Good deals and great food: Edmonton Downtown Business Association brings back Downtown Dining Week

Restaurants are preparing for Downtown Dining Week beginning March 20, 2024. (Matt Marshall/CTV News Edmonton)

Edmonton Downtown Business Association (EDBA) is getting ready to fill Edmontonians’ plates with another edition of Downtown Dining Week starting March 20.

Famished restaurant goers have plenty of options to choose from with 63 restaurants offering up their specialty lunch and multi-course dinner menus to the public.

From casual to fancier premium dining, customers can opt to buy a variety of multi-course meal options costing $15, $25, $35, $50 and $65 – depending on what the restaurant offers for meals.

Percy Wiredu, owner of El Jardin restaurant, told CTV News Edmonton that the 12-day long event gives restaurants a chance to bounce back from pandemic-level profits by bringing the hype back to the downtown area.

“Human beings just want to bond over food and culture,” said Wiredu. “We got really good chefs, really good bartenders and really good hospitality people, so it’s just a great way to showcase to the rest of the city what downtown has to offer and bring more people downtown.”

Puneeta McByran, the CEO of EDBA, doubled down on the great deals and dishes Downtown Dining Week has to offer, and added how integral it is for the downtown business core.

“The timing of Dining Week is very intentional,” said McBryan. “This is a great time to come down and support restaurants because they definitely do need the support coming out of this really, really slow season.”

“It’s an opportunity for us to make sure that all of our participating restaurants just get absolutely packed, whether it’s break, lunch or dinner.”

Leading up to Downtown Dining Week, there will be plenty of entertainment starting with a motown night at the Citadel Theatre, a cocktail mixology class and film screenings at Stanley A. Milner Library.

Downtown Dining Week runs March 20-31 at any participating establishment. A full list of the participating restaurants can be found on the EDBA website.