One of my favorite pastimes is dining out at new restaurants. However, my wallet isn’t always a fan of this activity. Restaurants can be very expensive!! So, my love for dining out compelled me to find ways to save money, but still enjoy one of the things that I like best. Here are some of my top tips:
- Buy a gift certificate: Have you heard of Restaurant.com? If you enjoy dining out, you need to visit the website immediately! You can purchase gift certificates to tons of different restaurants for a reduced price. For instance, you can purchase a gift certificate that’s redeemable for $25, but only costs $10. Cool, right?
- Take advantage of happy hour specials: Quite a few of my favorite restaurants offer happy hour deals that allow me to enjoy the experience of dining out, but for a reduced price. Typically, the happy hour menu is an “edited” version of the full menu, so the food is almost always as delicious.
- Get smart about menu tricks: Did you know that how you read the menu can influence how much you spend? For instance, if the restaurant doesn’t print dollar signs with the price (i.e. 18 instead of $18), you might end up with a more expensive bill. According to the Culinary Institute of America, you’re more likely to spend more if you don’t see the dollar sign next to the number. Be sure to try to imagine that they are there!
- Make a reservation with Opentable.com: Even if you don’t need to make a reservation at your favorite restaurant, using Opentable.com, a free booking service, earns you points toward dining gift certificates. You can then redeem these at any of Opentable’s partners.
What’s your favorite tip for saving money when dining out?
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Have you heard of the trick for vegetarians in restaurants? I got this from Caitlin at HTP: you order two starters instead of one main. That way you get to stick to your vegetarian diet, you get more variety (and insurance in case one doesn’t taste good) and it’s cheaper, too! Win-win-win, the whole way
Wei-Wei
I love restaurant.com, but you can save even more money! Keep your eyes on http://www.slickdeals.net, sometimes they post coupon codes that can bring a $25 certificate down to $2.50 or so. It’s totally crazy but it works – we do it all the time!
I save money by keeping in mind how filling a dish is going to be and if I can split it between two meals. For example, I could spend $8 on a salad or vegetarian dish but probably eat most the meal and not have much to take home (and leftover salad?? eh…no thanks). But I could spend $14 on a steak with lots of veggies and some potatoes and easily be able to take half the dish home. Therefore I’ve turned one $14 meal into two $7 steak dinners. Also helps in the calories department, too.
Ahh I need those towels!!!
My “secret ingredient”….let me think….does adding beans to a salad, or milk to coffee count??
My husband and I will often get two cheaper dishes and then split them. We save money because we end up ordering less. Another trick is you find out when the restaurant is having specials for locals or get the lunch time menu. Another trick that we do is to make sure we have a coupon or some kind of gift card.
My favorite tip is to split an entree with my husband. Restaurant entrees are usually so big that we don’t each need one. Then we usually get a salad to share or an appetizer as well. Saves money everytime, and we never go hungry!
sharing meals when the portions are large! Great tips
Happy hour 2-for-1 drinks and apps are my favorite deals. That way I don’t eat as much! I love Restaurant.com, great deal!
Great tips!
When dining with certain people, we like to share dishes, which may allow us to also eat healthier than we would otherwise.