Two readers in the past week have asked how Restaurant.com works, hence this post about how to use the website to save money. It’s easy to save 25-40% off your bill with Restaurant.com, so it’s worth understanding!
Step 1. Buy a gift certificate (not a gift card, unless you plan to give it to someone else) for a particular restaurant. You can search for restaurants by zip code or name or city. Most certificates cost $10 for a $25 certificate, though some are $15 for the $25 cert. USE A COUPON CODE! I share coupon codes for Restaurant.com at least twice a week and it’s common to see discounts of 50-80% off that $10 starting price. Look out tomorrow for a HUGE discount!
Step 2.
Read the exceptions. Reader Ruth wrote:
i just noticed this: Minimum purchase of $35. Excludes Fri-Sat. 18% Gratuity added prior to discount. Valid for Dine In ONLY. Excludes: Other Offers/Promotions. Present prior to ordering. i think it’s the reason for the $4.50. i wrote to restaurant.com after writing you. does this mean that you have to spend $35 at the restaurant or at restaurant.com?
Yes! Almost all of the Restaurant.com certificates includes rules like the ones Ruth noticed. You usually have to spend at least $35 to use the $25 certificate, and sometimes there are certain days (like a busy Friday or Saturday night) that are excluded. Some restaurants exclude alcohol from the total, others don’t. Every restaurant sets the redemption rules for their certificates, so they can vary widely. The good news is that you can read all the rules before you buy, so you’ll know whether or not it’s practical for you to use.
Step 3. Purchase the cert, print it out, and bring it to the restaurant. Make sure to mention when you order that you’d like to use it on your bill. If there are any issues, the server should let you know then. Once a server told me that they would happily take the cert, but not with any of the 50% off specials because they were already so heavily discounted. Fair enough.
Step 4. Place the cert in the bill along with cash or a credit card to cover the remainder. $25 will be taken off your final bill (unless you bought a higher value certificate, for $50 or $100). You still pay tax and tip, which may be added automatically at the rate of 18%. I find even with the exceptions, tax, and tip, I still save 25-40% off my total bill.
How do you save 25-40% off your tab?
Note: This is not a paid post, although Restaurant.com was a sponsor of this year’s Frugal Festival.
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. 
I LOVE restaurant.com! I first tried it just before a vacation to San Diego using the 80% coupon code. I bought certificates for restaurants I knew and already liked along with new ones in the neighborhood. The $25 certificates only cost $2 or $4 or I didn’t mind if they went unused. We tried some new restaurants and now have some new favorites in the area when we visit. The minimum spending requirement usually is easy to reach especially if you order complete meals. I only wish there were more restaurants in my home neighborhood on the website!
I frequently use restaurant.com certificates for my favorite local Italian restaurant. I buy several of the $25 certificates when there is a special code available. My last purchase was for 4 $25 certificates. I only paid $12! The certificate requires a minimum of $35 purchase. Even so after tip, we only spend about $18-20 for almost $40 worth of food. Totally worth it.
Some of the restaurants cut the portions in half as soon as they discover you are using a coupon from restaurant.com
I stopped using their certificates after three negative experiences.
Conversely, I have had positive experiences when I used Groupon, Living Social, etc. I am usually treated
well and in many instances, I became a regular customer (even without a coupon discount).
@mimi I’ve never had that happen and am bummed to hear your negative experience. But sounds like you voted with your dollars and did not return. You’d hope a restaurant would use it as a chance to impress you, not underwhelm you.
I used a certificate from restaurant.com for my wife and I’s anniversary at the end of June. We had a great time, found a new restaurant that we love, and got $25 off our bill for the price of $2!
Great info. I’ve been using resteraunt.com for a while.
The bigger the city the more offers you’ll find. It’s a great site and a great way to save, but again you have to have a lot of eateries and ones that you will want to go to.
I love this website. City Maps is running a twitter contest for restaurant.com and you win a $50 gift certificate just for tweeting their name! That would go very far with this website!!