My buddy Christy from Haphazardly Hobbying was kind enough to agree to do a few restaurant reviews to show us how fabulous Restaurant.com can be for the budget. I have been a fan for some time, so I am so glad that Christy has become a believer too! Here is the first review…I think she is hooked!
If you’re a couponer/deal seeker, you’ve almost definitely heard about Restaurant.com by now. I’ve been reading about the great deals people get with their $10 and $25 gift certificates for months now, but I never actually gave it a shot until recently. My problem, or so I thought, was location: I live in Gainesville, FL, a relatively small college town that is Chain Restaurant Central. Since my husband and I only eat out 2 or 3 times a month, we like to spend our time and money at smaller, individually owned restaurants where the food and service are (in our experience) about 100% times better than at most chain joints. I just assumed that the restaurants affiliated with Restaurant.com in our area would be the chains, and never really looked into it any further.
Recently, though, I was offered a free Restaurant.com gift certificate, so I decided to give it a try, and boy was I surprised! Though there are only a few restaurants in our area that are affiliated with Restaurants.com, they are ALL small, locally-owned places that my husband and I either already loved or were excited to try.
For our first night out we decided to check out Joe’s Place, a casual bar and grill we had never been to for dinner. We had a $25 gift certificate, and the requirements of the gift certificate were that we had to spend at least $45 before the gift certificate could be applied. By chance we showed up on their ‘Steak Night’ – 8 oz steak, 1 side, and soup and salad bar for $11.99: what a deal! – and we were both immediately sold. We had agreed ahead of time to try to stick pretty closely to our $45 limit, and so because we were able to get such great entrees so cheaply, we were also able to order drinks and an appetizer. (If anyone reading is in the area, I HIGHLY recommend their Cheesy Crab Bites. YUM.) When all was said and done, our total was actually under the $45 cap ($43.98), but we were STUFFED and couldn’t even think about ordering anything else. This wasn’t a problem, though – our waitress was super nice and just pro-rated the gift certificate for us, so we ended up getting $23.98 off our bill instead of the full $25.
All told, we had a great experience. Without the gift certificate we probably never would have tried Joe’s Place for dinner, and now it numbers among our favorites in town. (My husband has declared Steak Night to be the Best. Thing. Ever. and wants to go back very soon.) The service and the food were both fantastic, really exemplifying why we feel the way we do about locally-owned restaurants. All in all, we had a great night out, and we spent far less than we would have anywhere else! I’m now a total Restaurant.com convert – I can’t wait to try the next place on the list!
It is a great time to give Restaurant.com a try. Now through 9/22 you can use the code SHARE to score 80% off gift certificates. That means you can get a $25 certificate for only $2!!
Restaurant.com provided the gift certificate for Christy’s review. All comments and opinions are Christy’s!
I love Restaurants.com! I’ve used it here in Atlanta, along with Destin and St. Augustine. I have never had a problem using the gift certificates, which I usually get dirt cheap.
I love restaurant.com… The only problem I have encountered is bad service by waiters at a few of the nicer restaurants. I guess they know they have already your tip money so they don’t have to do things like refill your drink. Thankfully, it has only been at a handful of places… everywhere else, our experience has been excellent!
New Orleans has a huge selection of restaurants that participate in this deal. I use the gift certs every time I go there, and have found some awesome places to eat this way.
Wow, sometimes I forget how the Internet can bring everyone together – I was only skimming this story because I, too, use Restaurant.com and when I saw Joe’s Place,I did a double-take and had to read the whole thing. We love Joes too! I got the certificates last year right before Steak and Pasta Works went out of business, and Gainesville Restaurant Group said that I could use them (the SnPW certs) at the other 2 restaurants. I find Joe’s much better than Northwest Grille, so we stick with Joes!
How do you sign up for Restaurant.com? I went out and was able to view some of the ones from my area, but that’s it, just a list.HELP!!!
Thanks.
I figured it out….thanks!