Nikki Inamine, a development coordinator with the City of Fremont, jokes that she’s often heard, “I don’t really know what goes on [in Fremont] but you guys have really good restaurants!”
The third Fremont Restaurant Week, which runs March 21 to March 30, encourages locals to expand their dining repertoire to new locally owned restaurants, and encourages out-of-towners to give the Fremont dining scene a try. The 62 participating businesses cover everything from coffee and boba tea to multi-course, sit-down dining. They also represent Fremont’s diversity—with American dining, Mexican, French, Indian, East and South East Asian, and fusions that could only exist in the Bay Area.
“We don’t want to be the best-kept secret, especially when it comes to food,” said Mayor Raj Salwan at the Restaurant Week Kickoff, held March 20 at Billy Roy’s Burger Co. “There are all kinds of great restaurants all over. But a lot of them are sleepers. You can’t tell by just driving by…You’ve got to try them out.”
While big chains have high marketing budgets and instant recognizability, smaller businesses can struggle to get the word out. A city-promoted Restaurant Week gives smaller local places the chance to gain new customers through limited-time promotions. “It keeps our money local so we can re-invest back into the community,” said Salwan.
The city’s first Restaurant Week in 2023 had the goal of sparking interest in local dining post-pandemic. Organizers aimed for at least 20 featured restaurants, but 40 signed up the first year. “Everyone just came out of the woodwork!” notes Inamine. “They had so much energy.”
Some places have discounts or buy-one-get-one deals, but Fremont Economic Development Specialist Travis Bell noted that in past years restaurants have seen more interest from limited-time menu items that will only be offered during that week. “For the most part we want to have it so restaurants have a special unique offering. So it’s an item that they don’t offer normally during their operation, that’s exclusive for the 10 days.”
Specials might be a new item, or special combination or prix-fixe menu. For example, Billy Roy’s Burger Co.’s special is the 1948 Rancher Burger, with a ground beef, pork and bacon patty, topped with haystack onions—the date goes back to when the family bought the property.
Participating restaurants will display a Restaurant Week poster in their storefront, and a full list is available online. Diners can add stamps to a “restaurant passport” and then turn in the passport to the Fremont Chamber of Commerce at the end of the week to enter a raffle. According to Bell, over 3,000 passports were submitted in 2024. Prizes are gift cards to local businesses, ranging $100–$200. (Fremont Chamber purchased $4,000 worth of gift cards.)
From Amazing Basil to ZhangFei Hot Pot, there’s a lot to try!
fremontrestaurantweek.com
