Shoulder season is shaping up to be a friendly climate for restaurant bargain hunters. Check out promotions kicking off now and lasting through September. (Click here to see summer steals—nearly all of which are continuing—from Angelina’s to Zen Asian BBQ.)
This should go without saying, but please still remember to tip servers based on what your meal would normally cost.
This is actually something you can get excited about for the whole year, as it will continue beyond September: a new happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m. daily (except Sunday, when it’s closed). Discounted wine, beer and $5 well drinks go along with the six small plates that were created specifically for this (also $5 each), such as coconut curry chicken tikka skewers and spiced paneer cheese with onions and peppers.
Always a draw for its unbeatable ocean views, go through the end of September to take advantage of a rotating menu of weeknight cocktails and nibbles all under $8. From 4 to 8 p.m., it could mean a blackberry bramble or grouper tacos—half of the fun is the element of surprise. On Sundays, also through September, the restaurant is offering a traditional prime rib menu for $35 per person that includes horseradish, mashed potatoes and Yorkshire pudding.
Plan a pre- (or post-) cinema dinner the next time you’re at Mercato before September 30 with a two-course meal matching a choice of three salads with one of five entrées. The price of the daily deal varies based on the main dish selected, ranging from $12.99 for a pizza topped with soppressata and provolone to shrimp scampi over capellini for $16.99 and baked chicken parmesan at $18.99.
With many local spots cutting midday hours during the slower months, it’s a welcome change to see an event designed to bring in the lunch set. The steak house’s Prime Rib Fridays go from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and you get 8 ounces of that tender slab of deliciousness for just $10.95. Sides are extra, so it’s a good thing the whole regular lunch menu is available as well. And, at any time between now and the start of October, a 12-ounce New York strip is going for $24.95.
The pretty cottage-like restaurant overlooking a quiet stretch of mangrove-lined water at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point just got a new chef, Gastón Sánchez, and he has unfurled a four-course “Seafood Treasures” menu to lure locals. The $99-per-couple experience includes a bottle of house wine—but he had us at the sustainably caught yellowtail amberjack with saffron jasmine rice (not to mention a piña colada parfait sweet ending).
