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You might remember that my buddy Christy from Haphazardly Hobbying agreed to do a few posts talking about her experiences with Restaurant.com – well here’s the most recent installment! This time Christy and her husband were traveling had to get a little creative in order to make sure they saved money no matter where they ate!

My husband and I went to St. Augustine, Florida, for a quick weekend getaway last month. We love to travel but like many of you we just don’t have a lot of money to spend when we do get away. As many of you know, I’m a recent convert to Restaurant.com, and I immediately thought of their great dining gift certificates as a way to save money while we were traveling.
There were a couple problems, though: First, my husband and I like to be a little spontaneous when we travel, so we don’t necessarily plan where we’re going to eat dinner each night we’re away. Second, we didn’t know if we’d have printer access at the hotel we were staying at, so we couldn’t decide there and purchase before we went. Lastly, we weren’t very familiar with the area we were traveling to, so there was always the possibility that we’d get to the restaurant we’d chosen and decide we didn’t like the looks of it or it was too crowded or something like that (sometimes we’re pretty picky that way 😉 ).
As it happened, the day before we left was the day that Restaurant.com offered a coupon code that made all their $25 certificates just $1. At that point, I figured, “why not spend a few dollars to save $25?” and so my husband and I picked out three restaurants that we liked in the area and I bought three certificates – that way we’d have a number of options available to us and we’d save money no matter what we decided.
In the end, we settled on The Cracker Cafe right in the heart of the downtown area of St. Augustine. We liked the casual, homey atmosphere and the food was fantastic. We were able to order appetizers, dinner, a few drinks, and dessert – and after our gift certificate we only spent around $45 including a 20% tip. Not bad for a huge meal out, and the money we saved paid for lunch the next day! I have to tell you, I’m really sold on this as a way to balance spontaneity and savings – I think I’ll be traveling with Restaurant.com certificates from now on!

It’s a great time to give Restaurant.com a try – check out the deal I posted earlier today to get a $25 certificate and a FREE $20 Mrs. Fields Online Gift for only $2!!
Restaurant.com provided the gift certificate for Christy’s review. All comments and opinions are Christy’s!