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using all those restaurant.com certificates

J

JulieAB

TUG Review Crew: Expert
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Resorts Owned
Lifetime in Hawaii, Disney's Grand Californian
I have about $200+ in unused restaurant.com certificates after being and RCI platinum member this past year. The couple resturants we knew and liked have left the program. The rest are little mom and pop shops that I'm kinda afraid to just randomly try.

Any suggestions for using them or finding restuarants that are ok? I see they have reviews now, but it seems everything is still rated 4-5 stars! :rolleyes: When you compare to yelp, many places are hardly 2 stars! So I think restuarant.com is completely biased with the ratings.

We're in Phoenix/Scottsdale and plan to go to Anaheim a few times in the next 6 months if that helps.
 
We don't have much use for them at home but we do use them when we travel. We used one at the Golden Goose in Sedona and it was great.
 
We use coupons from Restuarant.com quite often (when they are offered at deep discounts - eg. $2 for $25 off). Restuarant.com has a great app that stores info for the coupon as well as allowing one to use the coupon on a smartphone. When a restuarant goes out of business - restuarant.com has allowed me to transfer the coupon to another restuarant.

Never had an issue - however, I have only used them mainly for restuarants close to our home in the SF Bay Area.
 
We use some of our certs. We just tried an Afghan kabob place in Charlottesville and it was really good. When in doubt a pizza place with the kids usually works. If I am unsure about a place I try to keep it to the required $37 for a $25 cert, that way even with tip I am only out a around $20 including the tip which is very reasonable even for a place that is just ok.

We used one at a local place that we like occasionally but it had so slow borderline bad service that I was really annoyed having to pay 18% on the full amount because without the cert I probably would have only left about 12%.
 
We've found that lately the utility of Rest.com has declined. Used to be a $35 minimum for a $25 coupon, now it's mostly $50's. Most restaurants are off the beaten path or are new mom 'n' pop places with untried or unusual menus.

We DO go over their menus before selection, so it reduces the chance of a clunker, but you never know form sure.

I find the site unhandy, and hard to select and print the coupons, maybe the smartphone app would help, but so far haven't tried it.

We too have a couple $100s in coupons, but none were bought at over 20% of face value, so if I never cash in another one, I've gotten far more than my money's worth.

Jim
 
Through my company's Corporate Perks program, I get emails about Restaurant.com almost daily. I had checked out my area a number of times, never wanting to purchase, due to options. Then, one time our favorite ice cream shop popped up. I purchased 4 $5 coupons for $8. We were pretty happy about that. But, since then, that same ice cream shop is no longer in their system.

Around my parents house in NH, there are a handful of pretty good seafood restaurants. They usually sell out pretty quick. But my mom got an email the other day, logged on and got a few coupons. But, as was mentioned, the $25 coupon is on $50 or more. That means they have to bring another couple if they want to use the coupons. She didn't look at the requirements before purchasing. They'll surely just go with others, but was not their plan.
 
If the coupon has expired, can you get it extended? I forgot I had one and missed the opportunity to use it. It was a bonus from somewhere, so I didn't pay anything for it.
 
linsj said:
If the coupon has expired, can you get it extended? I forgot I had one and missed the opportunity to use it. It was a bonus from somewhere, so I didn't pay anything for it.
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They no longer expire. Plus, you have the option of exchanging a gc at any time by clicking on a link to the right of your listed certificate in your account.
 
I've noticed that the option of $25 certificates has declined. They seem to have more $5 instead of $10 and $15 instead of $25. Some places don't count beverages against the required amount to spend. It's getting more difficult to get a really great deal. Some times you are lucky to just cover tip and tax.
 
We use ours mostly when we travel - especially in the Myrtle Beach area. Have used them across the country. They do not expire but, when a business goes out of business, they transfer the coupon to a gift certificate. I ended up with several hundred dollars in credit because I had bought coupons for the many places we traveled and did not use them. Then, they went out of business, and I now have lots of options to search from. Also use them when we visit kids in Richmond, VA. They are great!
 
We are sitting on $620 in generic eGift certificates and $120 in restaurant specific ones. Bought mostly when they had their 90% off sales which are now unheard of. We may use one or two certificates a year when we travel and hardly ever use one at home.

Looking through the available options for redeeming these in Orlando where we travel to most often, there are fewer options where you can use a $50 or $100 certificate. A lot more $5, $10, and $15 ones.

The utility of Restaurant.com certificates has definitely dropped. Our current certificates will likely outlive us.
 
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We use a few around home (though have a drawer full of unused coupons), but now try to see what's available near where we'll be traveling. The restaurant near the marina where we keep our boat is always available, so that's a fallback.

One other limitation we ran into was when a restaurant told us the offer wasn't usable on a holiday weekend. The coupon didn't say anything about that, but we didn't push the issue.
 
I'm a huge fan and user of Restaurant.com. I buy them for places in areas where I/we will vacation. If they are used, great but if not for whatever reason, they are completely exchangeable as already mentioned above.

There are several really good, personal faves, here in the Milwaukee area so we never really have a problems using them.

While yes the deep discounted sales (70% and more off) haven't been seen in a while, and yes many require higher purchase amounts, I'm still finding that a deal is better than no deal so I keep buying and using them.
 
bellesgirl said:
We will be going to Orlando soon - any suggestions for restaurant.com restaurants in the area?
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Giordano's and Cross Roads at House of Blues are two that we have used. We have given up on HOB though since they changed their menu a while ago. Though Giordano's is still a favorite.
 
If HOB in New Orleans is any representation of their chain, I would not plan on dining there . . . it was total YUCK!
 
Timeshare Von said:
If HOB in New Orleans is any representation of their chain, I would not plan on dining there . . . it was total YUCK!
Click to expand...

Orlando used to be great. When we went there years ago, before they offered Restaurant.com certificates, they were great. Best ribs and rib-eye anywhere. Our last few visits were mediocre at best.
 
I am finding a lot less restaurants available in the areas we travel to. We are in Palm Springs now and went to a restaurant that we had been to before and liked. They no longer participate in the program but did honor our certificate. We talked to the manager and he said they had problems with people getting upset about the automatic gratuities even though it is stated on the certificate. They would spend only the required amount of $35 and no more and then complain about the gratuity. It can't possibly pay the restaurants to join restaurant.com if too many people do this.

Lynn
 
using FF miles for Restaurant.com certs

Hello,
I have never purchased Restaurant.com certificates. I have some minor amounts x 3 kids of United FF miles that will expire and I was looking at using them for certificates. Not enough for anything else besides magazines...

It is 500pts = $25.00 certificate
2000 pts = $ 4 x $25.00 certificates

Anyone ever done this? and how does it go into Restaurant.com.... as a dollar amount credit?

it states: Once you redeem your miles, you will be sent, via email, a link to redeem your Restaurant.com code.

Any input on this process is greatly appreciated! Or should I start a new thread?

thanks!
Jackie
 
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