A week for tasting and testing

By JESSICA ELDER

Fredericksburg locals were stuffed to the brim as Restaurant Week 2014 came to a close. Restaurant Week is a week for local eateries to showcase their creativity and passion and share their food with the community.

The event brings in students from the University of Mary Washington and the Fredericksburg and offers an opportunity to interact with the downtown community.

“We had a great time and loved trying out a new place that we normally wouldn’t go to,” said Katie Shaver, a senior English major.

Shaver dined at the Kenmore Inn, where she enjoyed a three course meal. Kenmore Inn offered food items such as spinach, beet and goat cheese salad, bacon wrapped monkfish with green beans and a pear tart for dessert.

Restaurant Week provides many immediate benefits to customers through the great food and fantastic deals, but the restaurants also receive a growth in their clientele. Reviews from students that attended this year’s Restaurant Week were positive overall; many agreed that the quality and amount of food served was impressive considering the cheap price fix.

According to Shaver, the smaller dishes of Kenmore Inn “didn’t ruin our experience… All in all, the best part of our experience was their wine offering.”

Not only was it a pleasant experience for patrons, but for the servers at the restaurant as well. Maggie Willis, who works as a server at Poppy Hill Tuscan Kitchen enjoyed seeing how people reacted to the events of Restaurant Week.

“Restaurant Week is not only a great time for customers to experience but also for those who work as servers and bartenders,” said Willis, a Senior Business Administration major.

 “It was great to see the amount of customers who had never eaten there leave satisfied, and more than willing to recommend the restaurant,” said Willis. It was also nice to see regular customers come in and see us as well.”