Restaurant.com: $25 Certificates for $1
Restaurant.com is offering a whopping 90% off with the coupon code NINETY, resulting in a $25 “certificate” for $1. Starts midnight 9/9/09 and expires in 90 hours.
I have never bought one of these certificates, due to all their restrictions and fine print. Here are just a few:
- The “retail” price of these things is $10, and they still have to discount, so that should tell you something about the true value.
- Participating restaurants are limited, and usually offer either bad food with okay prices, or good food with really high prices. I have never seen a restaurant on their list that I have been a regular diner at already.
- Virtually all restaurants require a minimum purchase of $35+, making these more coupons than gift certificates. Also, they can often only be used on Fridays or weekends.
- You have to triple-check that any specific place still takes the certificate, because the website may be outdated and turnover is high. Showing up with friends, only to be turned away, is annoying.
- You have to announce that you’re paying with a certificate before you order, which for some has affected food quality and/or service. Be sure to tip on pre-coupon amount. Some restaurants will mandate a 18% tip on the pre-discount bill.
Still at $1 a piece, it might be worth a shot if you can find one decent participating restaurant. For those that have used these before, how did it work out?
Update: In contrast to my view, many readers have indeed found these certificates very useful in savings some money. Read more in the comments!
Find more in Deals & Offers | 9/9/09, 9:16am | Trackback
September 9th, 2009 at 10:53 am
I have used restaurant.com in the past, and it worked out well. Some of the points you made are valid, but my wife and I like to look at it as a way to encourage us to try new places. We purchase a certificate to a restaurant that we have never tried (and probably wouldn’t otherwise), and it forces us to give it a try. If we like it, great… If not, well, it’s not a big loss, and at least then we know.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:00 am
We use the certificates all the time - great deal.
Even better since they have been offering so many $1/$3 deals, lately.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:14 am
I gave them as Christmas presents once. While the selection isn’t good, the best part is that after 90 days, they revert to just a plain gift certificate to any of the restaurants on their list.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Some of the restaurants also mandate not just a $35 minimum, but some I have seen use $50 or more.
You are right about the places on the list, they are generally not the most popular spots.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:35 am
They are apparently still selling for at least one restaurant in Portland that no longer exists (Gotham Tavern).
September 9th, 2009 at 11:39 am
I used them a few times at a steakhouse near here. They had a $50 minimum but the certificates worked great. But then that restaurant stopped accepting the certificates and there aren’t other restaurants around here that do that them that I’m interested. If you can find a decent restaurant that takes them then its an OK deal, IMHO.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I use them all the time in Atlanta. I have found some GREAT restaurants because of these gift certificates. My two favorite restaurants (Zapata and Pasta Da Pulcinella) were found on restaurant.com.
The stipulations can be a pain, but they’re worth the trouble usually if you’re going to eat out anyway.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Wow, you make these deals sound horrible. To add a bit of positivity to this post I’ll say that my wife and I rarely eat out but when we do we always use Restaurant.com coupons. They’ve got a lot of restaurants in our area which we haven’t tried and many that we have tried and liked. Yes, they are unlikely to cover your bill due to min purchase requirements but seriously, it’s like cutting the price of a meal in half using one of these coupons at this price. They’re a good deal and we’ve never had bad food or bad service… I’ve found that many places like finding new customers and this is a good way for them to do so. It’s just a cost of doing business for them.
September 9th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
My all time favorite restaurant was on this site for a long time, so as others have said there are some good places. I think that you’ll also notice that a new restaurant might be on the site for a while to get people in the door and then drop off later.
However…I have noticed that the local places on the site also send out frequent coupons in those little coupon packs (Value Packs, etc.) in the mail. The coupons are often similar in detail to the ones restaurant.com has…often “buy 1 meal and 2 drinks and get your second meal free, up to X dollars”
September 9th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I got some of these once, but they turned out to be worthless for my use. Expect the deal with most of the following:
1. Etiquette requires paying tip on the full price. In addition, they may apply a fixed rate (usually 18%), which means the amount of the tip is no longer discretionary.
1. Minimum purchase is usually around $35.
2. Drinks rarely count toward the minimum purchase.
3. Invalid on holidays and weekdays.
4. Only good for dinner (no lunch).
There’s also usually some kind of wording that suggests that the restaurant may refuse the certificate in certain situations (peak busy times, understaffed, etc.)
There are also two social considerations.
First, there is the possibility that the quality of service/food may suffer, as you mentioned in the post.
The second consideration pertains to dating. Most of these coupons are intended for a two-person (or more) meal and have a minimum purchase requirement which requires spending at this level.
Problem is, it’s considered bad form to use gift certificates, coupons, and similar schemes when on a date. It’s not likely to offend your date, but signaling is a big element of the date and as stupid as it may be that people think this way, using a coupon is seen as being “cheap”.
Using a coupon and mentioning the coupon verbally to the server also attracts attention to the money involved in the meal. On a date, you want to give the impression that you’ve handled the payment side of things and keep the money out of sight and out of mind for the person you are treating to the meal.
Obviously none of this applies if you’re married or have a lot of mutual agreement in your relationship about money and frugality. But in my case, I’m single and would never use these coupons in the early part of a relationship.
And because I’ll never spend $35 when eating alone, they are useless to me on a solo basis as well.
September 9th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I was in a bit of a hurry and cut my post short. We don’t find the fine print to be a big deal, and have never had any issues. Still, a good bargain.
Others bring up a point - it’s usually new restauarants here, and they eventually stop offering them. I’ll give you that - but a GREAT way to try new restaurants (We have a lot to choose from since we are in a big city).
BTW, they e-mailed me to choose another certificate when one of the Restauarants I had a certificate with, went out of business. Interestingly, the one I replaced it with went out of business too (as are MANY eateries here) and I haven’t heard yet. I will probably contact them and ask if I Can exchange it again.
I was not aware of the 90-day rule? Good to know.
September 9th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I bought a 6 month restaurant-of-the-month pack from them earlier this year. When one of the restaurants that I had purchased a certificate for stopped participating, restaurant.com emailed me to notify me, and then let me exchange the useless certificate for another restaurant.
Like others have mentioned, check out the restaurant list first. If there are restaurants on the list you like or would like to try out, it can be a good deal. Another possible positive is that the restaurants you get certificates for are not the chain restaurants, so it gives you a chance to try more locally owned restaurants.
Another thing I have done is that if I am planning a trip, I will check out the selection in the city I am going to and see if anything looks good. I’ve used 1 certificate in Santa Fe, NM, another in Denver, CO, and a third in Seattle, WA.
September 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
The restrictions are often placed by the restaurant in question, so they vary from place to place. I’ve bought plenty of these, and given friends a dozen certificates and told them to go out to eat once a month — those certs were good for a full year, with a restriction of one visit per month.
I’ve never had to present the coupon before ordering, and I’ve never had a problem with them. Lately my favorite place changed from allowing these for lunch to only allowing them for dinner. The web site (restaurant.com) makes these larger restrictions quite obvious.
But yeah, bear in mind they aren’t usually the mainstream places that have these certificates — they’re advertising, and clearly hoping you’ll like the place enough to come back even without certificates, or that you’ll tell friends about the place. But it’s a great way to give places a try without spending a fortune at them.
September 9th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
I’ve used them, and they’re great if you were going to already be going to that restaurant and spending $35-$50 - its especially good for groups. I used it at a deli in town I would call pricey otherwise, and for 3 people we ended up paying something like $8 each including a tip (no tax here in Oregon), which was cheaper than one sandwich alone.
The restrictions that you mention are really not that big of a deal and paying 40 cents to $1 or $2 is not a big investment in trying someplace you might not be able to afford otherwise.
September 9th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Do you mean is starts at midnight on 9/10? It is 9/9 and I can’t find the deal. Several decent restaraunts we go to are on the list, with $50 minimum.
September 9th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
My bad, didn’t see the code. Out of the 20 places near me, I’d say half were pretty poor places only tourists go, but at least 2 to 3 of them are good places we dine in our out of every now and then.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Well, I’m glad to see that people are able to use these certs. I just looked again and still can’t find any place I want to eat at.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
I do not like how they call these “gift certificates.” If anything, they’re coupons–coupons that are generally worth the dollar or two you have to pay for them if you can find a place that you like or use with money you would be dining out with anyway.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
I agree with the advice to choose carefully. Most of the participating restaurants in my area are in the “has-been” category…on the way down. I purchased a $25 restaurant.com coupon for $10 (effectively a $15 discount) once, and did not feel like I got a good deal whatsoever. The good restaurants do not need to resort to this kind of offer to get customers. However, if you see a coupon for a restaurant that you would patronize even without the coupon, by all means go for it.
September 9th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I use the certificates frequently, and have never presented one before ordering or in fact at any time earlier than when I paid the bill, and no restaurant has ever refused to accept it from me. YMMV, of course.
I do tend to use them at more expensive restaurants that I probably would not choose to dine at if I had to pay full price. They reduce the price of what would otherwise be an expensive treat. Two excellent restaurants in Las Vegas are on the program, and have been there for quite a while: Border Grill at the Mandalay Bay (run by the Two Hot Tamales) and Shizen, a Japanese steakhouse & sushi restaurant at the JW Marriott in Summerlin.
September 10th, 2009 at 2:25 am
I buy them for giving out to friends. They are so happy when seeing the $25 GC.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:47 am
We live in NYC, so there’s a myriad of options listed. The hubby and I have used these coupons to try a variety of new restaurants. We’ve discovered several gems amongst them. We haven’t experienced much difficulties with these coupons at all. Having $25 deducted off your bill makes it all worth it in my opinion.
September 10th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
In my area, only a couple restaurants are good enough to be worth the $35 minimum, and the server lied about adding the gratuity on the bill (he scribbled it so much that it was nigh-on illegible) so I just won’t give that restaurant my business anymore, period.
September 10th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I live in the St. Louis area and have used roughly 25 or 30 of these at area restaurants. The complaints on this are legit if you like to complain about a great deal not being great enough. If you sign up for their site (for free) you can get discounts on all but the first few days of the month (50-80% off of the $10 price). So every coupon I buy, I get it for between $2 and $5. I go to a place to eat with my girlfriend where in 90% of cases we have to spend $35 with 18% gratuity which is more than fair so those waiters don’t get stiffed when people tip on the discounted amount. We end up both getting an appetizer, meals, and a couple of pitchers of beer and walk out spending $15-$18 total after the coupon discount with tip and tax. That is a great deal…and I’d say the great majority of the restaurants have been solid places looking to expand their business. Overall a solid deal for anyone looking to save money, have a good time, and try new places.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
We live in NYC, Two of our favorite restaurant are listed in Restaurant.com.”Raku” and “Portfolio”. Never had any issues with them.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
We use them all the time.. We actually found our favorite restaurant off here.. We love it!
September 10th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
You can also go through Upromise to get 15% of the money spent on Restuarants.com to go to college funding. Of course, at $1 or $3 then that isn’t a huge amount, but it does add up.
September 11th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Perhaps I’m lucky–I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and there are almost 200 restaurants on restaurant.com located within 20 minutes of my house. I have used the site many times not only here, but also when I travel. Sure, we’ve been to some restaurants I did not particulary like and would not go back to, but I’d rather spend $20 on a bad meal than $45. On the rare times when there has been a problem, a brief call to restaurant.com took care of it. My favorite resaturants are not on the site, but I would give a strong recommendation to them. Try it-what do you have to lose, $1?
September 11th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
The majority of restaurant owners we deal with say they do not like accepting the coupons. They say lose money on them. They also say that they write the meals off as advertising and marketing.
September 24th, 2009 at 8:26 am
I’ve had pretty good results using the restaurant.com gift certificates. I think it really helps that they fully disclose all the requirements upfront so there are no surprises. I usually buy the certs using upromise to get a rebate.
November 16th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I got these certificates for FREE through a rewards program and at that price they *still* don’t seem like a good deal. The restaurant list is highly suspect in my area (Wash DC) and a quick calculation on the one very good nearby restaurant (that enforces a 20% tip) is that two filet mignon with only water to drink would cost us about $36. And those certificates were out of stock. Not exactly a bargain, I could get similar filet mignon at a nearby steak place WITH beer for about the same price.