before the night is over

[inheritrix]

i know a lot of you shop at restaurant.com to buy gift certificates to restaurants at more than half off- $25 gift cert for $10 for example. but until midnight tonight, they are only $4 for a $25 gift certificate

Comments

[munchkin1616]

I wish they had this for my area!

[nadalia]

How do you find this to work out? I guess it just doesn't seem to be a good deal for me. For example. My Hubby and I went to dinner tonight at Bennigans. I had a $25.00 gift card and our dinner including 2 alchoholic beverages was $34.00. My gift card didn't have any restrictions. Most of the resteraunts I see on the site say that the certificate must be used on purchases of over $35 and many exlude alcoholic beverages. One says you can only use it at lunch and another says they add 18% gratuity (outrageous!) before the discount is applied.I guess if you have a larger family then the certs are a good deal? It just seems so restrictive to me.

[inheritrix]

it seems to work out well for us and there are only 2 of us- hubby and i. we are in the metro dc area and most restaurants here are at least $12-$18 per person for dinner. so with just an entree each that would take us over the $35 minimum usually requred to use the $25 gift certificate. Even if we went to a cheaper restaurant and got appetizer + entrees +dessert or appetizer, salads, and dessert we'd still reach the $35 minimum. So in essence we are paying only $10 for a $35 meal, plus the $4 cost of the gift certificate= $14 for a $35 meal.

and 18% gratuity is lower than standard [standard being 20% for good service as far as we were raised]. it is irritating that restaurants feel the need to tag on gratuity automatically but our point of view, however rude it is,is that if they are going to add on 18% to the check than that's ALL they get and we don't give them the customary polite 20% instead.

[clintpatty]

They also don't get to overlook reporting this money to be taxed like they might for cash tips.

[nymphatacita]

It all works out in the end. IRS taxes on a certain amount of tips, whether you get them or not. So between having to pay for your walkouts, and getting a 50% tip from a nice person, it evens out.

[_biotch]

oh great! i just bought one from ebay... i have bad timing!

[ex_shiggity]

i bought $100 worth of these for my aunt and uncle today. they were blown away. i didn't tell them that i only paid $16 total after the code. :)

[manuka]

Thanks for the tip - unfortunately, any of the ones that I'm interested in near me are sold out - but the $25 for $10 thing is helpful, maybe we can use this to help cut our eating out budget some.