I haven’t mentioned these in a while. Restaurant.com is running one of their temporary 80% off sales on their $25 certificates (Regular price $10) with coupon code TASTY. Offer valid through 8/31 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. 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 $1, 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
If you haven’t searched them in a while, they’ve been adding more restaurants to the list. I use these when I travel as well, so if you know of a good restaurant value in a big city, please share the name and location in the comments.
This coupon code does not seem to work unless I’m doing something wrong.
“TASTY” worked fine for me just now. I added a $10 certificate to cart, added the promo code before checking out, and it is now $2.
“Your 80% off discount for eligible Restaurant.com products has been applied”
Worked for me. Only bought one as I have 8-9 we still haven’t used.
While these may be great deals, be wary. I bought one of these a couple years ago (based upon advice from this blog) and discovered several months later that part of the “deal” was agreeing to sign up for some “buyer protection” scam that charged me $10 or $20 dollars a month on my credit card. After some Googling and a couple persistent phone calls I was able to get the charges reversed. The woman at the “protection” company told me I “signed up” during the Restaurant.com purchase. It was a good lesson to me in reading the fine print and checking my card statements more closely.
Never has an issue with restaurant.com purchases. Of course, I watch my credit card like a hawk so I’d be on something like the above scam instantly.
I bought $50 coupon for one of the restaurants in my neighborhood and after the order was processed, I was told that minimum purchase is $100. I wish they would have mentioned it to me earlier, I would not have bought the ‘deal’.
Also, I am little worried about Jim’s comment above. I was suspicious before placing an order so I used PayPal, now I hope that this credit monitoring company if it still exists doesn’t mess up with me…
I just looked through the list for places close to me-an eatery that closed two months ago was still listed. Not sure if that’s the fault of the local place or restaurants.com. And I bought one a couple of years back to use that same night … that place-a chain-had a sign up claiming they were working on the interior. Never reopened. Be sure the place you’re wanting is actually still open.
@Elf – Did you ask for a refund? I would hope they would offer it, or at least an exchange. I’ve bought Groupons to restaurants that shut down soon after, and gotten refunds.