Barry O’Hare, owner of Craft Burger on U.S. 280 stands in the front of the restaurant.
Hoover’s 2025 Restaurant Week will be held from July 18 to July 26, spanning nine days. During the week, participating restaurants will be offering specials that will be advertised on the Hoover Restaurant Week’s website and Facebook page.
Typically, close to 50 restaurants participate in the campaign — everything from fine dining establishments to barbecue joints and everything in between, said David Cohen, founder and president of the Hoover Restaurant Alliance. Many Hoover restaurants that have participated in the past year’s events will be taking part again this year. Included in the lineup are 280 corridor establishments such as The Craft Burger, located at 5479 US-280, and Yum Yai Street Tai, located at 426 US-280 #9.
“Just trying to highlight Southern hospitality — Hoover style,” he said. “Our goal is just to promote our local industry with all the great restaurants that we’ve got. We’ve got 125 to 150 independent and corporate restaurants in this town.”
That includes a great selection of international restaurants that serve Mexican, Asian, Indian, Pakistani, Thai and African food, he said.
Hoover Restaurant Week also is a way for restaurant owners and managers to connect, Cohen said. It’s easy for independent restaurants to feel like they’re alone sometimes, and it helps to bring people together to realize there are others facing the same challenges they do, he said. Sometimes they even help each other in times of need.
Hoover Restaurant Week will start with a kickoff event at 7:30 a.m. Friday at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium that will feature probably 15 or so restaurants that are participating in the campaign, Cohen said. Those restaurants will be sharing samples of some of their food, he said. The event will be held at the Met's new Club Room, along the third-base line of the field.
Any food left over from the kickoff event will go to Grace’s Kitchen, a nonprofit that serves food to homeless people, Cohen said. Some of the restaurants participating in Hoover Restaurant Week also have signed up to be regular donors to Grace’s Kitchen as well, he said.
Check out the list of participants in Hoover Restaurant Week at hooverrestaurantweek.com.
