Restaurants in Manhattan’s dreaded congestion pricing zone are scrambling to keep customers coming through their doors – by offering to pay the $9 toll, Side Dish has learned.
From Fresco by Scotto in Midtown to Sushi by Bou in Nomad to Clinton Hall in the Financial District, diners can get a little relief from the hated levy – which went into effect on Sunday.
“During the week, we get the business crowd, but on Fridays and Saturdays, our people drive in from outside Manhattan — from the boroughs, Long Island and New Jersey, and right now they are angry — even if you live in Manhattan you have to come into the zone,” restaurateur and “Good Day New York” host Rosanna Scotto told Side Dish.
On Friday, her restaurant will offer a $9 credit per table, provided diners order at least one appetizer and a main course. If it is popular, the restaurant will consider extending the deal.
“As a family-owned restaurant in the heart of New York City, we understand the challenges our guests face. This dinner is our way of saying thank you for choosing to dine with us,” Scotto said.
Another restaurateur, The Lure Group’s CEO Aristotle “Telly” Hatzigeorgiou, said he is offering drivers $9 off tabs of $100 or more at his Clinton Hall locations at W. 36th Street, E. 51st and in FiDi for the rest of January.
“It’s a way to take a bit of the sting out of being stung by congestion pricing,” Hatzigeorgiou told Side Dish.
Veteran nightlife impresario Richie Romero, a partner in Sushi by Bou, said the Japanese restaurant is offering $9 off per person on its $65 signature 12-course Omakase experience. Diners must use the code CONGESTION to get the deal, which runs through Feb. 1.
All three restaurateurs said they are using the honor system for the $9 refund – the toll charged for drivers heading below 60th St. during peak hours, from 5 am to 9 pm on weekdays and 9 am to 9 pm on weekends.
“Most people don’t even know [the zone’s borders.],” Romero told Side Dish. “If they live on 74th St and they come down to Sushi by Bou in Nomad and then go back up you are paying a toll.”
He added: “Even today, I have to go to one of my partner’s places on 94th St. and I have to pay a friggin’ congestion toll to get back home in the West Village. It’s crazy! The problem with Sushi by Bou is that every single one of our places is in the zone — two in Nomad, one in TImes Square and one in Chelsea.”
The famed promoter’s marketing team came up with a tongue-in-cheek social media campaign to tout the Sushi by Bou discount — using an image that mimics the new toll signs hung up around the city.
Romero, who also runs the popular Meatpacking District nightclub Hearsay, said he plans to rent buses to shuttle guests and staffers from Brooklyn and Queens to help defray their costs.
He will use Mercedes Sprinters vans for Manhattan customers.
Scotto also plans to add a little music to liven up the mood at her restaurant, at 34 E. 52nd St., by throwing a Congestion Pricing Dinner this Friday, complete with a DJ.
“Maybe we’ll play that Donna Summer’s song — toot toot, beep beep!” she quipped.