Here are 13 ways to lower your bill when you eat out. Add your ideas by leaving a comment!
1. Order cheaply. Stick to sensibly-priced entrees and skip the drinks, appetizers and desserts.
2. If you are eating with one other person, split an appetizer and an entree instead of each ordering an entree. Restaurant portions are big enough you will still have plenty to eat.
3. Eat out for lunch instead of dinner. The prices are almost always lower but the portions still as big.
4. Have dinner at home and go out for dessert. Add a glass of wine and your tab will still be lower than eating a full meal out.
5. Buy discounted gift certificates from Restaurant.com, but watch out for tight restrictions on redeeming the certs. The usual deal is $10 for a $25 certificate, but sign up for their email updates and you will get coupons for 50% to 80% off that $10 rate.
6. Halfoffdeals.com sells gift certificates to restaurants (and a few spas and golf courses) for half price and has many fewer restrictions than Restaurant.com.
7. Buy the Entertainment Book, which is stocked with 2-for-1 offers and 50% off deals at many fast casual restaurants. Check that you enjoy eating at the restaurants that are included. Many chains participate, but the coupons are not good at every single location.
8. Become a member of AAA. The cards will get you 10% to 20% off at select restaurants.
9. Take advantage of senior discounts. If you don’t see a sign, ask!
10. Eat at places that serve kids for free.
11. When you eat in a group, instead of splitting the bill evenly and subsidizing your buddies drinks (assuming you ordered cheaply), have cash ready to generously cover your share plus tax and tip. Give it directly to whoever is handling the bill and say “This generously covers my share with tax and tip. I hope you don’t mind taking it into account before splitting the bill.” Yes, your friends will call you cheap. But do it enough times and they will get used to it.
12. At Mexican restaurants, order sides of rice and beans. It will be a filling meal, albeit a vegetarian one.
13. Pick cheap places to eat. It’s an obvious one that can make a big difference. If you live in Los Angeles, each week I write about one place where you can get a $5 Lincoln Lunch.
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
Two other tips.
If you live in Ventura County and get the Ventura County Star, you get a Star Card which gives you 20% off at certain restaurants. Check the website often cause the list changes.
Also, subscribe to bogopod.com. You will get an e-mail about once a month with offers from local restaurants that range from buy one/get one free to free things to percentages off.
Evie
I’ve noticed a LOT of restaurants that advertise in the Daily News or the Value Pak that is in every mailbox, are offering “Buy One, Get One Free!” or “Buy One, Get 1/2 Off the Second Meal” deals.
a group of 7 or 8 ladies go out every monday after a craft class. after argumejnts of who owed what and what to leave for a tip we now ask for separate checks. some places do not like to do this but usually a talk with the manager will get it for us. if not we do not go back there and ket the manager know this. now we each pay for only what we ordered and leave the tip of our choice.
The Sunday Daily News sometimes has “buy one, get half off” coupons for certain coffee shop-type places like Coco’s, Carrows, Nat’s.
Also, my husband and I go out to a Sunday champagne brunch every weekend rather than out to dinner. Some are less expensive (Marie Callenders, Viva la Pasta, Sagebrush Cantina), some more pricey (Delmonico’s, Hilton Universal). Once you learn how to eat at such brunches, you get more for your money than by ordering off the menu for a specific meal. Brunch, naturally, holds us for the day except for, perhaps, a melon for “dinner” or I’ll make air-popped or microwave popcorn.
Order take-out instead of eating at the restaurant. You can drink your own beverages, it’s easier to share food, you don’t have to worry about a tip, and you can watch a movie while you eat.
Another tip: because restaurant portions are usually very large, I consciously only eat half my meal and take the leftovers into work the next day. So I don’t filling up on chips & salsa at a Mexican restaurant, for example, since I know I’ll be taking a good portion of my food home for later.