Restaurant Meals for Less

Do you love to go out to eat, but can't always stomach the cost? We love to go out, especially to try new things and are always looking for a way to save money. Well, we finally found a way to slash our restaurant bill considerably!

You may have already heard of the site, restaurant.com, which sells discount coupons to a variety of restaurants. At their regular prices, you can get a $25 restaurant coupon for $10...BUT, I signed up for their email mailing list and now just quietly wait for them to send out even more price reductions throughout the year. They regularly have anywhere from 50-90% off specials (they give you a discount code to type in at checkout). Most of these specials are connected with a holiday, with the biggest discounts being just after Christmas. Last week, I was able to buy a few $25 coupons for $3 each.

I believe each of the restaurants on the site are independently operated, which means you won't find restaurants such as Red Lobster or Chili's! But, I have been able to try some new restaurants I might not have otherwise tried. We all tend to get sucked into the "chain restaurant is the only option" mentality. There are some great restaurants out there! This is a perfect excuse to try one out! With that being said, I did notice one upscale chain restaurant listed, Shula's, but it was location specific (meaning not all locations offered the discount). I still can't get over that the menu there is written on a football. But, I digress...

Anyway, go to the site and type in your zipcode. From the dropdown menu, choose "View - all" to get them all on one page...it's kind of misleading trying to navigate all the pages if you don't do that, so get them all on one page. Be sure to read the restrictions for each restaurant. They can be different. For example, one restaurant, we had a minimum purchase of $35 required, which is no problem for us, a family of four. Most also include a 18% gratuity. Just be sure to read the restrictions. Some are more so than others. Once you pay, you can immediately download your coupon and take it with you. I like to show our waiter ahead of time that we have the coupon (of course, they are always happy to see it, as most will get a 18% gratuity out of it)! We have fed a family of four full on appetizers, main meals, drinks and dessert for under $40, which included the tip! Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

Please share your experiences on how you save money when you go out to eat! We'd love to hear your stories!

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