Questions for those who ordered from restaurant.com

[DAISYDUCKRN]

Can someone share their thoughts on this. Has it been a problem to redeem cards. Seems too good a deal to be true. Purchase a restaurant gift card for about half the price, Get $50.00 gift card and only pay $25.00. Other then following the specific restaurant rules, such as "can only be used Monday-Thursday" and such, has anyone had a problem with purchasing from the site or redeeming at the restaurant. Would appreciate feedback before I purchase. Thanks so much

 

[mjkacmom]

The first thing you need to know is that they get reduced to 80% off a few times a month, so there is no need to spend $25 on a $50 - I've never spent more than $4. Think of they as coupons - you will have to spend a certain amount, alcohol might not be included, you can only use one at a time, an automatic gratuity is usually included...

 

[CouponAngie]

Can someone share their thoughts on this. Has it been a problem to redeem cards. Seems too good a deal to be true. Purchase a restaurant gift card for about half the price, Get $50.00 gift card and only pay $25.00. Other then following the specific restaurant rules, such as "can only be used Monday-Thursday" and such, has anyone had a problem with purchasing from the site or redeeming at the restaurant. Would appreciate feedback before I purchase. Thanks so much

I have had no problems whatsoever. I purchase GCs on a regular basis from the site, for "Date Night" dinner with DH here in the Houston area. Just used one this last Friday night and had a delightful Indian dinner at a restaurant we had not tried. I also regularly prepurchase them for other destination cities, such as NOLA for our anniversary. We had no problems using those either. I've purchased a few for our upcoming trip to WDW with confidence.

If you are not in a hurry to purchase them, go to the website and sign up for their newletter. They will email you when Promo Codes are available. I rarely pay more that $2 or $3 for a $25 GC. If you need them now, the Promo code thru today to get a $25 GC for $5 is FRESH.

 

[MEM]

Is there an expiration date on them? I don't see one. I want to buy them now for my August trip.

 

[disney*mom*82]

We have purchased several from this site too, usually when they are 80% off also, and have never had a problem with them. We also bought several for my In Laws when we sent them to WDW last September, we bought some of these for help them with dinner each night, they used several House of Blues at DTD and for their trip this March they also used HOB and purchased others for off site restraunts, they never had a problem.

 

[stitchlovestink]

Is there an expiration date on them? I don't see one. I want to buy them now for my August trip.

All the ones I have bought (but I have only bought for local restaurants) were good for one year.
I haven't bought tons, but have never had any problems with mine either.

 

[karice2]

They are now non expiring. I have used them all over the country. I rarely pay more than $2 for them.

 

[aclov]

I've never had a problem and definately look for a promo discount code that can reduce it 50%-90%. Towards the end of the month the percentage is higher. Just make sure to read any exclusions.

 

[DAISYDUCKRN]

This site sounds to good to be true but I think I will give it a try. One of my favorite restaurants is listed. Do they also sell gift cards for chains restaurants like Olive Garden, AppleBees, etc. How can they sell these GC so cheap. I used a promo for today and can get 50% off which I think is a good deal. How often do they have 80% off that many of you only pay $2-3 for. Thanks

 

[cinnamon-sugah]

We did have a restaurant once while on vacation in Myrtle Beach tell us that they no longer accepted them AFTER we ate our food (I should point out that I bought the certificate 2 days before we ate there). The waitress knew we were using one because it was sitting on the table when she took our order so I asked for the manager. I handed the manager the balance for our check in cash (including tip) and the certificate and told her that since we were not told beforehand that she WOULD be accepting it. She threatened to call the police until I pointed out that the waitress knew we had a certificate and should have told us when we sat down and ordered that they were no longer participating. I emailed restaurant.com when we returned and the restaurant was removed from the site. It seems that they were using the certificates to get people in the door and then refusing to honor them. Evidently, they had done this to a lot of people. I guess they thought people would just pay the difference and they'd get their money coming and going. I don't think this was a restaurant.com problem though just a dishonest business owner.

However, just to be sure, I now ask specifically when we walk in the door if they are still accepting them and have never had any issues.

 

[TaraPA]

I've used them at HOB at DTD with no issues at all. Got the $50 GC for $4 with the 80% off code.

 

[azdizzymom]

We have used with no problems at all. Like others buy when they are on sale. In my area there is only 1 restaurant that uses them so I usually have to buy when they are not 80% but 50% off at start of month or they are gone.

One thing to remember is to use the fine print on them. They usually have time restrictions, purchase amount restrictions, alcohol might not count towards total, etc. Tips are said to be included but sometimes aren't--we found this out the hard way. The place we use at NEVER puts mandatory tip on...so we went last summer with my sister. Used on of the coupons and after we got home we were talking about total---seemed like a lot so we figured out everything...in the end the waiter had added the 18% or whatever tip but didn't mention it. My sister had then tipped 20% on total bill..so he got hefty tip. I called manager who said employees were to mention when tip added so he re-rung bill without my sister's tip. Employee still got the 18% he should have but no the bonus 20% on bill which was before discounts $80-90.

I would be almost hesitant to call these gift cards or certificates. With all the limitations they are more like a coupon you are purchasing for a % or $$ amount off a minimum purchase requirement. In most cases you have to spend $50 to get $25 off purchase. I remember back in December someone was going to give these as gifts. While it is a nice gift people kindly suggested since they were so cheap and not really a gift card to give a nominal gift card to that restaurant with the coupon if giving as a gift.

Enjoy...we love using these.

 

[MEM]

Can someone share their thoughts on this. Has it been a problem to redeem cards. Seems too good a deal to be true. Purchase a restaurant gift card for about half the price, Get $50.00 gift card and only pay $25.00. Other then following the specific restaurant rules, such as "can only be used Monday-Thursday" and such, has anyone had a problem with purchasing from the site or redeeming at the restaurant. Would appreciate feedback before I purchase. Thanks so much

On the $50 certificate, you need to spend at least $100 on food, plus, the tip is based on the pre-discounted total. Seems like a good deal, but not too good to be true.

 

[ZooKeeper13]

I've used them for years with no problems. One restaurant went out of business before I got around to them so I contacted restaurant.com & they issued me a credit for the unused certificate. I always wait until they have 70% or 80% off sales and go through ebates .com (25% cashback!)

 

[HayGan]

I've used so many of these vouchers that I couldn't even begin to count them and I have never had a problem. We have 2 ordered already for our June trip (HOB & Giordano's). I'm really disappointed that BB Kings is no longer offered in Orlando as they were one of our favorites.

The reason restaurants participate is that it is a great way to get people in the door. You have a minimum that you have to spend and I would bet that a vast majority go over that minimum. Also, many restaurants exclude alcohol (although some do not) which many people order and is a HUGE moneymaker for the restaurant.

 

[mjkacmom]

This site sounds to good to be true but I think I will give it a try. One of my favorite restaurants is listed. Do they also sell gift cards for chains restaurants like Olive Garden, AppleBees, etc. How can they sell these GC so cheap. I used a promo for today and can get 50% off which I think is a good deal. How often do they have 80% off that many of you only pay $2-3 for. Thanks

TBH, I think they're at 80% more than 50%!

 

[yoopermom]

We used them on our recent Vegas trip and the only negatives (which were far outweighed by the $$ we saved) were:
1. Hash House a Go Go server took one look at it, knew we would have to do mandatory tip, and gave us minimal service. I mentioned it to manager on way out.
2. Menu on Mexican place we tried was out of date (I wanted lobster, which they didn't have), so making the minimum would have been hard if our nice waitress wouldn't have allowed us to include our drinks . Next time I'll check the actual menu posted on the restaurant's website, not just restaurant.com's menu.

Wish we had more offered for our area, they're a good deal!
Terri

 

[Noah]

We have tried their coupon. While shopping for the coupon to get it all made sense because there usually is a minimum requirement or spending. You most likely will not walk out of the restaurant free just because your coupon credit was more than you spent.

Having said that, it was legit. We only wondered if the service of the staff was not as good because we were using the coupon.

 

[MrsPete]

I've used them, and I think they're a mixed bag:

Many of the coupons have significant restrictions, so you should read carefully before buying: Good only for dinner, good only Monday-Thursday, good only on a check of X amount or more, good only on the purchase of 2+ adult entrees. It varies. Just be sure you know what you're getting.

We don't have many participating restaurants in our area -- and most that do participate are inconvenient for us. We have tried to use them while traveling, which isn't always great: More than once we've ended up buying coupons ahead of time and then NOT using them for one reason or another. Once the restaurant was out of business, but most often we just ended up going to other places that looked better once we were actually in whatever city. When we haven't used the certificates, we've tried to give them away (i.e., to hotel staff).

And as others have said, these go on sale CONSTANTLY, so you should never, ever buy until they're 80% off.

We have not saved big with these coupons. We've not used more than half of what we've bought; if more was available right here in our area, it'd better -- we could buy as we're walking out the door.

 

[Yoshi]

I have had mostly good experiences using Restaurant.com certificates. The only 2 problems I have are when a restaurant stops accepting them (thankfully I called first the few times this has happened) and the restrictions. Some restaurants say you can't use them with another gift certificate. I understand not being able to use the Restaurant.com certificate with another coupon but they should allow you to use it with a regular gift certificate but some don't.