I wanted to take an opportunity to review Restaurant.com because it was one of those deals that just sounded too good to be true. How can a company offer $25 gift certificates to restaurants and only charge you $10 (or less if a coupon is involved) and actually be a deal that is for real? I was a skeptic, but was willing to take a gamble on it to enjoy an evening out with my husband.
We purchased our gift certificate for $25 for a mere $4 because they happened to be running a great sale on the gift certificates. When we typed in our zip code, it popped up a few restaurants in our area that were participating. Last year when I had checked there had not been restaurants in our area, so this was a pleasant surprise.
We chose a nice Italian place for dinner and I purchased the gift certificate. I did read through the terms of the gift certificate before purchasing it and still was a little puzzled by all of it. For example, this gift certificate had said that I needed to spend $35 to get a $25 gift certificate. Did this mean I needed to spend $35 at Restaurant.com or did this mean the restaurant itself? Only when I received the gift certificate did I understand that I was supposed to spend $35 at the restaurant and not the website. Would have been nice to know so I thought I would mention this in case anyone else has the same weird confusion.
I purchased the gift certificate for one particular restaurant and a copy of the gift certificate was emailed to me as well as available immediately for printing. You have the ability at this time to make a reservation through the website. This is not required, but I thought it might make the process go smoother and alert the restaurant that I was using one of these certificates (remember I said that I was a little concerned that this was a hoax?) Within a minute of placing the reservation I received an automated call from Restaurant.com to thank me for placing my reservation and that they were confirming it.
We went to dinner that night and had two entrees and two glasses of wine. The total bill was over the amount needed for us to use the certificate so meeting a $35 minimum purchase at the restaurant was not a problem at all! When we received the bill, we tucked the certificate inside and waited for the manager to come out and tell us that we couldn’t use it.
The waiter came out with our bill revised with the $25 removed from the total tab. Now we could let the excitement really begin because it was the real deal! Our evening, including our tip and the $4 purchase price) was about the cost of one entrée at the restaurant.
Now why in the world would a restaurant be open to doing this? Well, if it is a small mom and pop shop, this is a great way to get new faces in the door and let them know about your restaurant. For example, the place we went to was so great that I now want to go there for my birthday. Mission accomplished by the restaurant to get me to be a reoccurring customer. This is also a great way for a new restaurant to get their name out there. The places that were offered were great and they probably know that they are great. They know that they are so great that they can give you food (practically free) and know that you will probably come back and pay top dollar for the same entrée.
Here are a breakdown of the positives & negatives of the gift certificates:
Pros:
· It is a very inexpensive way to try out a restaurant without paying a lot of money.
· The certificates are instant- no waiting for them to be put in the mail to you.
· The company guarantees the certificates. If, for some strange reason, you are having trouble with a particular restaurant they will refund your money.
· The website provides pictures of the restaurant and it includes the menu so you know exactly where you are going and what they have to offer.
· You can get gift certificates as gifts for other people. You do not have to decide which restaurant they should go to (unless you wish to do this) so when they receive their certificate they can pick the place in their area that fits them best.
· The certificates can also be used for online retailers that have partnered with Restaurant.com
Cons:
· There is fine print on these certificates. The things that stood out for me were that you are only allowed to redeem one of these per month per restaurant, you are not allowed to use two certificates at the same time (even if you have separate checks), and each individual restaurant has the choice to decide whether your alcohol tab can be applied to the gift certificate.
· The choices in smaller towns may be minimal or not at all. They seem to be expanding, but the big city folks definitely get more choices.
· When given as a gift, the recipient needs to know that they will be responsible for a portion of their bill (remember the $25 off of a $35 purchase) and that they can only use one certificate at a time.
The reason I mention these is that they do make excellent gifts. Giving someone fifty dollars in gift certificates when spending a fraction of the price is a great thing for frugal folks like me. These would be great for a college student (as they could apply this in their area) or could be used when you are traveling and want to be able to dine out without spending a bunch of money.
If you do decide to get one of these, I would love if you clicked through our banner above on our site. We have become affiliated with this program and would appreciate the credit for it.
The current coupon code (good through DECEMBER 10th) is Code#: 73515. When totaling your bill enter the code and then hit, “Recalculate” and this will give you fifty percent off of the price of the gift certificates.
If you have had experience using Restaurant.com, feel free to share it…good or bad!
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26 Responses to “A Real Review of Restaurant.com”
I use restaurant.com a lot. Do be careful though if you decide to buy several certificates at once when there is a sale. i purchased 150.00 – my payment to them- of 10.00 certificates and found that some of my certificate#’s were used, according to restaurant.com before I ever gave them to friends as gifts. After many phone calls, the problem was fixed and the certificates were honored. perhaps a restauant mistakenly reported the incorrect # when calling in the certificate. I don’t know, but just be careful and check your #’s in your account at restaurant.com before you give them as gifts to save an embarrasment from occurring!
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I just used restaurant.com for the first time…I can’t believe the savings! There’s a really great restaurant about two blocks from my house that my husband and I have only splurged on once. We loved it, but it’s too expensive with three kids and one income. I can’t wait to go out and be fancy for a night! Thanks for passing on the website to your users!
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I am so glad that you guys got to go out for a night on the town! That is so special and I am glad that it made it affordable so that you could do that!
Enjoy all that good eating!!
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thanks for this really great review. very helpful.
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Be very careful with restaurant.com I had a horrible experience. Our charge card number was given to another company through restaurant.com. They claim I accepted the offer through a banner ad on the site and I didn’t but restaurant.com gave them my info and we were charge for 5 months. At first i didn’t notice it because it’s a joint account and it was a cheap transaction. Once I noticed it, I had to complain to a lot of people to get the charges reversed. Be careful
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Be very careful with restaurant.com I had a horrible experience. Our charge card number was given to another company through restaurant.com. They claim I accepted the offer through a banner ad on the site and I didn’t but restaurant.com gave them my info and we were charge for 5 months. At first i didn’t notice it because it’s a joint account and it was a cheap transaction. Once I noticed it, I had to complain to a lot of people to get the charges reversed. Be careful
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BE CAREFUL! I just had a major problem with this, and all i had done was fill out the info! I changed my mind and did not even finish submitting it! Yet three companies started charging me first $1 then $29.95! I had a total of almost 150 taken from my account in 2 weeks before I even realized it! Be careful! I called each company and they turned out to all be the same thing! all by adaptive marketing consisting of deal max, food & flix, and home savings mall. I have had a huge mess getting this straightened out! Google any name that you consider giving your number to. See if there are any complaints about them first! Also check out ripoff report. com and see if their name is listed with complaints! Be careful and smarter then me before giving away your number. That might be the reason restaurants.com is too good to be true!!!!!
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TERRIBLE!! I wish I read this before I bought mine today! I tried them for the 1st time and nowhere did they state you can only use 1 certificate per restaurant per month until AFTER you bought them. WIth my size family 10.00 off is not even worth it. I emailed and was told I can exchange them for a differnt restaurant but no refunds were allowed. Be careful!!
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Those all seem like user errors,
Read before you buy,
I’m Sure you have also signed up for credit cards to save 10%
and Travel clubs to get “free” tickets.
restaurant.com is legit,
But don’t click on partner links,
For the last comment,
Did you think you could stock up on coupons and go to the same restaurant everyday for a week?
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I just purchased a certificate on restaurant.com for an up coming trip to boston. I was very carful and checked out reviews on the restaurant as well as restaurant.com I searched for a coupon code and was VERY excited when I found both a 70% off coupon and an 80% off coupon with little effort. (the 80% off ends tomorrow and the code is EIGHTY) Like you I am still a bit skeptical and before I order any of these as gifts I want to make sure it works out at the restaurant. I used the 70% off and payed 9.00 for a 75.00 certificate. You have to spend at least 150.00 but after looking at the menue and knowing there are 4 of us dining that night I don’t think that will be an issue. They also have a “dinner of the month club” which gives the recipent 25.00 once a month for either 3, 6 or 12 months. using the 80% coupon it brings the price for 12 months from 120.00 down to 24.00…. cant beat that for a chirstmas gift!!!
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I used one certificate at a local restaurant a few years ago, and had no problem redeeming the certificate.
There is a great deal right now where you can save 80%, by typing in EIGHTY on the coupon code field when ordering your certificates. That means you only pay $2 for a $25 certificate. That’s a real good deal.
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HORRIBLE! I purchased a few gift certificates through restaurants.com in July 2008, and in March 2009, my credit card was charged by an online shopping company who said that I had clicked on a banner agreeing to a membership. I hadn’t even been to restaurants.com’s website in eight months! No matter how good the deal, it isn’t worth it if they are going to give out your credit card number fraudulently!
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Bad first experience. Printed the certificate for Kazuyo in LA. An hour or two later went to the restaurant. Gave the certificate to the server who returned saying this cert # had already been redeemed, which was impossible because the at the time they gave as redemption, it was sitting in my purse.
Restaurant wouldn’t honor, dinner was twice as much as I had budgeted.
Will not use again and am trying to get all my money back, the $25 and the cost of the cert.
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I hope that I don’t have any of the problems others have complained about. I don’t recall clicking on any banner ads or other offers. And I hope the coupons have not already been redeemed. If everything works as advertised it’s a nice deal. Calling it a gift certificate however is quite misleading. Have you ever heard of a gift certificate that requires a minimum purchase, or that only allows you to use one certificate per transaction? Of course not. This is really a coupon, about comparable to what you can frequently find in your local newspaper given the restrictions. A nice deal, but absolutely not a gift certificate by any stretch of the imagination.
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I do agree that Restaurants.com has some interesting and great value for your money deals, however, in the ENTIRE Panama City area, there was only ONE coupon!!!?? My husband and I like to look for deals wherever we go on vacation, and unfortunately Restaurants.com does not live up to it’s name! Because a lot of its coupons are outdated, or there simply aren’t coupons!!!
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I hope this shows up as recent as I couldnt’ see if these posts were from 2006 only? I just got my credit card number used several times (may2009) after I ordered from restaurants.com tho I’ve been ordering from them for quite awhile and never had any problems. I’m grateful Citi cards have early fraud warnings as who knows how many times it would have been used!
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One other thing to be aware of – one of the conditions is that the restaurant can choose not to honor the certificate for any reason. In our first attempt to use one of the certificates, the restaurant refused to honor it. And they chose not to warn us until they gave us the bill, even though the certificate was sitting on the table in plain view during the entire meal. We met all of the conditions on the certificate, but they were busy, so they didn’t feel like they needed to honor it.
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BE CAREFUL AGAIN!! I cannot say this enough – the wording on my gift certificate states the following: Valid only for dinner with a minimum purchase of $35/2 entrees. Excludes alcohol. 18% Gratuity added to pre-discounted check. I have no problem with the pre-discounted 18% amount, BUT the restaurant believes the above amount should be the following scenario: For two people , we must spend at least $70 for our bill in order to get the $25 off of our total amount. Their most expensive entree was for $13.95 for a steak! The only way for us to run the total up to $70 was to each have an appetizer, an entree each and a dessert each. We were still a bit short with us eating enough for a meal for 4 or 5. We decided to drop the coupon as worthless and just order an appetizer and an entree. Our total bill was only $19.20. We added our own tip and managed to get out for less than $24. Not sure what else we could have done, but there is no way we would have ordered $70 at their prices. The number on the certificate to call plainly states the certificate is null and void if we call the number and are not an employee of the participating restaurant!
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Restaurant.com was the worst experience ever. I converted my miles on united.com and printed restaurant.com certificates. I took my family out for dinner and decided to use my 25$ certificate. But the restaurant added 20% compulsory gratuity(way too high) for using the certificate.. I ended up paying more than I would have paid without the certificate. And I lost my miles on united.com too. I will never use restaurant.com again.
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Warning: restaurant.com refuses to remove restaurants from its website which customers report are no longer accepting certificates.
An example is:
* Kabul Kabob
* 6802 Commerce St
* Springfield, VA 22150
* (703) 451-3373
I reported months ago that they no longer accept the certificate but they refuse to remove it or even making the effort to call restaurant. I guess they think that they will get more hits this way hence more sales. Some on list no longer exist or exist and have new owners who know nothing about deal.
!!! Always, always !!! check first if restaurant accepts certificate. We didn't and ended up paying full price after adding items to meet minimum amount.
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Have used restaurant.com for months and love it. Great discounts at some of our favorite places. Never had any problems with them or "banner" adds. Works exactly as stated.
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Be careful with asian restaurants. The seem to change the terms or just stop accepting them. This has happened to me several times. Thus costing me more money. One time they were having system probems and I had to pay full price.
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They currently have 80% discount. Use coupon code "SHARE" and enjoy a $25 coupon for $5.
So spend $35 at the restaurant, pay $10 + coupon = $15 or a $20 saving.
I am traveling to California so will try this out and see how I get on.
Enjoy!
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Purchased 4 $25 Gift certificates from Restaurant.com, 2 each at the same restaurants. We used one at a restaurant on the list this month with no problems. I am a little confused by the once a month thing..Is that just for the restaurant you go to that month you can’t go again or is that for any restaurant you bought GC for you can’t go to for a whole other month. If that’s the case giving the GC as a gift could be tricky because then you would have to ask the recipient what month they will use their GC so you don’t use yours from a different restaurant that same month.
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HI
just want to chime in. I have been using restaurant.com coupons for a few years now, in the chicago area.
I am calling them coupons because it is really what they are. I think everyone needs to understand that you are buying a discount not a “gift cetificate”
As such, whenever making reservation I always check it is ok. Most of the time i dont have issue because a lot of restaurant dont take these busy days (fri-sat)
You do need to expect that:
if you are ordering a special, the coupon probably wont work
alcohol is most of the time not included
Check that it is valid before buying
Check all the fine prints and the menu
There is always discount codes available for discounts, earlier in the month is lower (40-50%) but that is when all certificate stock get renewed.
Later is cheaper (60-80%) but there is not as much left
Finally, restaurant.com is not a charity, they do have to make money at some point (and they are probably not making any on you $4 GC) so just be carefully on what you agree on, and click on.
FYI< i never had an issue with them, never got charged for products i did not ask for, and only was refused the coupon once, because we had ordered the lobster special which was an offer in itself (it was way cheaper than other entrees on the menu, I would have appreciated for the waiter to let us know that though)
Have fun and Enjoy!!
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I bought 3 coupons at restaurant.com thinking it’s a great deal with 80% off the price. So we used one coupon today which is the $25 with a minimum order of $35 on food only. Between the 2 of us we spent $45 on food and $5.75 on drinks. With the force 18% gratuity plus sales tax I have to pay $37 which is almost the same amount as what I have to pay for the required minimum to use the gift certificate. So you better think twice and do the math before you buy a gift certificate especially with all the restrictions especially if you are not familiar with the restaurant.
Now, I have to think twice if I want to use my $50 gift certificate with a $100 minimum order which I’m calculating about $25 force gratuity based on the total bill before discount and also not including sales tax. It’s really just a discount coupon and not a gift certificate.
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