Tip: Where to Dine and Save?

Unlike grocery shopping, clipping coupon for restaurant is not common, and the selections are very limited. I've seen paper coupons for subways, local pizza stores, or KFC near by my place. With the help of the Internet, you might be able to search and seek for printable restaurant coupons for some chain stores, but my luck is very limited, often frustrated. Online restaurant coupons is not practical yet as of early 2005.

Alternatively, some credit cards give you up to 5% rebate on dining at many restaurants where the cards are accepted. That works. Using another approach, folks at Restaurant.com offer a great way of locating restaurant near you to save. The saving is relative, compared to others dine at the same restaurant you pick. The way it works is that you buy dining certificates through the web at a discount price, often time at 50% or more below the face price. For example, a $25 dining certificate of your choice may only priced at $10 with some condition attached to it, like minimum purchase requirement of $35 order. The discount varies from one restaurant to another, the minimum purchase requirement when redeem at the restaurant also varies. But in general, you save if you pay for the dining certificate online with your credit card first, then take the certificate with you to pay for the meals in store. Immediately after you place your certificate order online, the instructions for you to print out the certificate will be emailed to you right away.

If you like to try out new places to eat-out with your family, the zip code search interface is very helpful to show you what are available participating stores near you. Just punch in your zip code, the next page will list all the restaurants and distances for your choice. Search before you buy dining certificates always at a discount pricing! Easy.

I tried at Restaurant.com and typed in the zip code of 95112, 39 choices within 15 miles proximity were presented to me with store names, description, distance, etc.

Once in a while, Restaurant.com offers extra deep savings on top of already discount dining certificate, sometimes up to 50% off. For example, a $25 dining certificate often priced at $10 on the site. If you have a 50% online coupon code to apply toward the certificate order, that will bring down the final price for you to only $5. That's right, pay only $5 for a dining certificate of $25 value! To check whether such great deal is available, click here.