By: Taylor Christensen | Royal Oak Review | Published May 26, 2025
ROYAL OAK — People will have a special opportunity to experience downtown Royal Oak restaurant cuisine June 1-8 during the annual Restaurant Week.
Fifteen of the top downtown restaurants will be serving up three-course lunch and dinner menus that will highlight their specialties.
The weeklong event gives attendees the opportunity to try a new restaurant every day.
Some participating restaurants will be 526 Main, Alchemist, Ale Mary’s, Fifth Avenue, Iron Horse, Lily’s Seafood and more.
Stephanie McIntyre, the event producer representing the Royal Oak Restaurant Association, said that the event not only brings in new customers, but it also connects the restaurants in a unique way.
“What’s nice about it is there are such a variety of restaurants in the downtown area, and I’m not only talking about, like, cuisine types, but also price points, and those types of things for people,” she said. “This is a way that we can kind of group them all together and showcase all of them. And it’s not necessarily just the most high-end restaurants, or it’s not just the bars — everyone gets to be a part of this event, which is a really nice thing for everybody.”
Mario Cutraro, from Trattoria da Luigi, one of the restaurants participating, said that the event is a great way to bring in new customers.
“For us, Restaurant Week is great because you are getting new people through the door, people that generally haven’t been to our restaurant before,” he said. “This is our time to show them what we got, try to capture some business for the year.”
Trattoria da Luigi will be serving up authentic Italian cuisine including appetizers such as calamari, sausage and peppers, and insalata Siciliana. It will also be serving three different types of pastas and three entree options.
“We are trying to not do the easy dishes,” Cutraro said. “The highlight for the Restaurant Week is we are doing a chicken Marsala, but we are actually bringing in Marsala from Sicily specifically for Restaurant Week.”
Cutraro also said that one of the recipes for a spicy rigatoni dish, one of the most popular dishes in America right now, according to Cutraro, was specially shared with him by a reputable Italian restaurant in New York.
Cutraro said he is unable to disclose the name of said restaurant, but that it is a very rare and special opportunity that it was able to share its recipe with him. Now all Trattoria da Luigi will have to do is perfect the dish in the kitchen.
McIntyre said that last year was the first year that Restaurant Week moved to early June. Originally it was in late February or early April.
“We found that the guests really have been receptive to the new time of year. It looks like that will be what we are sticking with for the near future,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s the nicer weather and people feel more apt to leave the house and walk around, but we saw it was really successful.”
Restaurant weeks happen in multiple different places, according to McIntyre, but what is special about the Royal Oak version is that the restaurants have more flexibility and are allowed to provide multiple options on the menu.
“With us, almost every restaurant has three courses, or sometimes four courses — there’s options within those courses,” she said. “There is still some selection and flexibility in that, just knowing that people like different things. … I think people like the choices and the options.”
For more information on Royal Oak Restaurant Week and lists of menu options for participating restaurants, visit dineroyaloak.org/restaurant-week.