Just 1 Wash Heights Eatery On Menu In 2022 NYC Restaurant Week

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Out of the 421 Manhattan eateries participating in the New York City Restaurant Week that kicked off Tuesday, just one is located in Washington Heights.

A second restaurant included from Inwood means that there are two eateries representing the Upper Manhattan area home to more than 200,000 residents and hundreds of eateries.

By comparison, Harlem has 23 eateries participating in the initial rollout of Restaurant Week 2022 and the Upper West Side has 42.

The tiny number of representatives from Upper Manhattan in 2022 comes a year after zero eateries in Washington Heights or Inwood were included in the initial rollout of more than 570 restaurants in the 2021 New York City restaurant week.

• Read More: NYC Restaurant Week Leaves Uptown Manhattan Off The Menu

Aiming to give New Yorkers a chance to expand their culinary horizons without putting a major dent in the wallet, the event includes two-course lunches and three-course dinners set at $29, 39 and $59.

Despite the name, it will run for four weeks from Jan. 18 to Feb. 13.

The lone Washington Heights restaurant participating in the promotional event is Fireball — located at 3920 Broadway (between West 164th and 165th Streets).

Farther uptown, the single Inwood representative is the Ethiopian coffee shop Buunni Inwood — located at 4961 Broadway (between West 207th Street and Isham Street).

Data from past years show that eateries make added profit during the period due to the additional advertisement even with the discounted prices.

Making Sense Of Upper Manhattan's Absence From NYC Restaurant Week

Last year, after Upper Manhattan was left out of the rollout of New York City Restaurant Week, nearly 20 Washington Heights and Inwood eateries signed up for the campaign.

The signups correlated with added uptown outreach, specifically Spanish language outreach, from NYC & Company, which oversees the NYC Restaurant Week.

Restaurants aren't selected by any sort of governing body. Instead, restaurant owners have to sign their own eateries up to take part in the week.

The event has been going on since 1992, and there was a lengthy sign-up window for the 2022 week before it kicked off.

"Members of the uptown restaurant community, particularly Latino restaurant owners, did not participate in restaurant week largely because they were unaware of the events and how to participate," Jeff Garcia, president of the New York State Latino Restaurant Bar & Lounge Association, told Patch at the beginning of last year's restaurant week.

Garcia added, though, that many Upper Manhattan eateries also chose not to participate since the set prices still ranged pricier than normal menu options.

"With hundreds of restaurants rolling out special prix-fixe menus for a limited time, this is your chance to try it all in the most vibrant dining scene in the world," the event's website states for the 2022 campaign.

Eateries will continue to signup over the course of the nearly month-long campaign, and Patch will keep an eye out for any new Upper Manhattan restaurants.

Find out more about NYC Restaurant Week here.

Patch reporters Nick Garber and Matt Troutman contributed to this report.