Enter Restaurant.com.
Have you all heard of this awesome website? Basically, you can buy gift certificates for tons of local restaurants, for at least half off, but often times for a whole heck of a lot less. As in, a $25 gift certificate for $2 or $3. It’s insane! I signed up for their emails, which let you know when their $2 and $3 sales are happening, but even their normal special, a $25 certificate for $10 is still a great deal. And there’s no waiting either, you just print the gift certificate out after purchasing it.
Last time we were in Vegas, for The Mr.’s birthday, I got a $50 gift certificate for $10, which was great to toward our $130 bill. Especially great was the free transportation, since the restaurant we ate at, Casa di Amore, will pick you up from your hotel in their old school red limo.
The remainder of the Bruschetta and roasted peppers I had arranged to have waiting in our corner booth when we arrived, along with a bottle of Pinot:
Followed by a fabulous dinner of chicken rollatini and stuffed pork chops:
A great birthday surprise for The Mr. for $40 off, thanks to Restaurant.com. And now that we have the time for eating out, and I don’t have to be quite as strict with my dieting, I can’t wait to use this site to try some new restaurants in the Bay Area!
Do you have any other tips for saving on dining out?
EDIT: You may only want to buy certificates on this site using Paypal, not your credit card number. I've never had any issues, but I've only used my Paypal account. (see comments below)
15 comments:
BE CAREFUL with restaurant.com. if you use your credit card to buy the certificates, they sign you up for this "Shopping club" for $14.95 a month. I had to cancel my credit card because of this.
You can avoid this by buying from them with PAYPAL ONLY. If you've used your credit card, be vigilant about checking your credit card statement for this "Shopping Club" that you've inadvertently been signed up for.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/consumer-services/shopping-essentials/shopping-essentials-aka-trileg-4d974.htm
Oh! That's good info, I'd never heard that! But then, I've only ever used Paypal on their site, since I'm much to lazy to pull out my wallet for my cc#!
@Cathleya P.S. I should also say that I'm honored that you read my new little blog! But I'm sorry to hear you had to cancel a cc over this! Sounds a lot like the free credit report companies that auto enroll you in their monthly programs. Thank goodness for paypal!
I've only used Restaurants.com once and it was a really good deal. My problem is that not enough restaurants participate in my area, so the selection isn't always the best.
Haha, I can't believe you are honored!!! Of course I read your blog, we're friends!!! :)
OMG! THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME ABOUT RESTAURANTS.COM!!!! (sorry for the caps - i'm just so excited). My friend sent me some link to get $250 credit on Restaurant.com for only $20 back in 2008. I bought it only because I thought that was a super steal... but I never did anything with my credit because I didn't understand how it worked and thought it was a scam since the certificates have a minimum purchase price!! Anyway, that was really naive of me to think of it that way!!! That was 2 years ago and was worried that my credit expired, but it didn't and I just got $250 worth of certificates to restaurants my hubs and I love!! Thanks!! (p.s. Cathleya's comment scared me, but luckily I paid through paypal *phew*)
Also, I felt SUPER honored when you complimented my entry the other day... I was like, "a WEDDINGBEE gave me a compliment?!?!?!" I almost died. Thanks for making my day!
Seems like a great way to save! That bruschetta looks delicious and makes me excited for my homemade version that's marinating in my fridge right now.
I agree that PayPal is the way to go with all online shopping . . . while Visa has always been great about re-crediting my account when something bad happens, it's also nice to have the extra layer of protection that PayPal offers.
That's a great idea! I'll have to look into this, I've never heard of it. I also like to use Groupon for deals. Lots of good stuff!!
Darn it, now I'm hungry. Stuffed pork chops, mmmm!
Does it have good stuff for the Bay Area? I'll have to check it out when we move up there in November!
@Kristen, yes, they have a ton of restaurants up here, both in the city and around the area!
Restaurant.com makes our date nights A LOT cheaper. We also use paypal for this and now I'm so glad we do!
Restaurant.com makes our date nights A LOT cheaper. We also use paypal for this and now I'm so glad we do!
OMG! THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME ABOUT RESTAURANTS.COM!!!! (sorry for the caps - i'm just so excited). My friend sent me some link to get $250 credit on Restaurant.com for only $20 back in 2008. I bought it only because I thought that was a super steal... but I never did anything with my credit because I didn't understand how it worked and thought it was a scam since the certificates have a minimum purchase price!! Anyway, that was really naive of me to think of it that way!!! That was 2 years ago and was worried that my credit expired, but it didn't and I just got $250 worth of certificates to restaurants my hubs and I love!! Thanks!! (p.s. Cathleya's comment scared me, but luckily I paid through paypal *phew*)
Also, I felt SUPER honored when you complimented my entry the other day... I was like, "a WEDDINGBEE gave me a compliment?!?!?!" I almost died. Thanks for making my day!
I've only used Restaurants.com once and it was a really good deal. My problem is that not enough restaurants participate in my area, so the selection isn't always the best.
Oh! That's good info, I'd never heard that! But then, I've only ever used Paypal on their site, since I'm much to lazy to pull out my wallet for my cc#!
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