I tried New York City's restaurant week for the first time - and our $100 meal wasn't a great deal

Kathleen Elkins

Part one of our three-course meal.

It's restaurant week in New York City, which means over 300 restaurants are offering three-course dining deals - $25 for lunch and $38 for dinner - through August 14.

While an exciting prospect on the surface, I wondered how great of a deal it actually was, or if it was even a deal at all, once you crunched the numbers.

I decided to try it out myself.

My first stop was Barraca, a Zagat-rated Spanish restaurant in the West Village known for having on-point sangria, a good variety of tapas, and an enjoyable lineup up of paella.

Of course, my experience is limited to a single restaurant so far, and therefore isn't representative of every restaurant week offer.

I took a friend along, meaning we had $76, between the two of us, to enjoy. Here's how it went: