25 eateries taking part

First-ever event runs from Feb. 27 to March 6

The West Chester Business Improvement District is sponsoring the first annual West Chester Restaurant Week beginning Feb. 27 and ending March 6.

“West Chester is known as a dining destination, and we really want to showcase and highlight that,” said John O’Brien, executive director of West Chester BID. “We really want to give customers the opportunity to patronize the restaurants they love and to explore restaurants they haven’t eaten at.”

West Chester restaurants, like many in Chester County, have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. O’Brien said West Chester Restaurant Week is one way of helping them to gain better financial footing.

“With the winter we have had, and with the omicron (variant of the virus), restaurants are see

ing 40 percent declines,” O’Brien said. “The (pandemic) funding of special grants for restaurants is all gone, and now restaurants need to figure ways to truly make it on their own.”

There are 25 restaurants participating in West Chester Restaurant Week. Restaurants will be creating special multicourse prix fixe menus for the week at $30, $40 or $50 per person, depending on the restaurant. The special menus will be available for only the one week.

O’Brien said there have been restaurant festivals in the past, but nothing like this one because it is being organized and sponsored by BID. He said it will be a yearly event.

“This is really a celebration of the great food we have here in West Chester,” O’Brien said.

Participating restaurants include Barnaby’s of West Chester, Dolce Zola, Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant, Kildare’s Irish Pub, Limoncello Ristorante, Mae’s West Chester, Max Mexicali Cantina, Meatball U, Pietro’s Prime, Rams Head Bar and Grill, Salon 151 Whiskey Bar and Grill, Slow Hand Restaurant and Bar, Split Rail Tavern, Sterling Pig Brewery, Stove and Tap, Mediterranean, The Social, Sedona Taphouse, Side Bar and Restaurant, Spence Cafe, Ryan’s Pub and Restaurant, Greystone Oyster Bar, Mercato Ristorante and Bar, Kooma Restaurant and Opa Taverna.

For more on West Chester Restaurant Week, visit https://www.downtownwestchester.com/event/ west-chesters-restaurantweek/

SUBMITTED PHOTO Kildare’s in West Chester will be participating in the upcoming West Chester Restaurant Week.