Restaurant Deals on Groupon and LivingSocial

Hi everyone! Recently my coworker told me about these new websites called Groupon and LivingSocial that offer a different deal every weekday on all things in the DC area. They range from activities, sporting events, spas, restaurants, etc.

What's interesting is how it works. The deal is usually 50% off whatever, for example, a meal. You then say you'd like to buy the deal. However the only way you can get this deal is if the required number of buyers (changes depending on the item) is met. You do have to give them your credit card, but it will only be charged if everyone gets the deal.

I paid $25 for $50 worth of food at Co Co Sala, which can be redeemed anytime before the end of the year. How awesome is that? You get an email with the deal to print out.

Both of these sites work the same way, but they offer different things everyday. Someone let me know if there are others out there like this.

For anyone thinking I'm promoting these sites because I'm working for them or anything, I'm not. I really think they're innovative sites that can get you deals at DC restaurants!

https://deals.livingsocial.com/

http://www.groupon.com/washington-dc

DC Restaurant Week: Aug. 24-30, 2009

Hey everyone, it's that time again! DC Restaurant Week starts today! I haven't decided where I want to go this time, but listed below is the info off of Opentable.com

Washington, DC Restaurant Week
Gourmet Prix-Fixe Menus
August 24-30, 2009
$20.09 Lunches & $35.09 Dinners
Enjoy special three-course, prix-fixe meals at participating restaurants. See list below for participating restaurants and their meal participation. Prices are per person and do not include beverage, tax or gratuity.

LIST OF RESTAURANTS

~EDIT~
DC Foodies has an INSANE breakdown of the restaurants participating, so check them out to get more info on where to eat: http://www.dcfoodies.com/dc_restaurant_week/

The Golden Ticket Winner is...

Thanks for participating everyone! The winner of the random drawing for the Pandini's Golden ticket is Carolyn!!

Please leave me your email address so I can send it to you!

Montgomery Country Agricultural Fair 2009

It's the week of the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair! I haven't been since I was like 5 years old or something. So the bf suggested we go check it out on opening day.
It's kind of expensive since it's $8 admission and $5 to park your car. Then the food is overpriced too. Oh well, we should all know this going in.

First thing I did once I walked in was buy a corn dog. It reminded me of elementary school. I believe it was $4.

The lemonade was quite refreshing since the sun was beaming down on us. I think it was around $3.

The bf wanted real food, so we found this taco stand. It was $5 for 3 tacos. They were really good, but spicy!

I was looking forward to trying these! Fried Oreos...mmmm. They were amazing. For $5 you got around 6 Oreos.

Think funnel cake, but better!

It wouldn't be an agricultural fair without the farm animals. I felt bad for them being tied up and stuff =(

They also had rides that required tickets. I think we spent $22 to get on 2 rides. This one was insane! It went so high and flipped you all around.

It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be, but I'm sure its something people go to once the sun sets.

Saturday, August 22nd is the last day, so if you have time I'd check it out, but be prepared to bring $$.

Website

1st Contest - Pandini's Golden Ticket

Hi Everyone! I was going to wait until the 1 year anniversay of my blog to host my first contest, but I was able to get a really cool item that happens to be time sensitive, so let's get it started!

Pandini's was kind enough to send me extra Golden Tickets left over from their Grand Opening. The Golden Ticket allows the holder ONE free entree and ONE free fountain drink once a month for a YEAR (ends June 2010). That's so much free food! This is for the Germantown location, in case you don't live anywhere near there.



Rules:

1. Leave me a comment telling me which restaurant has your favorite food item, and what it is. I'm always looking to try new things! 
2. Leave me your name and email address so I can contact you if you win.
3. Please comment by midnight on Saturday, August 22nd.
4. The drawing will be a at random.

Good luck!!!

Todai- Fairfax, VA

Hi everyone! My close family friends and I went out to a sushi buffet in Fairfax called Todai. It's located in Fair Oaks Mall near the Macy's. It's a really big and nice buffet that is worth the price. There is a free parking garage right in front of the restaurant. The closest metro stop would be Vienna on the orange line.

The outside of the place is so nice and inviting! We were one of the 1st people there, which is why it doesn't look so crowded.

Here is a pic of the interior. There are a lot of tables, and even a small area in the rear in case the front gets too packed. I liked how bright and open the place feels even though it can get crowded. They actually take reservations so feel free to do so for your large group outing.

Unfortunately I was told I couldn't take pictures while in line, so these are from my table. We sat right next to the sushi (yes!).

Cost per adult for dinner: $26.95 (Mon-Thurs) and $28.95 (Fri-Sun). It's pretty expensive for a buffet, however sushi can cost a lot on its own, and there you can eat all you want. The quality and selection of sushi is superb. Over 40 types, including rolls, sashimi, sushi pieces, raw, vegetarian, and cooked. They also have over 15 different hot entrees, huge salad bar and a wide variety of desserts.

All the stations behind this lady is the rest of the hot food that I couldn't take pics of.

Onto my plate! Doesn't everything look so fresh? They had snow crabs legs and raw oysters near the salad bar. 

Oysters were awesome, but the snow crab legs were ok. I think because they were on ice the expirience wasn't what I expected. I'm used to eating hot or room temperature crabs, so it was an issue of freshness or texture. 

I enjoyed the wide variety of sushi offered. Some of them were wrapped in thin slices of cucumber, others had crazy herbs on them, baked with meat, etc. There are descriptions for every type of sushi, so that was helpful.

This was my 2nd plate of the night. I tried more of their sushi, but I really didn't get to try all of them because that would be way to much for me to eat. I think that'd be a cool idea though to eat one of every type =)

I don't remember the name of this item, but I didn't like it at all! It's really pretty though. I appreciated the food presentation at Todai because it makes you want to try everything.

The big seller of the dinner buffet is the lobster and shrimp. Rotating every 30 minutes, either the lobster or shrimp gets served in the hot food section. Only a certain number of lobsters or shrimp are handed to the customers per cycle. They only give one per customer, so get in line. They're both cooked with some sort of white sauce, which makes the seafood a bit sweet. I liked it, the bf didn't care for it and gave me his. 

This was the bf's plate from the hot food section.  I didn't want to fill myself up with non-seafood items. They have Korean BBQ, Chinese dishes, cooked seafood, etc. He said all of the dishes tasted really good. 

There's always food for dessert in my book, so I filled up a whole plate from their large selection. They had different types of ice cream, soooo many (like over 20) tiny little cakes and pastries like tiramisu and cream puffs.

What's also nice is the crepe station. There's a lady that will make you one on the spot. Mine was banana-filled and I poured chocolate syrup on myself. Both the green tea and mango ice cream were really good.

I thought this was the best buffet I've been too in the area. The quality is very high, food  presentation is good, and everything tasted great. It is a more expensive buffet, but if you can eat a lot then its worth it.
There's a promotion where if you dine-in on your birthday, you will receive a free voucher to come back and eat for free.
I don't believe they do the lobster/shrimp thing during lunch, which is why its more $ to eat during dinner.
Also at many other buffets you pay per person as you walk through the door, but here you are billed per table after your meal is done.

Fair Oaks Shopping Center
11717L Fair Oaks Mall
Fairfax, VA 22033
703-273-0120
Website

Lunch 11:30am - 2:30pm (Daily)
Dinner 5:30pm - 9:00pm ( Mon-Thurs)
5:30pm - 10:00pm (Fri-Sat)
5:00pm - 9:00pm (Sun)