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Several people wrote to tell me about the Restaurant.com 80% off deal, but I sort of blew them off. It sounded too good to be true. I was wrong. Turns out this is very very real, but the offer ends today.
Kris and I have used Restaurant.com once, but don’t know much about it. Here’s what I can tell you:
- The web site allows you to buy discounted gift certificates to restaurants. You might, for example, buy a $25 gift certificate for only $10.
- Gift certificates are electronic. You print them out and take them with you.
- Gift certificates are good for one year from the date of purchase.
- When you sign up, you’re placed on an e-mail list through which the site sends you other offers.
Read more at the Restaurant.com FAQ.
Through today only, if you enter the code TREATS at checkout, you’ll receive an additional 80% off your order. In other words, today only, you can purchase $25 gift certificates for $2. (This offer applies to gift certificates of all denominations, not just $25. But $25 is a “safe” amount.)
While this is undeniably a great deal, it’s important to exercise caution if you decide to take advantage of it. For example, Kris and I have found that Restaurant.com doesn’t offer gift certificates for restaurants we frequent. Also — and this is important — use of these gift certificates requires a minimum purchase. There may also be other requirements and restrictions. (Be sure to read the terms and conditions.) Here’s a typical offer:
So, using the example above, I could purchase a $25 gift certificate for $10. (Today only, I’d be able to get that further discounted to $2.) If Kris and I then dined at Pinocchio during the next year and spend more than $35 on a meal, we could use that $25 gift certificate. Sounds like a good deal to me!
Even with the restrictions, and even without the extra 80% discount available today, Restaurant.com could be an excellent way to save money when dining out. I think it’s going to depend on your habits and your location. It’s certainly worth exploring.
Have you used Restaurant.com before? What feedback can you give GRS readers?
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October 31st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Used and found it difficult (received 2 as gifts). The staff refused it a first, than told us we could only use it for half of our total, and than finally took the certificate. When we went to use the 2nd one, the restaurant was closed and got no response from the website/customer service about transferring to another local restaurant, so we lost out completely. I would not buy/use or give to anyone else. I hope you have better luck. Also, the site is constantly runs specials with 25%, 50% off….
October 31st, 2008 at 12:46 pm
A note to anyone who takes advantage of this offer: buried deep at the bottom of their Terms of Service is the restriction that only one gift certificate can be used per visit. So, you cannot buy two $25 certificates and expect to use them for a $50 meal.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I looked in both my neighborhood and my parent’s neighborhood, and I didn’t see any restaurants worth going to!
October 31st, 2008 at 12:49 pm
The 80% off may end today, but they offer deals QUITE frequently. Most often 50% throughout the month. Maybe a 75% off once a month or every other month.
Using caution with the restaurants is good advice. Not all restaurants will honor the gift certificates. (Bad business practice yes, but true). The good news is that restaurant.com seems to have good customer service and if you contact them about it they will let you pick a different restaurant.
Perhaps a better deal for some people is the 50% off coupon that many restaurants sell at about a 3 dollar price…with the discount today it would be 60 cents. The restrictions are usually none or minimal on the 50% off.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Actually, my boyfriend spotted our favorite neighborhood salad joint, and 4 $10 gift certificates was only $2.40, so I bought ‘em! We’ll see how they work out.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:57 pm
sounds like a good deal.. i wanted to get a gift certificate for some friends that are getting married in a couple weeks.. but i couldn’t find the restuarant i wanted =/
October 31st, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I’ve had good luck with restaurant.com. There are a few good places in my area which use the site & I’ve never had a problem with using the certificates. A couple of notes:
1) They have deals like this all the time (though, usually in the 60-70% off area). So if you are a little hesitant, then just buy one (2 bucks, big deal) and get on their email list. There seems to be a new deal every week or two.
2) My experience has been the opposite of SJ’s. A place that I had a bunch of certificates for stopped using restaurant.com. Restaurant.com has allowed me to trade in those certificates for new ones. The trade in process is a little cumbersome, but it has worked for me.
3) Always tip well. If you use a certificate, remember to tip off of the pre-discount price.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I’ve bought about 10 of these when they were 70% off, but only used 4 before they expired (they expire a year from purchase). However, those 10 (it ended up being around $19 b/c of the various gift certificate amounts) ended up saving us about $55 on just 4 restaurants, which I consider a fantastic deal. All of the restaurants we redeemed the certificates at accepted them readily and without complaint.
If there are restaurants on there that you want to try, or ones that you love and you know you will go to within a year from today, definitely buy it.
My chief complaint is with their website. Whenever a deal shows up, it’s inevitably posted on slickdeals.net, and then their site is hammered by the slickdealers.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:04 pm
The selection of restaurants seems pretty limited but I was able to find one that looked like a great deal.
Got a $25 certificate to Bennigan’s for $2. Minimum dinner purchase is $35 so I’ll get a $35 meal for $12. Worst case, if it doesn’t work I’m out $2.
Thanks for the tip.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Make sure you check with the place you want to use it for - BEFORE buying.
I was set to make quite a purchase, and turns out my favorite place won’t accept or acknowledge the certs.
If they do welcome them, it’s pretty awesome.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:14 pm
To Tom above, I thought Bennigan’s just filed for bankruptcy. Are they still open some places?
I bought some of these last year when they were at 70% or 80% off. Of the ones we used, they were readily accepted and did save us a good deal of money.
Problem is, we didn’t use them all. I thought it would be good incentive to get my husband out of our local area and into other parts of the city. He was less than enthusiastic about that. Also, many of the trendy restaurants aren’t open before dinner and/or aren’t open on Sunday, both being prime times for us to go out. So some of my gift certificates were wasted.
By the time you pay for the certificate and the minimum purchase amount at the restaurant, you’re really getting something akin to a “Buy One Meal, Get One Free” deal. I find plenty of coupons for those without having to pay for them. So I’m passing on buying any this time around.
That said, there is a restaurant you love or one you’ve been wanting to try on the list, then by all means, buy the certificate. It will save you a few bucks.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I’ve used their certificates at two local restaurants and never had any problems. The terms (such as minimum purchase and expiration date) are clearly explained on the certificate.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I would also urge caution … they’re offering certificates to a restaurant in Seattle (Veil) that closed two weeks ago. :/
October 31st, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I used a certificate at Wild Abandon (Portland, OR) the other day. It worked perfectly. No question or acknowledgment of it other than the bill came back to me with $25 off. There are plenty of places in/near Portland that make the deal worthwhile.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:26 pm
“For example, Kris and I have found that Restaurant.com doesn’t offer gift certificates for restaurants we frequent.”
That’s the reason I never bought from Restaurant.com after checking them out a few months ago. They simply don’t have certificates for anywhere I want to eat.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Hmmm…I didn’t realize Bennigan’s filed for bankruptcy and has closed stores. Maybe the one near my house is still open? I’m not sure. I’d feel silly buying a gift certificate to a store that is no longer open. I guess I’m only out $2 and a little time if that’s the case.
It also seems quite dishonest if Restaurant.com is selling gift certificates to stores that are no longer open.
October 31st, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I’ve used them a number of times and always had great luck. That said, you do need to take reasonable precautions:
1. Plan to use the certificate fairly soon - these days, places can go out of business quickly.
2. Read the restrictions carefully so you know what you need to do to qualify to use it.
3. Tell the server as soon as you are seated that you will be using the certificate - to help them out, and to forestall any other issues like black out dates.
4. Realize that many restaurants participate in order to draw new clientele - be willing to try places you might not have otherwise. For $35 worth of food for $12 plus tip out of pocket, it is worthwhile to experiment.
October 31st, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Tom, I don’t know anything about Bennigan’s (we don’t have them in Portland that I know of), but I do know that while the corporate stores may have closed, the franchise stores are reportedly still open. You may be fine.
October 31st, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Conditions as published on the website changes on checkout. For example, the restaurant I picked (Mi Luna in Houston) listed a $35 minimum purchase. So I picked a $50 certificate. But the fine print of that certificate requires a $100 minimum purchase - something that isn’t visible until the item is nearly completely checked out, and also buried under a hyperlink. Good thing I try to read everything.
This is bait and switch in my book.
October 31st, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Thanks for the great tip! I just got Christmas gifts for all of our employees for less than $25.00.
October 31st, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Just an FYI, I have seen this 80% off offer on other sites for the past 2 weeks now, each site said that particular day they posted it was the “one” day for this deal, they did use different discount codes though. So search around the web and you might find another code to use for 80% off. I am going to try it out, there is a good BBQ place in my neighborhood that is on the list, and to me it is worth it for 2 bucks, if they don’t take it, the 2 dollars won’t break the bank.
October 31st, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I’ve never used them before, but I decided to give it a go and bought some gift certificates to give to my colleagues at work for holiday gifts. Hopefully it will be a great way to cross some folks off the list….
October 31st, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Yes, the 80% off deal comes up often (I bought some @80% off a couple months ago). Definitely don’t buy then at full price!
October 31st, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I’ve used them a few times at a local steak house. They worked just fine for us. BUT now that restaurant no longer accepts the certificates.
So thats one potential pitfall to watch for, don’t buy too many certificates up front cause the restaurants may change.
The terms and conditions have some things to really look at closely. They usually have minimum purchase levels and frequently a minimum tip % on the total purchase. This can really set you up to overspend so be careful of that.
Overall I think they’re a pretty good deal IF you can find a restaurant you like that takes them.
Jim
October 31st, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I just bought one for Wild Abandon in Portland. I’m so glad to see someone else in the comments used it without any issues.
October 31st, 2008 at 6:56 pm
We’ve already used these four times since August. We’ve had NO problem at any of the restuarants we’ve eaten at, and we’ve enjoyed getting out and exploring new places to eat. Now that we’ve used the certificates a few times, we stock up when the 80% deals happen.
And, if you enter restuarant.com through cashbaq.com, you’ll get an additional 20% rebate, making your net cost $1.60. An excellent bargain, if you ask me!
October 31st, 2008 at 6:57 pm
I’m thinking people are having trouble understanding the process…. it’s IS cumbersome, to be sure.
1) You buy a $25 RESTAURANT.COM gift certificate for, say, $5–these are good for 1 year.
2) Now you have $25 to spend on gift certificates to any business on the website, which you buy at “face value” with r.com gift certs.
3) Click “redeem gift”, type in your r.com gift code, and you get that credit in your cart.
4) Buy a gift cert to a specific restaurant–these are only good for 90 days!
5) Print the gift certificate to the specific restaurant–NOT a restaurant.com gift cert!
6) Use with required specifications.
As for them offering gift certs for restaurants that are no longer in business, the restaurant that is listed signed a contract; so many months at so much cost. It’s an advertising expense for the restaurant, which is how the site gets its money.
So the restaurant goes out of business, or wants to add more gift certs to the available pool? Either way, the restaurant must contact the website in order to change the contract. Otherwise, restaurant.com is bound by the contract still.
Buyer beware, no matter the situation. If you’re not sure the restaurant was there and doing successful business yesterday, then call before you buy a certificate for them. I don’t see how that’s confusing.
October 31st, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Regarding Bennigan’s: there are still franchises operating, but they generally will *not* honor Bennigan’s gift cards, certficates, or coupons. The franchises’ reimbursement for those was handled through Metromedia Restaurant Group, which owned the brand, and they are dead, dead, dead. (My wife used to help handle the accounting for that process, until she got laid off about a year and a half ago; and I’ve gotten many earfuls about the gift certificate reimbursement process, which was evidently a bit of an accounting nightmare …)
October 31st, 2008 at 10:46 pm
I’ve used restaurant.com a couple times and never had a problem. We took advantage of this offer in Vegas and basically got $150 worth of food for $12 in my mind. I only buy for places I plan on going in the next year.
I think some of the confusion is people think they’re buying an actual gift certificate when it’s more like a coupon. There is a minimum purchase but I still think its been a great deal for us. This time around we got discounts for a couple very high end steak houses, an italian restaurant we go to regularly, and The Melting Pot.
Like anything else, pay attention to the terms before you purchase and there’s usually not a problem.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:04 pm
I cross-checked their restaurants with Yelp.com and there weren’t any worth going to. Free mediocre food is a waste of time and calories.
November 1st, 2008 at 3:24 am
I’ve been using restaurants.com for a while in the San Diego area, and find it’s a good incentive to try new places (which is, I’m sure, exactly what the restaurants want). Most of time you are limited to certain days/hours, and can’t use the certificates on alcohol, but for that kind of discount, I’ll deal!
I also get an additional % back (I can’t remember how much) when I buy the certificates with a particular Citibank Mastercard.
All in all, a good deal and a good way to try new places!
November 1st, 2008 at 6:56 am
All these people who think they’re shifty or bait-and-switch… uh, no.
You should always read the fine print before purchasing/signing anything, and I do.
I recently bought my first-ever restaurant.com coupon. My husband and I were going out of town for the day, so we looked up that city and found a restaurant that sounded good (which we had never heard of).
We bought a $25 certificate for $4. The certificate required a $35 purchase, which was no problem.
We went to the restaurant and set our certificate on the table before the waiter came. When he came over to us he said, “Oh you use the coupon dot com!” (English is not his first language. hehe)
We were able to get an appetizer, an entree each, and a side order to share. Our total would’ve been about $40 (pre-tip)… so $50ish including tip. But we only paid $29 including the certificate purchase.
Plus, because it was so much food for just 2 people, my husband had lunch the next day AND we both had dinner the next day from the leftovers… so $29 for 4 dinners and a lunch was awesome!
November 1st, 2008 at 6:58 am
Also, on a lot of the restaurants’ sites, you can look up their menus and prices to see if the certificate is “worth it” from a saving money standpoint.
If you get a $25 certificate, but the minimum purchase is $50 not including alcohol, and the restaurant entrees average around $35 each… you’re gonna end up splurging anyway. Though it’s still a great deal if you were planning a fancy night out anyway!
November 1st, 2008 at 11:54 am
I’ve purchased 30+ certificates from them - five or so as gifts, ten as a way to save on restaurants while traveling without access to kitchens, and the rest for local restaurants. I’ve never had trouble with them, except when I went to the wrong restaurant (or rather, the correct restaurant, wrong location/different franchisee). Even then, the location decided (rather generously, in my opinion) to work out arrangements with the other location such that they could honor the certificate.
I only buy anymore when there’s at least a 70% off deal, and usually an 80% off. (The 80% comes about quarterly, in my observation.) I ran some numbers on the whole thing, and determined that although we get either more food (quantity-wise) or more expensive food (steak instead of burgers, or sushi instead of fish and chips, for example), they don’t save us money at full price. Due to the minimum expenditures, we would wind up spending just as much money.
For local use, I do find that they’re particularly good for when we want to try a new place, or when I want to pester my husband into going someplace new. My favorite: I purchase three (or so) certificates to one of the better sushi places in town each time it comes around to 80% off. Sushi is very much a “date” sort of thing for my us, so we wind up planning a monthly (or every other) date of sushi plus some activity. Saving $20 on the ticket makes it much easier to do something “special” a little more often.
November 1st, 2008 at 11:55 am
Restaurant.com is actually a awesome deal. If you do it right. It takes a little bit of patients but for the most part you can always find a coupon code for at least 60% off each month. I wrote on post on how I use the website.
November 1st, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I just saw this post today and checked it out. There were two restaurants in my area that said “sold out” and a question mark (?) when I put my cursor over the ?, I got a statement that says the eatery only allows so many certificates on a first come first serve basis as a way to get new customers. Check back at the first of the month.
Well today was the first, granted late in the day, but for them to go in a matter of hours (or minutes?) it seems like not enough are available?
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:39 am
Ed, that does happen regularly with certain restaurants. Usually with small neighborhood places well-liked by the locals who grab up all the certificates at the start of each month. Either that or someone did all their gift shopping that morning.
You can tell a lot about a restaurant by how fast the certificates get sold out each month. The places with them left when the 70-80% off emails come out at the end of the month are usually ordinary chains or just not that popular for one reason or another. Or they have lots of restrictions, requirements, and hoops to jump through to use the certificates. Buyer beware on those.
There was a hot little italian joint that I wanted to try but they were sold out right away every month. Set my alarm and checked the website at 4am on the first of one month in order to get a couple. Turned out to be well worth it.
November 22nd, 2008 at 6:17 pm
I think I was one of the ones who suggested it. It works as long as you aren’t using it to spend more than you normally would on dining out. (Example: You normally spend $100 at restaurants a month. You now spend $20 on certificates and $90 at restaurants. You’re spending less at restaurants but $10 more total.) Use it to cut costs. Don’t buy something just to trick yourself into thinking you’re saving.
I have never had a problem with places accepting it. At one place I’ve been to, it seems the server knows they will get an 18% tip (when the restrictions say) so they slack off. You do have to read the terms and conditions (as you should with anything). I believe businesses offer these to entice customers to come in. They believe you will spend more than required once you are already there.
I live in DC, there are many certificates for that area. The more popular ones sell out on the first of the month. They seem to offer larger discounts as the month comes to a close. I guess because Restaurant.com has bought a certain amount from the businesses which expire at the end of the month. Sign up for their email list and you will get the codes for further discounts (beyond the paying $10 for $25 GC or $3 for $10 GC).
December 16th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Wow. I’m amazed at how many people have written that this is a difficult thing or that you have to walk through too many hoops. I’ve used this website for two years and have same lots of money. ALSO YOU CAN COMBINE THESE WITH COUPONS, it’s not a this or that thing. These are not discounts or coupons, they are legitimate gift certificates that can be combined with offers I’ve used entertainment book coupons to get 50% off and one of the gift certs and saved big time. You just have to make sure you’re total bill is over a certain amount before the discounts are taken. Yeah, it’s a little bit of math required, but it’s addition.
Also, how is this cumbersome? It’s an easy to use website. ALL requirements are perfectly spelled out for you and there is NO small print on this website. As long as you read and call the restuarants ahead of time and don’t try to stack up on them, only to not use them, this website WILL save you moeny.
As for the person who says the requirements changed when they purchased $50 instead of $25. That information is CLEARLY stated on the first page of the transaction NOT buried anywhere on the last. Also, if you upped the discout you are getting, wouldn’t the amount you have to spend increase. That’s just common sense. You have probably talked people out of saving money just because you weren’t observant enough to read what you were purchasing.
And yes restuarants do go out of business, change management and marketing ideas all the time, and they don’t bother to let Restaurant.com know about it. It’s not their fault when a restuarant doesn’t accept their certificates any longer. In these cases, I’ve simply emailed the website and they send you a code to use to purchase another gift certificate for the same value free, so that you don’t lose anything.