Everyone has heard of New York Restaurant Week, and many other metropolitan areas like Washington D.C. and San Francisco have their own versions as well. Restaurant Week entails a fixed price for a three-course meal. You are often given the option between a few appetizers or salads, a few entrées and a few desserts. The best Restaurant Week participants, like Zola and D.C. Coast in D.C., are restaurants that allow you to select from any appetizer, any entrée and any dessert on their menus for the same fixed price.

I had no idea that Northampton had a Restaurant Week until my friends and I went to Eastside Grill on Strong Avenue in December and were presented with a Restaurant Week menu along with the extensive regular menu. The options on the Restaurant Week menu sounded great, but the full menu was much more appealing to us.

The menu begins with an exceptionally long list of appetizers consisting of Freshly Shucked Oysters at market price, Garlicky Mussels Bruschetta ($6.95), Butternut Ravioli with Blue Cheese ($5.95) and Maryland Crab Cakes ($7.50)-"Crab cakes and football. That's what Maryland does!"-"Wedding Crashers."

Eastside Grill is known for its great steaks and there are many steak options to choose from, including such dishes as Blackened Tenderloin Tips and Scallops ($17.95) and a Grilled Balsamic Sirloin ($15.95). The entrée list has 11 steak dishes as well as lamb chops, a pork loin, a seared duck breast, grilled salmon and a boneless chicken. There are also several side dishes to choose from such as Mushroom Bread Pudding ($3.50), Parmesan Asparagus ($2.95) and Garlicky Greens ($2.50).

We were lucky enough to have a fabulous waiter, Rich, for the evening. Rich and I actually worked together at Bertucci's a few years ago, and he was great at recommending Eastside Grill's most popular dishes. Among those were all the steak dishes, the Chicken Pignoli ($14.95) and the Shrimp Al Fresco ($14.95).

At our table, Nina ordered a nice merlot to start the meal off. Emily and I shared the Pan-blackened Scallops appetizer ($7.95), which were very good and terrifically spiced. The restaurant allows you to choose the degree of spicyness when you order them. They are also bite-size which makes them perfect for sharing. Liz and Nina shared the Five-Speared Seared Tuna appetizer ($7.95). It is served with a creamy wasabi dressing and a cucumber and onion relish. It received instant approval.

Some of the entrées are accompanied by a side salad of a substantial size. If you get one, try the tomato-basil dressing. It's reminiscent of a marinara, so it is certainly something different with which to liven up your vegetables.

I ordered the Blackened Steak Salad ($13.95) as my entrée. The salad consists of a sirloin on top of rather bland roasted peppers, onions, tomatoes and baby greens. The gorgonzola dressing was good, but too creamy in my opinion. The steak was great but was hard to chew. I'd order something else next time. Emily ordered the Grilled Salmon with Teriyaki Mushrooms ($18.95). The salmon was not boneless, so beware. The soy and sake glaze was deliciously sweet and definitely abundant. A nice dish overall. Nina ordered the Butternut Squash Ravioli with Pecan Butter ($13.95). The fabulous entrée is large ravioli filled with butternut squash and parmesan cheese. The ravioli was remarkably warm, extremely creamy, soft and comforting. Get this dish on a cold, snowy night when you want something more substantial than soup.

The restaurant was beautifully decorated at the time with Christmas decorations, strung lights and garlands. The lighting was soft, and framed pictures added personality to the walls. The restaurant is multi-tiered. When you enter, you walk into the bar and lobby area and then you can walk either downstairs to one level of dining or upstairs into another dining level. We did, however, have difficulty finding the rest of our party because the hostess was unhelpful and inattentive.

Unlike most of the other places we have dined this year, Eastside Grill was not much of a dining "experience." The food was good, but not remarkable. The restaurant is large, so each party does not receive as much attention as it would at most other restaurants in the Pioneer Valley. We were lucky to have Rich as our waiter, and I recommend that you ask for him when you go. Also, there is plenty of parking in the adjacent lot so you don't have to worry about that potential inconvenience. I'd advise you to visit Eastside Grill if ever you're looking for classic American food in a casual atmosphere, but I wouldn't advise going out of your way or passing up some of the area's finer restaurants for it.

Restaurant Week in Northampton may be over, but new gourmet experiences abound and Leigh is always willing to try them. Send her your comments and recommendations at lfrivlin@amherst.edu.