Restaurant.comReviews 866

I was given a $25 gift card to this site. Even though we eat out a lot, I was unfamiliar with all but two of the 26 participating restaurants within a 15 mile radius of my zip code. Of those two, one was an Italian restaurant whose entrees started at close to the full value of the gift card. The other was a reasonably priced BBQ place, so we chose to print our gift certificate for it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered we could only redeem our $25 gift IF we SPENT $37.50 there! Call me crazy, but if you are FORCED to SPEND MONEY in order to use a GIFT CARD, then it's NOT A GIFT anymore!

This seems a legitimate business BUT buyer beware.
Pros:
1) I had some extra airline points I was going to lose so I used them to buy $100.00 worth of restaurant.com certificates.

Cons:
1) All the restaurants I saw listed had a minimum consumption so in my case, I bought a $25.00 certificate in ‘La Cigale' but I will be required to spend $37.50. Depending on the restaurant this may end up making you spend more money than you wanted (or eating more than you should). Furthermore, if you choose to then obtain a $50.00 coupon (rather than $25.00) the minimum consumption then jumps to say $70.00. I find this annoying.
A. In some cases the cost and time of printing the certificate was more expensive than the discount received.
2) Read the fine print as there is limitations on how many certificates you can use in one sitting and how many times you can use a coupon in a restaurant per MONTH.
3) There is a tad of bait and switch going on. Once you create the account you no longer have the same options. I explain. If you do not have an account you may find a supper deal to purchase a ‘$25.00 La Cigale' restaurant certificate for $4.00. But once you are a member (so Far) all those cool deals stop. So in a way it is better to go in as a new customer, purchase several deals and then never use the account again unless there is a special that includes you.
4) I found a very limiting list of restaurant. If you live in bigger cities like Miami or West Palm then you have much more options. Most of the restaurants were either very High END or not very healthy (heavy on the carbs).
5) Personally I found the website to be frustrating and confusing to use but you may have a different experience.
6) I tried to call customer support but was never connected. Email to customer support seems to be a better approach unless you like to be placed on wait for a long time.
7) They have an FAQ section but it was not written in a way that I could clearly get my answers or steps needed.

So in all there are some benefits from the opportunity but just be aware of some of the limitations. To trade dead end airlines points it is an option (you are not loosing money) but i believe you get more out of it if you make the purchase directly.

We used Restaurant.com for about 3 years with no problems. Great Deals! BUT, the last year has been a totally different story. They are putting restaurants on their site that HAVE NOT authorized their use of coupons! Totally WRONG! Before you buy anything from restaurant.com, call the restaurant first and make sure they have authorized a coupon to the restaurant. We have gotten to restaurants only to find out they have not approved the use of restaurant.com's coupons.

I was trying print out two $50 gift certificates and "purchased" the cards using the "gift card amounts" that were listed next to the restaurant (sort of like my children's SCRIP program fundraiser). I made sure I had ordered more then then "minimum amount" that was displayed -- so, purchased 3 cards to get to meet the minimum price. HOWEVER, much to my chagrin and incredible disappointment, the certificates cannot be combined to get a nice meal. You can only use one per visit. It's a real disaster and colossal waste of money.

Don't work for Restaurant before you read fine print. Don't waste your money. They should pay you to work for them. Example Restaurant, com policy "9. Termination. The IC will continue to participate in the IC Program on a month to month basis until terminated upon written notice by either party with or Without Cause. RDC may also terminate the IC's participation in the IC Program, at any time in its complete discretion, or as otherwise stated in these ICProgram Terms. Upon termination, the IC will no longer participate in the IC Program and must cease all usage of RDC Marks and materials Cost Fees Independent Consultant (IC): $289 (?) or Independent Consultant Manager (ICM): $1289 (?)

SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM it IS a scam. Tried 10 times to redeem a gift card but it will not work (on different days). I enter the number, their system says I have a $50 credit, but when I go to pay, the credit disappears and redeeming the gift card is impossible. I CANNOT COMPLETE ANY TRANSACTION using the gift card. It does not even offer the gift card as a payment option once I get to the shopping cart -- it only asks for a credit card.

I am simply NOT going to trust a company like this with my credit card information! I'd be willing to bet $100 that if I entered my credit card info, I would be billed for the transaction rather than have the "gift card" applied -- that is exactly what other people have complained about.

STAY AWAY and do not give them your credit card number without reading about HOW MANY people have been screwed by doing so.

I hope the owners do not have children -- all we need is a world with more people like them!

So, the site LOOKS like you get all kinds of deals. So I got a $50 gift to restaurant.com... but when you get a gift to the site, none of the discounted rate purchases apply... and then when you choose restaurants, the minimum purchase (cash out of pocket), can't use for tax or gratuity, and limit one certificate per visit make the whole thing just an impractical scam. DON'T give this as a gift. You will be wasting your money. I won't even bother explaining how bad the site works, since everyone else already mentioned that. Better of to go where you want to eat and spend real money than to deal with this headache.

I sent the following to Restaurant.com via email three times with NO response what-so-ever from them:

My sister gave me two Restaurant.com cards about a year ago. I finally decided to use them (or try to use them) about 2 months ago. It has been such a huge hassle it is not worth the tiny discounts. I hope my sister did not spend much on these! I have to use them when I am driving and it was ridiculous how difficult it was to get the certificate on my iphone. I had to call you guys twice - the guy at the first restaurant also tried to figure it out and he could not and I am pretty computer savvy! So I never ate there.
So, I decide to try another restaurant - Little Europe. The owner kept telling me that I had to buy $37.00 to get the $5.00 discount. It was actually (I can't remember the exact numbers) $7.50 that I needed to purchase to get the discount. Finally, I convinced her that this was the case and again, had to call you guys to use the iphone app. Not only all this... the owner was rude, the service was horrible and the food sucked!
Do you guys just get people out there to sell to ANY restaurant no matter how crappy they are so you can make a profit and the salesperson can make a commission?
What a waste of time and money these cards are! Can my sister get her money back? I would suggest you respond with a solution unless you want a really bad review on the Internet.

Sent from my iPad

Pretty much what everyone else has said. It's more like a "coupon" site than anything, and it's a terrible site to navigate. When I exchanged a couple of gift certificates, I had to use that dollar amount individually - they didn't recombine to one larger total (which meant I was limited to a $10 and a $15 place, rather than a $25 place). Also, at one point, one of my gift certificates disappeared when I exchanged it. I contacted their customer service, and obviously they didn't read my email. I got a form response instead which didn't address my issue. When I replied and called them out on this, they sent pretty much the exact email back (but at least this time the funds were in my account again.) Ugh. This place is not worth my time.

There should be a ZERO star option for this terrible website! I can't believe reputable companies are recommending them! DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY! A small pizza place in our area could never get reimbursed for the 'coupons' they honored, so of course they can't honor them any longer. They have a sign posted right at the cash register to let customers know that RESTARAUNT.COM IS A SCAM. Shame on them and everyone who is promoting them.

restaurant.com is horrible. They treat the businesses that they sell the "gift certificates" to like crap. They do't honor their end of the bargain, so all of the restaurants in our area are now refusing to accept the "gift certificates". Since we're unable to use them and have no where left to "exchange" them, we want to have our money refunded from restaurants.com. But of course, it's nearly impossible to contact them and get any response in return.

STAY AWAY from restaurant.com! There are better ways to find deals for eating out!