Eating out for $2 IS Possible... who knew?
Columbia's burger - delicious and the fries were made right on the spot. Oh, so good!
Last month I saw a deal on dealhack that got me curious. I'd heard of restaurant.com before and how you could get a $25 gift certificate for $10, but dealhack had an 80% off code for the site. That meant a $25 gc for $2!?! I decided to take a look. There were tons of restaurants in our area that were offering gift cards, but there were SO many restrictions. Then I found one neighborhood restaurant without restrictions: Roth's Steakhouse. Columbia had taken me there once for a birthday dinner (pre-Pumpkin) and I remembered it being fantastic. I checked out their menu and we could easily eat lunch or brunch their for $25. I bit. And then I bit again. I ended up getting 4 gift cards. Then I felt buyers regret. What if it didn't work? What if I just wasted $8. Ugh.
BUT IT WORKED!
We went for brunch. They were pleasantly not busy and we were able to sit outside where Pumpkin could be entertained by the passerby's. They were very kind about us having the gift certificate and were very familiar with it. We did end up spending a little more than $25 gc covered but we wouldn't have needed to. The portions were huge (Pumpkin could have shared with us rather than ordering her the side of grilled asparagus but it was delicious!) and the food was fantastic. We had such a fabulous time and are anxious to use a another of our gift certificates (because of course we still have 3 left).
One of the best ways to get the deals at restaurant.com is to sign up on their site. They send out a lot of emails but the I think the treat of eating out for cheap is worth it. Also, you print out the gift certificate at home so there's no waiting for them to send it to you. Quick, convenient, a guilty pleasure without the guilt... I think we might have to head to Roth's again this weekend. =)
Here's restaurant.com's latest deal:
This ends May 25th 30th (offer extended!), but there's sure to be another offer after that. They seem to restock gc's at the beginning of the month so the best deals can be found towards the end of each month.
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2 comments:
And if you sign up for emails on the restaurant.com website, you'll routinely get offers of 60%, 70% and then finally 80% off as the month nears an end. We've gotten great deals and discovered cool places here in Chicago doing this. But you're right--read the restrictions first. They vary by restaurant and can include days of the week and minimum tab. Oh, and as a nicety to the waitstaff, tip on the non-discounted bill, not after the discount has been taken.
Terry B, I was only looking for places we liked (that didn't have restrictions) but that's such a fantastic idea to use restaurants.com to find and try out new restaurants! I could just check the restaurant's site to find out pricing to make sure we can stay around the $25. Thanks Terry!
And tipping... sure there's the standard 15-20% but now the tip somehow grows incrementally with how nice they are to Pumpkin... or how challenging she is. :/ One of those extra expenses no one mentions about having a child. lol
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