Restaurant.com

http://restaurant.com/

Menus, interior pics, hours and addresses of many restaurants across the country.

Even better, printable gift certificates to dozens of Chicago restaurants at 50% or more off ($25 gift certificates for $10 or less).

I just checked a moment ago and saw a $25 gift certificate to the fantastic Ixcapuzalco in Logan Square for $5.

Carefully read the restaurant.com coupons. They're good deals, no denial, but they usually come with some strings. Often, you need to spend a minimum amount, like twice as much, to use a half-price gift certificate. That makes it really more like a 25%-off coupon than a gift cert. There may also be restricted times to use them, if I recall correctly.

Restaurant.com also auctions off many certs on eBay, much cheaper than they sell them for on their site. I've picked up a lot of good ones including Jury's, Ixca., and Bistro Margo

http://stores.ebay.com/Restaurant-com

Also, Joel F is right. Many have strings attached like specific days, size of party, or even specific times of day.

Oh, definitely make sure you're using it when it's allowed.

We took a $25 GC to Cafe le Coq on their prix fixe tuesday and they told us we could do one or the other - use the GC or do the prix fixe. We did the prix fixe, but weren't hugely happy about it. They'd decided it fell under the "Gift certificates cannot be combined with any other gift certificates, third party certificates, coupons, or promotions." section.

-ed

gleam wrote:We took a $25 GC to Cafe le Coq on their prix fixe tuesday and they told us we could do one or the other - use the GC or do the prix fixe.

They didn't tell us that till we'd finished, which is perhaps not their fault since they didn't know we had the certificate earlier and we hadn't asked. What really irked me is that there were three of us and only one of us had the prix fixe meal. But generally the conditions on the certificates are pretty clear and you see them before you decide to buy so you can decide whether it's worth it to have a certificate you can't use Friday or Saturday night (to mention the most common restriction). On the other hand, I was very pleased to be able to pay $6 recently to get a $25 certificate to the [excellent] Chew Chew cafe in Riverside, which they gladly took at their popular Sunday brunch.

Another warning about the Restaurant.com certificates is that the search function is not very reliable. It seems that half the Oak Park restaurants are listed as "West suburbs" and the other half as "Oak Park." The Oak Park list does not include Avenue Alehouse, which is in Oak Park, and does include the Chew Chew in Riverside and Quigley's Irish Pub in Oak Lawn.

And a final p.s. I don't see Le Coq anywhere on the current list. I suspect they decided they'd become busy enough that they no longer need to offer the certificate.

Gleam and Ann,

Thanks for putting Restaurant.com on the radar. Went to Philander's in Oak Park for several courses of oysters and martini on Monday night; quite a deal for $20 off (with a certificate that cost $5.00).

Hammond

eatchicago wrote:Restaurant.com also auctions off many certs on eBay, much cheaper than they sell them for on their site. I've picked up a lot of good ones including Jury's, Ixca., and Bistro Margo

http://stores.ebay.com/Restaurant-com

Also, Joel F is right. Many have strings attached like specific days, size of party, or even specific times of day.

Well, guess the cats out of the bag. We've had great success, although I hope we do not get into any bidding contest against our fellow hounds.

Rob

Vital Information wrote:

eatchicago wrote:Restaurant.com also auctions off many certs on eBay, much cheaper than they sell them for on their site. I've picked up a lot of good ones including Jury's, Ixca., and Bistro Margo

http://stores.ebay.com/Restaurant-com

Also, Joel F is right. Many have strings attached like specific days, size of party, or even specific times of day.

Well, guess the cats out of the bag. We've had great success, although I hope we do not get into any bidding contest against our fellow hounds.

Rob

Is it just me or are all the items 'buy it now' only? A GC for ixcapuzalco on ebay is $5, just like it is on the site..

what's an example of one that's cheaper?

gleam wrote:Is it just me or are all the items 'buy it now' only? A GC for ixcapuzalco on ebay is $5, just like it is on the site..

what's an example of one that's cheaper?

The deal changes pretty frequently, it seems. They used to all start at $1 or something on eBay. I found it difficult to get coupons for the nicer places (like Hugo's Frog Bar, mk) for much less than $7-8. Still worth it if you're going.

gleam wrote:Is it just me or are all the items 'buy it now' only? A GC for ixcapuzalco on ebay is $5, just like it is on the site..

what's an example of one that's cheaper?

It looks like they've switched over to "Buy It Now" only.

The difference in price from Restaurant.com and their ebay auctions are not as drastic as they used to be. It used to be that they sold the certs for half-off on their site, and started ebay auctions much cheaper. Looks like they've recently abandoned that tactic.

There are a handful that are $10 on ebay but $12.50 on their site (Sugar, for example).

I've found that every month, that the last week or so restaurant.com offers 40 to 45% off - which is a great deal! $25 gift certificate for $6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy cow!! Has anyone ever tried pairing it up with the rewardsnewtork (formerly idine.com)? I'll tell yah there are over 20 restaurants that are on both and I usually dont buy a certificate from restaurant.com unless its on the rewardsnetwork.. soo think of this... a $25 gift certificate bought for $6, but a minimum purchase of $40, leaving $15 left... and getting 20% off that.. which is $15-3 = $12 and the $ 6 you bought it with... a meal for $40 cost you $18. What a deal huh?

Discount Gift Certificates at Restaurant.com are an additional 50% off between now and January 28.

The special offer code is : 93530

Forgive my ignorance (we've always used e-bay for this) how does one get to the discounted certificates on restaurant.com (or does one purchase a regular certificate and use the code to get it for 1/2 price?)

When you look view your shopping cart, there's a box to enter the promotional code, and a button to recalculate the price.

This is great info, just got two heavily discounted gift certs through ebay/restaurant.com to places I was planning on going anyway!
BUT--the added bonus was that after I paid, I got a FREE subscription to Saveur magazine (plus another that I've never heard of, but it was free so...) And they swore up and down that there were no strings attached.
I'm not sure how long the magazine offer will be there or whether it was connected to how I paid, but just thought I'd pass that along, since Saveur is fun and normally costs $19.95 I think.

geli wrote:the added bonus was that after I paid, I got a FREE subscription to Saveur magazine (plus another that I've never heard of, but it was free so...)

Yep, you're free Saveur subscription is the real deal. I've been enjoying that for nearly a year now. The other subscription is probably for Tracks, a relatively new "adult contemporary/alternative" magazine that makes me want to vomit. I'm sorry, you lose a bit of credibility when you aim to promote new, quality music to people older than 18 but have Sting, Willie Nelson, Prince, and John Lennon on your cover. Now I love Wille Nelson, but these aren't exactly new artists they're promoting. Read the letters to the editor to loathe the self-congratulatory 'zine even more. For a similarly-themed, yet somehow more palatable music mag, try Paste. Tracks, however, has driven me to tune in to KISS FM and the B96. That magazine is terrible.

Sorry for the off-topic rant.

Cheers,

Aaron

I have visited the restaurant.com website a number of times over the past few months and it seems like all the good restaurants are always sold out...

Does anyone know how their inventory system works. I have the feeling the restaurats are not renewing with the website.

I saw someone pose this question on the dining out page, and thought that this would be the more appropriate forum.

Thanks,

KevinT

I believe they restock on the first of the month, so try early tomorrow morning if you really want one of those gift certificates.

I was talking with the marketing director at Restaurants.com a few weeks ago (I think I'm going to use them as part of a give-away promotion I'm working on for a client) and found out that any group (corporate or private individual) can buy blocks of 50 $25 coupons for $5 each. If a group of people wanted to acquire a block, they could split them up. If you wanted, say, 5 coupons, it would cost you $25 but would be worth $125 in food.

Hammond

David Hammond wrote: any group (corporate or private individual) can buy blocks of 50 $25 coupons for $5 each.

Presumably the 50 can be to different restaurants?

A good gift is also the "mega" certificate, where you give someone a gift certificate to restaurant.com, and they pick the actual restaurants.

gleam wrote:

David Hammond wrote: any group (corporate or private individual) can buy blocks of 50 $25 coupons for $5 each.

Presumably the 50 can be to different restaurants?

A good gift is also the "mega" certificate, where you give someone a gift certificate to restaurant.com, and they pick the actual restaurants.

Gleam,

The way it works is, you get 50 unique identifiers and links that you use to order 50 certificates for any of the hundreds of restaurants listed on Restaurants.com. When you give an identifer/link to someone, that person can then use that $25 at any restaurant in the Restaurants.com database.

Hammond

David Hammond wrote:The way it works is, you get 50 unique identifiers and links that you use to order 50 certificates for any of the hundreds of restaurants listed on Restaurants.com. When you give an identifer/link to someone, that person can then use that $25 at any restaurant in the Restaurants.com database.

Oh, very cool. I'm sure 5-10 people could be found here willing to chip in for that.

David Hammond wrote: . . . If you wanted, say, 5 coupons, it would cost you $25 but would be worth $125 in food.

Hammond,

If you sign up for their email notification, (or perhaps buy one certificate), you'll discover that there is a fire sale on these certificates, of 50% to 60% off, at least once a month. I have almost never paid more than $5 for single restaurant.com certificates, and sometimes as little as $3.

I guess I'm advising you that it's not necessary to buy them in bulk to get a discount.

Alfonso

"Most of the United States was settled by Anglo-Saxon and Puritan types. The work ethic prevailed and the pleasures of life were frowned on. It's real simple: Work ethic equals bland food."

Alphonso,

Yes, you are correct: I receive a $5 for $25 coupon offer regularly(like twice in the last 30 days)...and it wouldn't surprise me if a better rate could be negotiated for bulk purchases (though I have not confirmed this).

Hammond

PS. Good to hear from you, your highness. I haven't forgotten that I still have your TZone book.

FINALLY.

Chilpancingo
Kiki's Bistro
Bistro Margot
Jacky's Bistro
heck, even Hot Chocolate certs are avail... happy shopping!

Recently I noticed (I'm new to these forums) that there are special discount codes to use when purchasing restaurant coupons on restaurants.com; these codes make the certificates even cheaper. I am just wondering where these codes come from.

Thanks!

Once you buy a certificate, you'll be put on an email list that will then send you (lately almost weekly) news of specials. We just had the graduation special. Father's Day should be coming soon.

I am the Regional Sales Manager for Restaurant.com. I am new to this board. If any of you have any questions about our program feel free to email me. Also I'm always looking for new leads or recommendations for restaurants to join the program, so if any of you have some favorite restaurants that you would like to see please let me know.

Jeremy

This is a little short notice. But there is a 50% code: 97505

Expires today (8/1/05)

Certificates to LobsterGram.com and Allen Brothers Online Store are now being offered too. I just noticed it, but it might have been on there a while.

They have also added Candlelite.