Portsmouth Restaurant Week is Back

Downtown Portsmouth and the Seacoast region have always enjoyed a well-deserved reputation as one of the state's premier dining destinations and this week residents and visitors alike can enjoy some great deals.

Portsmouth and the Seacoast Restaurant Week kicks off today and runs through March 31, according to the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce. Nearly 50 Portsmouth area restaurants will participate in the event that offers patrons lunches for $16.95 and dinners for $29.95. The complete list of participating restaurants can be found here.

The menu items offered for those prices at participating restaurants are for three-course prix meals, according to chamber officials. Those prices do not include beverages, taxes or gratuity.

Some of the Portsmouth restaurants that will participate in Restaurant Week include: the 106 Kitchen and Bar, Agave Mexican Restaurant and Bar, The Dolphin Striker and Brazo. Outside of Portsmouth, other participating restaurants such as Bonta in Hampton, the Three Chimneys Inn in Durham and the Stage Neck Inn in York, Maine, are also ready to offer dining patrons their culinary delights.

Participating restaurants are also giving patrons several choices for their three-course lunches and dinners at a great value. For instance, Michelle's on Market Square, which opened in July, is offering three-course dinners for $29.95 per person from the entire menu.

Meanwhile, Poco's Bow Street Cantina is offering patrons a three-course dinner with a choice of three appetizers, three entrees and two desserts for $29.95 for two people. Lunch is also appetizing at restaurants such as Cafe Mediterraneo. For $16.95 per person, patrons can have a choice of two appetizers, four second courses and dessert.

Valerie Vachon, the tourism manager for the the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday that restaurant week features 49 restaurants, six more than it did in November, and emcompasses a larger geographical area that includes 10 Seacoast cities and towns stretching from Hampton Beach to York, Maine. Advance reservations have also been very strong leading up to today.

With the unseasonably warm weather, Vachon said she can't even imagine how much more business the participating restaurants may experience. "I know the decks are scrambling to get open," she said.

She said the chamber's lodging properties are also seeing an increase in reservations, which is typical during each restaurant week.

Chamber officials say the bi-annual event that is also held in November gives visitors one more reason to want to come to the Portsmouth region. In addition to dining on great food and fine wines, visitors can come for an entire weekend, go shopping, enjoy some live theatre and explore the Seacoast area, which stretches from Hampton Beach all the way through York, Maine and beyond.

Vachon said the chamber has also increased its marketing efforts that include television ads during the TV Diner show on NECN, more radio ads on stations like National Public Radio, newspaper and magazine print ads and outreach that targets the Seacoast, southern Maine, New Hampshire's Lakes Region and the North Shore and Greater Boston area in Massachusetts.

With such great deals being offered at so many of Portsmouth's best restaurants the only thing left to say is "bon appetit."