Winterlicious is the City of Toronto's winter prix fixe festival. For two weeks from late January into February, participating restaurants serve a three-course menu (an appetizer, a main and a dessert, with at least three choices per course) at a fixed price for lunch, dinner or both. The City started the program in 2003 to bring diners in during a slow season, and it has served more than eight million meals since then.
Each restaurant picks one of six price tiers based on the average cost of a three-course meal on its regular dinner menu, so the tier also tells you roughly how expensive the restaurant normally is. The tier price covers food only: drinks, tax and tip are added to the bill. The menus are served for dining in, indoors or on a patio, during the restaurant's regular hours, and takeout is not part of the festival.
The City posts the full restaurant list and every menu on its Winterlicious page shortly before the festival, and bookings go directly to each restaurant. The City strongly recommends reservations. Only table-service restaurants inside the City of Toronto can take part, and a chain can enter only one of its locations, so branches in Mississauga, Vaughan or Markham do not offer the menu.