Restaurant.com gift certificates 70% off
Get 70% off restaurant gift certificates at Restaurant.com for a limited time. Enter code GOURMET after you have added the certificate to your basket. The certificates are for specific restaurants and often come with a detailed set of rules you have to follow to redeem the certificate. At Il Paradiso Ristorante in Encino, a $25 certificate goes for $3 with the code, but to use it you must order a minimum food purchase of $35, excluding alcohol/beverages. Dine in only. They automatically add 18% gratuity. I've seen other certificates that limit days and times you can use them. The certificates are a good deal, but run the numbers to see how much you are actually saving before buying.
Take the deal above. Say you order $35 worth of food, no drinks. You pay $13 for the grub ($3 certificate plus $10), plus a $6.30 tip (that's 18% on the original bill of $35) plus $3 in tax. The total comes to $22.30 for the $35 meal. You save 36%, not bad, but nowhere near the 70% discount that you started with.
Comments
Thanks for the tip!
I think this is actually a better bargain than your calculated 36%--if you had ordered the $35 meal without the certificate, you'd still have to pay the $3 in tax plus a tip ($6.30). So your total without the certificate would be $44.30; paying just $22.30 for this meal means you save more like 50%. If you were planning to eat at this restaurant anyway, that's a great deal!
Posted by: EC | April 25, 2008 2:35 PM