Hill City Restaurant Week Brings Booming Business - WSET.com - ABC13

Reporter: James Gherardi l Videographer: Ira Quillen

Lynchburg, VA - We've been sharing stories with you from Lynchburg Restaurant Week since it began. Tuesday marks the fourth night the city wide event has been going on.

In total, twenty Hill City restaurants are participating. The restaurants we visited are all locally owned, and Hill City favorites. They say restaurant week has made business boom and has brought in a steady stream of customers.

"The outside patio's full. There were people lined up when we came in, so, it's working, it's getting people out," said one diner at Robin Alexander.

"We'll surpass a normal Tuesday night for sure. If not, maybe close to double," said Ashley Rhodes, the Manager of Robin Alexander. At Robin Alexander, so far, restaurant week revenue has been nearly double that of a normal week.

"I feel like it's really going to bring in people throughout the slow days of the week, your Mondays, your Tuesdays, your Wednesdays. That a restaurant, your typical even chain restaurants experience in the beginning of the week," said Rhodes.

"It's actually pretty busy. We had to walk up the street to park but it's a great place. It's nice sitting out on the patio. It's great weather to just come and relax and eat," said another Robin Alexander diner.

Drive down Main Street, and the wait at the Main Street Eatery is just as long.

"We do well, but this helps. This boosts, especially in a slow economy, this really helps," said Main St. Eatery Employee, Wendy Williams.

Even with a devoted clientele, long time employees like Williams, are seeing fresh faces, "Restaurant week has brought a lot of guests and guests that have never been here before, to try our food," she said.

"Anytime I go to a new area, and I'm new to Lynchburg, I try to look for the newest, the local businesses, the local restaurants, the local scene," said first time Lynchburg diner, Tom Creel.

The argument being that the restaurant week deals are too good to pass up. "Three items for $25, normally, I think you'd spend that much on the entree alone, so it's basically like getting an appetizer and a desert for free," said Creel.

And some are hoping the Hill City's first ever restaurant week recipe, will become a menu main stay. "I left Lynchburg and actually went to school in some bigger cities and did restaurant week, so it was always a lot of fun to try different things and places you'd never been before. So, I think it's a great idea," said a woman while eating at Robin Alexander.

And you still have three days to take advantage of it; restaurant week will go through Friday night. You can view all the participating restaurants by visiting http://www.lynchburgrestaurantweek.com/