Cheap food anyone?

I saw this on another forum I am on and thought I'd pass it on:

"To celebrate 9-9-09 for 99 hours only, enter code NINETY at checkout for 90% off"

http://www.restaurant.com/index.asp?pgn=home

Can you give a little info about what this is? I don't see anything like the quote in your post in the page that you linked to. Did you intend to link to something else?

I tried this last night. It's generally $25 coupons for restaurants, that normally go for $10. But with the 90% off promo, it's a $25 coupon for $1. Seems like a good deal.

Hmmm, that quote was on the site earlier in the day. Here's another site talking about the same deal: http://w.slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1547585

Btw I'm not affiliated with these sites in any way, just trying to pass on a potentially good deal.

I'll see what happens. I just ordered $300 worth of coupons for $12. Even if I only use one of them it will pay for the lot.

For what it's worth, I can vouch for the legitimacy of that site. I've never had problems with it - I get deals like this from Borders Rewards emails regularly. I've purchased these gift certificates a few times and haven't gotten any spam or what-not from them. I mention all this only because I'd have tried them a lot sooner had I had anyone who could tell me they were worthwhile.

(I, also, am unaffiliated with this company. Just another broke food-lover.)

Make sure you read the special conditions for each restaurant before buying. I bought 10 coupons for $2 each a couple months ago, so even if I don't use half of them I come out ahead. There are some good restaurants that have coupons on the site.

EvanstonFoodGuy wrote:Make sure you read the special conditions for each restaurant before buying. I bought 10 coupons for $2 each a couple months ago, so even if I don't use half of them I come out ahead. There are some good restaurants that have coupons on the site.

The conditions all seemed pretty reasonable. Sure, I need to spend $35 an eat Sunday-Thursday, but doesn't seem so hard to do -- especially when it ends up costing $11.

I went to restaurant.com last night and many of the certificates are sold out.

Quick update just to forewarn: went to the site to check things out. It may be a result of filters in place at my office, but it didn't load correctly so there were lots of empty boxes where pics and buttons should be. Also text jammed in a very narrow column far to the right. And acres of white space between listings.
Nonetheless, I persevered and was able to search and read and select.

Then, I got to check-out and put my "ninety" code in the discount box, but the total remained undiscounted. Nothing I could do would make it apply the discount.

So I got on the phone, which was answered amazingly quickly by a woman very eager to help. However, for whatever reason it took me a full 10 minutes just to successfully spell "mrbarolo" to her. However clearly and slowly and with illustrations (e.g., "b" as in "boy") I spoke, she could not put the whole thing together correctly.

Finally we made it through the registration and proceeded to the ordering.

First item: "Erwin," which I spelled for her.
Her: Is that "Erwin," or "Berwyn?"

And so it went.

In the end, I was able to purchase 5 $25 GCs for $5, which does seem to make it worthwhile. I'm awaiting email confirmation before I stop holding my breath and believe I succeeded.

Many restaurants are sold out, but there are still many LTH favs on the list and available. Among those of interest I purchased or noticed scroll by were:
* Spoon Thai
* La Cazuela"
*La Quebrada
*Erwin
*Turquoise
*Dorado
*Noon O Kabob
*Deleece
*Sola
*Indian Garden

Be aware that most require a $50 total bill and they will add on a pre-discounted 18% gratuity. Often Fri/Sat. are restricted, as is booze.
Certs are good for a year, and are even exchangeable up to 60 or 90 days, if you change your mind.

Seems like a good deal to me.

I just ordered mine online, among them are board favorites:

Weiner and Still Champion
Al Primo Cantu

$125 worth of food for $4.80. With some restrictions. Still, if even one works when I want it to, I am ahead of the game.

Thanks for the heads up!

I'm a little surprised that many people seem to not have encountered restaurant.com before! We have used it quite a bit, and I could swear I saw a thread about it on here.

They seem to work in cycles, having a limited number of gift certificates for each cycle. In a few days they will refresh and be full up on all their gift certificates, which will be offered at "full price" ($10 for a $25 gc, $4 for a $10 gc, etc.) and then the emails with codes for percentage discounts will start circulating, starting at maybe 60% off and gradually increasing to 80% off - I haven't seen 90% off that much. Of course, the longer you wait, the higher the chances of your favorite restaurant being sold out, but then you just have to wait a few weeks and it'll be back!

But yes, do be aware of the terms and conditions - we used one at Arirang recently, and though it clearly states on the certificate that they will add 18% gratuity, I had forgotten by the time the (non-itemized) credit card bill came back to me. Had my eagle-eyed husband not been so alert, we would have given them quite the tip!