Restaurant.com Current Coupon Codes – Save on Dining Out
Restaurant.com is a website that offers promotional gift certificates to participating restaurants. The regular price is $10 for at $25 certificate, with certain restrictions. However, there are very often coupon codes that allow you to save even more. Currently, you can get 80% off (final price: $2) with coupon code TOUCHDOWN. Offer valid through 10/16 at 11:59PM PST.
Despite my initial skepticism about these things, many readers responded that they indeed found these certificates very useful for saving money. See comments below. Always note the restrictions (dine-in only, not valid Friday night, etc.) which can vary for each place.
Here’s an example of how the savings math might work out. You find a restaurant on the list that you like that usually runs around $20 + tip per person (~$48 for a couple). You buy a $25 certificate for $2, which usually comes with a $35 minimum purchase + 18% required gratuity on full price.
Minus $25 certificate = $15
Plus cost of certificate ($2) = $17
Plus 18% gratuity on menu price = $7.20
Total price = $24.20 or 12 bucks a person, a 50%+ savings
These days, that’s pretty good if you can find a worthy restaurant. Any stigma attached to using coupons is probably a lot less as well. Share your favorite restaurants if you got ‘em. Mine is the Austin Steakhouse in Las Vegas. If you haven’t searched in a while, they’ve been adding more restaurants to the list. I’ll update this post with the current codes as they come out.
Update: You can save even more with cashback shopping sites like eBates ($5 new customer bonus), Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus), and BigCrumbs. Currently, Mr. Rebates is the highest, offering 30% cashback.
Find more in Deals & Offers, Frugal Living | 10/1/10, 12:07am | Trackback
October 1st, 2010 at 12:15 am
I’ve been to Steps of Rome Caffe in San Francisco, CA. Pretty good Italian food, with a loud and fun atmosphere. A couple can definitely split an appetizer + get their own entree for under $20 each before certificate, and you may even be able to sneak a glass of wine in there if you get a simple pasta. Their $25 certificate costs a bit more at $15 normally, but at 90% off the net cost is $1.50. You can still get dinner for two for $12 each including tip.
Menu:
http://www.stepsofrome.com/caf.....ID=SECONDI
Yelp:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-st.....-francisco
October 1st, 2010 at 6:54 am
Forgot to add tax to the calculations…..
October 1st, 2010 at 9:23 am
WOW! What a deal! Thanks for sharing.
October 1st, 2010 at 10:08 am
Thanks for sharing! I can attest to the fact that you can save using these certificates, I’d just caution you on reading the details of the offer. For example,
- What’s the food minimum?
- Is dine in required?
- Is it only valid certain days of the week? (e.g. M – Thurs.)
October 1st, 2010 at 12:19 pm
so why don’t they just call it what it is, a 50% off coupon instead of $25 gift certificate, which it clearly isn’t if you are required to buy $35+18% tip
October 1st, 2010 at 12:21 pm
also, most places on the website have alcohol exclusions
October 1st, 2010 at 10:06 pm
You forgot to mention cashback sites like Fatwallet and Ebates.
If you use those you get money back on your purchase of the gift certificates.
October 2nd, 2010 at 11:29 am
Be very careful with Restaurant.com. I took advantage of one of these “offers” and later found a monthly charge on my credit card for “Shopping Essentials Plus”. After a Google search and some phone calls, I was able to get the charges removed, but I will never use Restaurant.com again. Their business model is based upon signing you up for recurring credit card charges and hoping you don’t notice. Google it and see for yourself.
October 3rd, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Restaurant.com begins each month with an allotment of certificates. Some will sell out quickly and as the month progresses, those remaining will be discounted further until the end-of-the-month. We’ve bought and used at least a dozen in the past couple of years for Minneapolis-St. Paul restaurants with no issues or additional charges at all (one of my favorite places is one that typically sells out quickly each month).
As mentioned, note that there are general rules (one certificate per month per restaurant, etc.) and there *may* be restaurant-specific rules (no alcohol, certain nights, etc.). Recently, they have stepped up their experience surveys, so that there is a voluntary survey sent via email.
In all, it has worked as advertised for us and gives us the chance to try some new places (this weekend, we used a $25 certificate off a $35 or more purchase at a place … I think I bought the certificate for less than $5).
October 3rd, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Thanks, cashed in on this. We got the annual deal with 12 $25 certificates ($300 value) for $12.
October 8th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
I’d love to hear how people use these certificates successfully! I’ve found they only work well if the restaurant is a place you would go to anyway. Otherwise, they are difficult to use… i.e. can’t go on a weekend or at dinner, and the certificate only applies to food purchases, not drinks, etc. But for 90% off, how can you not I guess.
October 9th, 2010 at 7:46 am
@ mame – the certificates have no expiration date (unlike coupons). And most coupons have restrictions, typically more restrictive than I have found these to have. And a 20 percent tip on the real total is pretty standard for decent service regardless of who pays, how you pay or if you have discounts.
@ christee – we’ve bought about a dozen of these over the past few years and have never had a problem using them. Maybe it is the restaurant community we have in Minneapolis-St. Paul, but only a couple have had additional restrictions (one was alcohol purchases cannot be counted toward certificate and another could not be used on Friday or Saturday evenings) but those restrictions are clearly stated before you purchase.
But as I wrote, maybe our restaurant community is less restrictive than others to get the business.