restaurant.com

catsareniice1 · November 2015

Does anyone here use this site/their coupons? If so, do you like it? Is it worth joining?

bmo88 · November 2015

catsareniice1 I have used them and honestly not a huge fan. We have had trouble with logging in consistently and printing coupons (lots of errors). Also, even though it's only like $2 for a coupon, you usually have to spend a lot of money (like $30). Some of the places have cheaply priced menus, so unless you have a lot of people, it can be hard to make the minimum.

For example, we bought a $15 coupon to an ice cream shop for $2. The shop charges $3 a cone and you have to use the entire coupon at once. So unless we buy 5 cones, it isn't worth it. We could take multiple people, but as a couple we don't go with other people to ice cream shops very often.

I prefer Groupon and Living Social over restaurants.com.

CuriousKiddosMama · November 2015

I like it for trying new restaurants especially. Do pay attention to their minimum purchase, but for us it's normally a fun and cheap way to try a new restaurant. We will order an appetizer or dessert to get us to the minimun and take home some of our entree. I believe the last one we had was like $5 to buy, and was a $20 coup on a $30 meal, so it was essentially half priced.
I really love when we happen to catch some of our favorite restaurants on there too. We will use those a lot!

Xstatic3333 · November 2015

It works fine, no reason not to do it if a restaurant you'd like to try comes up. Like PP said, just read the fine print because there will be rules and stipulations. If you're trying someplace new, read reviews first. Some of the frequent places in our area aren't that great.

julieanne912 · November 2015

I used them all the time when I lived in Chicago, because restaurants cost more so hitting the minimum was easy. It's a good way to try out new restaurants. I did find that the ones who used it tended to be struggling restaurants for whatever reason... sometimes they were actually good, sometimes not so much, which is why they were struggling.

I actually recently logged in and was able to swap out some of the ones I had purchased years ago for credits. Unfortunately there are no restaurants in my town or near my work that use it... most are down in Denver or south of Denver.

KatieCutie05 · November 2015

My dad used to LOVE that site. Everytime he came to visit or we traveled anywhere with him - he always had looked up this obscure restaurant that he found on restaurant.com. From my experience with him - generally there was a reason the restaurant had themselves on there, they weren't good enough to get the business. Generally the food just wasn't worth the price they were charging. Each time i had it figured that we could have gone to one of the cheaper restaurants with better food for the same price. But my dad was as stubborn as they come and insisted on using it. And we always had to spend extra money to reach that amount - buying appetizers we didn't need. But if you wanted to try that restaurant anyway - then it would be worth it. But don't go out looking for a random restaurant thinking you are getting a good deal.

However I will say that our favorite restaurant sometimes comes up on one of those local deals sites where we can buy 2- 25 dollar gift certificates for the price of 1. That usually has a time limit on it - but we always buy atleast a few because we go to that place and pay full price anyway - so getting it essentially half price is a smoking deal - and since they come in small increments we can just use 1- 25 dollar giftcard. Its more expensive normally but that food is actually worth the price.

short+sassy · November 2015

bmo88 said:

catsareniice1 I have used them and honestly not a huge fan. We have had trouble with logging in consistently and printing coupons (lots of errors). Also, even though it's only like $2 for a coupon, you usually have to spend a lot of money (like $30). Some of the places have cheaply priced menus, so unless you have a lot of people, it can be hard to make the minimum.

For example, we bought a $15 coupon to an ice cream shop for $2. The shop charges $3 a cone and you have to use the entire coupon at once. So unless we buy 5 cones, it isn't worth it. We could take multiple people, but as a couple we don't go with other people to ice cream shops very often.

I prefer Groupon and Living Social over restaurants.com.

This is exactly how I feel about the site. Unless it is a restaurant I really like or are planning to try anyway, I usually don't bother. And even when it is somewhere I like, the minimum purchase requirement is often too crazy to be something I could use.

Look for their sales, also. They have them all the time so you can usually get a $25 certificate for $5 or $6 instead of $10.

csuave · November 2015

I have used it and agree with the others. Some things to add:
-I think 80% off is the best sale they offer. I'm not sure how often they offer it or if you need to be on their email list to get the offer (via a code).
-I get SO many emails from them.
-I keep up with the annoying email volume because they have expanded into theater discounts. I got tickets through them for a play at a discount. There weren't discounts anywhere else for the play so I took advantage of it. I think it drops the price down to the group rate. Seats were good too.
-With the play I got a gift card to restaurant.com. Since it was free I'll use it eventually but it gave me the insight that their gift cards aren't very valuable. If they give you a $25 gift card then you redeem it for a certificate at full value. For example, you redeem the entire thing for a $25 voucher even if the voucher is "on sale" for less. The gift cards are usually also on sale so not really a rip off, but just adds another layer of complexity without any real value.

Some positives:
-They don't expire so that is good.
-I believe you can include alcohol in your qualified purchase.

short+sassy · November 2015

csuave said:

I have used it and agree with the others. Some things to add:
-I think 80% off is the best sale they offer. I'm not sure how often they offer it or if you need to be on their email list to get the offer (via a code).
-I get SO many emails from them.
-I keep up with the annoying email volume because they have expanded into theater discounts. I got tickets through them for a play at a discount. There weren't discounts anywhere else for the play so I took advantage of it. I think it drops the price down to the group rate. Seats were good too.
-With the play I got a gift card to restaurant.com. Since it was free I'll use it eventually but it gave me the insight that their gift cards aren't very valuable. If they give you a $25 gift card then you redeem it for a certificate at full value. For example, you redeem the entire thing for a $25 voucher even if the voucher is "on sale" for less. The gift cards are usually also on sale so not really a rip off, but just adds another layer of complexity without any real value.

Some positives:
-They don't expire so that is good.
-I believe you can include alcohol in your qualified purchase.

I think it depends on the restaurant and I think that is also true for Groupon/Living Social. But its been awhile since I've looked into that.

Xstatic3333 · November 2015

short+sassy said:

csuave said:

I have used it and agree with the others. Some things to add:
-I think 80% off is the best sale they offer. I'm not sure how often they offer it or if you need to be on their email list to get the offer (via a code).
-I get SO many emails from them.
-I keep up with the annoying email volume because they have expanded into theater discounts. I got tickets through them for a play at a discount. There weren't discounts anywhere else for the play so I took advantage of it. I think it drops the price down to the group rate. Seats were good too.
-With the play I got a gift card to restaurant.com. Since it was free I'll use it eventually but it gave me the insight that their gift cards aren't very valuable. If they give you a $25 gift card then you redeem it for a certificate at full value. For example, you redeem the entire thing for a $25 voucher even if the voucher is "on sale" for less. The gift cards are usually also on sale so not really a rip off, but just adds another layer of complexity without any real value.

Some positives:
-They don't expire so that is good.
-I believe you can include alcohol in your qualified purchase.

I think it depends on the restaurant and I think that is also true for Groupon/Living Social. But its been awhile since I've looked into that.

I think it's state by state. In puritanical MA you can't use Groupons for alcohol at restaurants. So silly. It makes hitting the minimums way tougher.

short+sassy · November 2015

Xstatic3333 said:

csuave said:

I have used it and agree with the others. Some things to add:
-I think 80% off is the best sale they offer. I'm not sure how often they offer it or if you need to be on their email list to get the offer (via a code).
-I get SO many emails from them.
-I keep up with the annoying email volume because they have expanded into theater discounts. I got tickets through them for a play at a discount. There weren't discounts anywhere else for the play so I took advantage of it. I think it drops the price down to the group rate. Seats were good too.
-With the play I got a gift card to restaurant.com. Since it was free I'll use it eventually but it gave me the insight that their gift cards aren't very valuable. If they give you a $25 gift card then you redeem it for a certificate at full value. For example, you redeem the entire thing for a $25 voucher even if the voucher is "on sale" for less. The gift cards are usually also on sale so not really a rip off, but just adds another layer of complexity without any real value.

Some positives:
-They don't expire so that is good.
-I believe you can include alcohol in your qualified purchase.

I think it depends on the restaurant and I think that is also true for Groupon/Living Social. But its been awhile since I've looked into that.
I think it's state by state. In puritanical MA you can't use Groupons for alcohol at restaurants. So silly. It makes hitting the minimums way tougher. I

Haha! I can see that. So now I have to go off on a tangent. I live in Louisiana and we are one of only about ten states that don't allow alcohol to be shipped here (ie Wine of the Month club type stuff) or online "betting" (ie Fan Duel and/or skill games like solitaire).

Yet, the irony is we have a huge gambling industry. Lots of casinos...and not even Indian ones. Video poker machines in every bar. NOLA has extremely loose alcohol laws, ie alcohol can be served at any time, open containers on the street are allowed, etc.

Heck! It is even legal for children to drink alcohol in restaurants if they are with their parents. Though, with that said, few restaurants will serve alcohol to children no matter who they are with.

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