Restaurant.com Website Beef

[dioxide45]

Restaurant.com made a change to their website recently that has ticked my off. You can no longer do a search by state/region/area. In the past you could pick a state, then it would show a map where you could select to refine in on a certain region. It would then break that region down on another map where you could select which areas you wanted to search for restaurants in. Now the only search option that exists is to search by zip code. Rather aggravating when going on vacation and I don't know the local zip codes.

Edited to note: You can still search the old fashioned way when going a eGift Card redemption on TheIdealMeal.com redemption site. But sometimes I just want to go in and do a quick search and not have to log in to my account and go through the process like I am redeeming a cert.

 

[moonstone]

Restaurant.com made a change to their website recently that has ticked my off. You can no longer do a search by state/region/area. In the past you could pick a state, then it would show a map where you could select to refine in on a certain region. It would then break that region down on another map where you could select which areas you wanted to search for restaurants in. Now the only search option that exists is to search by zip code. Rather aggravating when going on vacation and I don't know the local zip codes.

Edited to note: You can still search the old fashioned way when going a eGift Card redemption on TheIdealMeal.com redemption site. But sometimes I just want to go in and do a quick search and not have to log in to my account and go through the process like I am redeeming a cert.

Just go to; http://www.uszip.com/ -just type in the city & state you are interested in & the search area and the site will give you the zip code(s)!
Hope that helps.
~Diane

 

[heathpack]

Just go to; http://www.uszip.com/ -just type in the city & state you are interested in & the search area and the site will give you the zip code(s)!
Hope that helps.
~Diane

The problem is that if you are traveling to a given city, you would need to know all the zip codes for the city and the proximity of each to both your accommodations and whatever site you are visiting for the day. Impractical and annoying.

I am not a fan of restaurant.com, but I can definately appreciate how irritating such a change would be.

H

 

[Talent312]

Its good to vent, but perhaps there's a feedback function you could use.

 

[Kozman]

Funnny, but I don't see the change you mentioned. On the home page you can select a zip code, state or popular city. For instance, click on the state box and you get to select a state, then the map shows different areas of the state, etc.

 

[Passepartout]

Works the same as always for me as well. You CAN search by zip code, but you can also choose state, then whittle it down by area.

That said, I have never found an easy way to redeem generic GC'c. I have a bunch of them, but it always seems like I have to go back to the beginning after I find a desirable restaurant to the 'redeem coupon' place, open 'my account', select an unused coupon, THEN find the restaurant again. Maybe I'm asking too much to have the site remember which restaurant I've selected while I go to my account and select a GC.

We have no participating restaurants near where we live, so we only use Rest.com when we travel. It adds another dimension to be doing it in a hotel/TS using their lobby computer/printer.

The amounts one must buy is increasing ($50 to use a $25 cert) and the gratuity seems to have climbed up to 20%. The utility of rest.com is waning.

Jim

 

[Timeshare Von]

<<<snipped>>>

The amounts one must buy is increasing ($50 to use a $25 cert) and the gratuity seems to have climbed up to 20%. The utility of rest.com is waning.

Jim

I'm with Jim here . . . having been a big fan of the site for nearly 10 years, I have found it less and less appealing.

 

[moonstone]

You could always just use the zip code from the address of the resort you are staying at. Just set the search area to however many miles from the resort you are willing to travel.
Also the zip code search website I posted usually gives all the zip codes for that city if it has more than one.
~Diane

 

[MichaelColey]

The amounts one must buy is increasing ($50 to use a $25 cert) and the gratuity seems to have climbed up to 20%. The utility of rest.com is waning.

It's been heading that way for several years. There are still some real gems ($25 to use a $35, 18% tip, and menu pricing where $35 is a reasonable target for the bill), but they're few and far between. It used to be MOST of them.

Fortunately, as Restaurant.com has become less useful, Groupon, LivingSocial and others have really picked up the slack. It's seldom that we have to pay "full fare" for a meal out.

 

[dioxide45]

Funnny, but I don't see the change you mentioned. On the home page you can select a zip code, state or popular city. For instance, click on the state box and you get to select a state, then the map shows different areas of the state, etc.

Works the same as always for me as well. You CAN search by zip code, but you can also choose state, then whittle it down by area.

When I am on the homepage I only have the search by Zip Code and Popular City options. Under Find Restaurants, I only have the search by Zip Code. I have tried this in IE 6.0, 8.0, and 9.0. Not sure what the issue is.

That said, I have never found an easy way to redeem generic GC'c. I have a bunch of them, but it always seems like I have to go back to the beginning after I find a desirable restaurant to the 'redeem coupon' place, open 'my account', select an unused coupon, THEN find the restaurant again. Maybe I'm asking too much to have the site remember which restaurant I've selected while I go to my account and select a GC.

Actually, other than having to log in to my account to get an eGift Card to use for gift redemption, searching in TheIdealMeal.com site is much easier. Log in to your account on Restaurant.com first and then find the cert you want to redeem and click the Redeem link. It will take you directly to TheIdealMeal.com where you can search and buy. I don't like how the redemption site is laid out and each denomination of certificate is broken out (instead of all in on box like on Restaurant.com).

We have no participating restaurants near where we live, so we only use Rest.com when we travel. It adds another dimension to be doing it in a hotel/TS using their lobby computer/printer.

The amounts one must buy is increasing ($50 to use a $25 cert) and the gratuity seems to have climbed up to 20%. The utility of rest.com is waning.

Jim

I agree that there are fewer and fewer certs that have good redemption requirements. I am noticing the 20% grat more and more. There are still a few with $35 redemption requirements, and still a couple that we like that only require the purchase of two entrées.

 

[cgeidl]

Need to spend $50 is fair.

Restaurant.com is one of our favorite discount dining options.We feel $50 is okay and after tax and tip your bill comes to about $65 and $40 using your discount.The $25 enables the restaurant to break even or make a small profit on their food preparation cost. I think most people using these discounts use them repeatedly and restaurants have found out that they lose to much offering $35 for $25 coupon.That only gives them $10 for costs and most people do not become regular full paying customers even at excellent restaurants.
My son runs a restaurant that honors the coupons and it is unbelievable the stories he has about people really trying to discount the discount.Ie... Two people each having a coupon wanting to sit at two separate adjacent tables where they can talk to one another and each use a coupon.
While I do not like the automatic tipping or tipping in general as I believe people should be paid enough without tips I do think 20% is a reasonable tip for excellent service but 2 bits is too much for poor sloppy uncaring service.Without the tip though some people would stiff the servers no matter how good they were.

 

[rapmarks]

unless it is a really price, gret restaurant, I won't buy the certificates that say minimum $50, those certificates often cost 20 instead of 10 dollars too. so yes you only spend 40 plus the cost of the certificate, but two can eat out at a lot of places for that, and sometimes it is awfully hard to reach that amount, we can't eat that much. Also, we have had to offer off the regular menu and if we hadn't used the certificate, we could have had the special and spent the same amount as the discounted amount. A lot of times the restaurant goes off the program before you can use the certificate, and sometimes when you walk in they refuse to accept the certificate.

 

[Timeshare Von]

At a time when discretionary spending is down, businesses need to be making deals better, not worse. Dining out is generally a luxury in my opinion, one I'm not willing to pay more for in this economy.

Not a good time to be trying to get more out of the g/c program and its customers.