By MICHAEL ZITZ

Judging by the crowds at many area restaurants, especially on weekends, one would think the economy is booming.

Even on weeknights, many area dining spots are packed.

And the priciest places are often the busiest, in supposedly tough economic times.

Chains like Bonefish Grill, Firebirds and Bravo are doing a brisk business. So are mom-and-pop places like Umi Sushi Restaurant--Japanese Fine Dining, Pueblo Tex Mex and 2400 Diner.

There is more than anecdotal evidence.

The National Restaurant Association's annual forecast, released this month, says the industry will outpace national job growth and reach record sales in 2012.

Sales are expected to reach a record high of $632 billion this year. That's a 3.5 percent increase over 2011. And it's the second year in a row that industry sales have exceeded $600 billion.

According to the report, the restaurant industry is expected to regain all of the jobs lost during the recession by early this year, while the national economy isn't expected to be back at pre-recession employment levels until 2014.

Sony Gao was only 27 when he opened Umi on U.S. 1 in Fredericksburg in 2009. It was a low point of the recession, but Gao, who started working in the restaurant business at age 13 in China, wasn't worried.

"I did a lot of research," the native of Fujian province said. After having worked in restaurants China, Japan and New York, he picked Fredericksburg because it was growing fast and because he scouted other similar area establishments and felt sure he could do better. He was also armed with the knowledge that there are many customers here who work in the military and government, have traveled widely, would be discriminating enough to see what he was confident was the difference in his fare. "And people who work in the military and government are less worried about their jobs and about money," he said.

He said he hired sushi chefs who had worked in New York and had at least seven years' experience.

And he trained his wait staff to make customers feel they're special.

"Every month has been better than the last," he said. "Word of mouth was really hot."