On March 6, Fremont kicked off Restaurant Week 2026. In the words of Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan, it’s a boost for local businesses and a chance to discover “family-owned favorites, hidden gems, exciting new spots.”
The fourth Restaurant Week for the city features 70 restaurants. At the kickoff event, Salwan reported, “Last year, Restaurant Week boosted foot traffic and revenue by 95% for all participating restaurants.” A website and a billboard on Northbound I-880 help get the word out.
Fremont Bank hosted the event on the sixth floor of their downtown headquarters, with a splendid view overlooking the city and hills. The local bank is at the heart of the city’s ongoing downtown revitalization efforts, and several downtown restaurants are participating in Restaurant Week—Din Ding Dumpling House, Pints of Joy and STARDUST Coffee House.
Fremont Bank president Don Merrick spoke about how the bank helped local businesses with Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans during the pandemic, and thanked the participating restaurants catering at the event: Massimos, Skillet’z, Tea-Rek’z, Ristorante Il Porcino, Federico’s Grill and El Rodeo (via a delivery by DoorDash Dot).
Donovan Lazaro, Fremont economic director, said on Restaurant Week, “It really came out of necessity. When we were starting to get our heads out of the pandemic, we were faced with a really challenging environment. People were still not going out to dine. Our restaurants had been through hell for two-plus years. We knew we needed to do everything that we could to help them. That’s how Restaurant Week started.”
New this year is the much anticipated—and debated—rollout of DoorDash delivery bot “Dot” in Fremont. In part one of a phased approach, Dot will operate in the Centerville, City Center and Irvington areas of Fremont.
For the kickoff, Dot rolled the two miles from El Rodeo to the bank headquarters and emerged from the elevator proudly bearing two DoorDash orders.
Dot is also built locally in Fremont by Sonic Manufacturing. Harrison Shih, senior director at DoorDash Labs, said at the event, “From our vantage point, Fremont is special too by being a city where things are built. Its advanced robotics, its world-class manufacturing.”
Dot will be implemented in phases, so the city can monitor how well the robot is managing city traffic. Salwan said, “As with any new technology, thoughtful implementation matters.”
However, that leaves the question of whether featuring a delivery service so prominently is at odds with Restaurant Week’s goal of boosting foot traffic to local businesses. Will people discover new places via the app, or will ease of delivery dissuade people from stepping outside at all and leave restaurants shouldering the additional costs?
Shih emphasized that the features on DoorDash encourage users to interact with businesses in a variety of ways, not only delivery but also dine in, to-go and grocery delivery.
“Sometimes people just want their favorite food at home,” he said. “I have three kids at home and I’m a huge user. Sometimes it’s hard to get out, but I still want to support local businesses.”
Along Capitol Avenue in Fremont’s downtown, DoorDash drivers already cause some traffic issues by “parking” behind the diagonal street parking spots. A moped-sized Dot may be less disruptive.
No matter what technology people use, Restaurant Week is always an opportunity to take advantage of limited-time discounts and menu items across an impressive range of restaurants and cafes. As Mayor Salwan said, “Fremont’s food scene tells the story of who we are: diverse, entrepreneurial and full of flavor.”
Restaurant Week runs until March 15. fremontrestaurantweek.com
