Twenty people, five nights, five published price points. Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week returns in January 2027, and RAMW fixes every menu at one flat price per person: $25 or $35 at lunch and brunch, $40, $55 or $65 at dinner. Tax and gratuity sit outside all five. That leaves a coordinator one decision per service, and one sum to hold across the week.
The five price points, per person
RAMW publishes the ladder in its rules and standards. Lunch and brunch run at $25 or $35. Dinner runs at $40, $55 or $65. A restaurant picks the tier that fits its menu and is not required to offer every one.
Each tier buys a true three-course prix fixe. The rules define a course as a distinct solid food item, typically a starter, a main and a dessert. Beverages do not count as a course.
What twenty covers cost across five nights
One service for twenty people costs $500 at the $25 tier, $700 at $35, $800 at $40, $1,100 at $55 and $1,300 at $65.
Five services, so one hundred covers, cost $2,500 at $25, $3,500 at $35, $4,000 at $40, $5,500 at $55 and $6,500 at $65.
Per head across five services the ladder reads $125, $175, $200, $275 and $325.
The $25 lunch tier stretches the week
Two $25 lunches cost $50 per head. One $65 dinner costs $65 per head.
Five $25 lunches plus five $40 dinners come to $325 per head and $6,500 for twenty people. Five $65 dinners come to the same $325 per head and the same $6,500.
The leanest full week sits lower. Four $25 lunches and one $55 dinner come to $155 per head, or $3,100 for twenty.
Every step up carries a measurable cost. Moving lunch from $25 to $35 adds $200 a day. Moving dinner from $40 to $55 adds $300 a night. Moving dinner from $55 to $65 adds $200 a night. Moving dinner from $40 to $65 adds $500 a night.
The $25 lunch tier is the smallest group on the list
RAMW’s roster page listed 188 locations on October 23, 2026. Forty-two of them showed a $25 lunch. Seventy-three showed a $35 lunch, 22 showed a $25 brunch and 66 showed a $35 brunch. Dinner ran wider: 70 locations at $40, 82 at $55 and 68 at $65.
A coordinator who plans the week on the $25 lunch chooses from 42 venues, in the neighborhoods where the roster carries them. RAMW states the promotion may be capped at 250 locations and closes registration once the cap is met or within two weeks of the start. Against 188 listed, that leaves room for 62 more locations before the cap binds.
Availability rules that shape the booking
The menu must run from open to close of the service the restaurant registered. RAMW prohibits blackout windows, early-bird-only seating and cut-offs during peak hours. A venue registered for dinner serves the Restaurant Week menu from dinner open to dinner close on every regular operating day.
The promotion period is seven days. A participant must offer its menu for the full week on its normal operating days.
Brunch is optional and narrow. A restaurant that opts into brunch chooses Saturday only, Sunday only or both days. Weekend brunch cannot be a venue’s only service in the promotion.
RAMW’s rules also cover an extended promotion period. A restaurant that opts into an extension commits its prix fixe to the whole extension, at normal operating hours.
What the price covers and what it does not
The three courses are food. Cocktails, wine flights and pairings can be offered as add-ons or upgrades and sit outside the prix fixe. Seventy-eight of the 188 roster entries flagged a paired wine or cocktail on the card, so the pairing question belongs in the first call to a venue.
Premium supplements are allowed. The rules still require a complete three-course meal inside the base price, and no diner can be pushed into an upgrade to finish a meal.
Sales tax and gratuity are additional at every tier. Budget them at settlement and keep the tier comparison on the flat price.
Confirm the window before the rooms
RAMW’s promotion page names January 2027 and carries no day range. Take the seven dates from RAMW in writing and place the room request against the same week. Twenty people for five nights is 100 room nights at one per person.
Run the city supply check in the bookMyTeam directory, size the room block in the group rate calculator, and send the RFP with the tier named for each service. The how it works page sets out the order of the request.
Four questions settle the food side: the 2027 dates, the registered tier, whether a pairing is optional, and whether the menu runs the full week.
