we would be in town, what time was our show, did we want more casual or refined dining and how much would we like to spend. They said they would try to work with us. I was really blown away by their hospitality.

Thanks Uber. Now some restaurants are trying out surge pricing.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... l#nws=true

Dave148 wrote:

Thanks Uber. Now some restaurants are trying out surge pricing.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... l#nws=true

Next was founded on this premise, that Tuesday dinner at 7 shouldn't cost the same as Friday night at 8:30. Then they realized people will pay whatever just to get a seat.

spinynorman99 wrote:

Dave148 wrote:

Thanks Uber. Now some restaurants are trying out surge pricing.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... l#nws=true

Next was founded on this premise, that Tuesday dinner at 7 shouldn't cost the same as Friday night at 8:30. Then they realized people will pay whatever just to get a seat.

Until they wouldn't.

=R=

So was Elizabeth, and many of the other restaurants in the Tock reservation system.

Of course, early bird specials, and other specials (such as on weeknights), have been around for many years. Nothing new there.

Psychologically it's quite different to offer an early bird special than to slap a surcharge on a popular time.

But realize that no one except the reporter is calling it surge pricing. The restaurants all call it a discount for off times or variable pricing. It may all mean the same thing in the end, but marketing wise it is different.

-Will

Surge pricing refers to variable price increases above a standard level on a real time basis. The London restaurant is doing nothing of the sort. They are offering lower pricing at predetermined times. This is neither surge pricing nor something new in the restaurant biz.

Would You Pay More for Dinner on a Saturday Than on a Tuesday? A Toronto restaurateur is finding out

https://heated.medium.com/surge-pricing ... 1f49cb9d1f