Eating Out
Are you familiar with Restaurant.com?
The basic idea is that you can buy a gift certificate to a restaurant at a deeply discounted price. The restaurant gets a customer they might not have otherwise, and you get a cheaper meal. There is usually some sort of clause on it (can’t be used on Valentine’s Day, you must spend at least $35, minimum of two entrees, etc).
Bart and I are big fans.
We bought a few for when we went to San Francisco, we used it several times in Texas, and now we’re thrilled to be in Boston where they have about 100 participating restaurants.
On Friday night, we went down to Back Bay and wandered along until we found the restaurant we’d bought our gift certificate to earlier in the week (a $25 gift certificate for $3).
The restaurant was Kashmir, a reasonably upscale Indian restaurant and we sat outside, where the weather was perfect. Because this restaurant had a dollar amount we had to spend, rather than a minimum number of entrees, we only ordered one entree and then a bunch of appetizers and side dishes to take us up to $35.
We had:
- Tiny cups of Tomato and Coconut Soup (complimentary)
- Vegetable Pakoras (chopped vegetables rolled in crushed chickpea batter and fried).
- Aloo Tikki (little fried potato patties with cold chopped vegetables and sauce over the top)
- Chicken Tikka Masala
- Naan Bread (Bart said it was the best naan he’s ever had)
- Apricot and Coconut stuffed Naan bread (I always want to try the sweet naan bread at any Indian restaurant).
It was a delicious dinner and we only ate about half of it, so they packed the rest of it up and we had it for lunch the next day. Afterwards, we walked down through the Apple Store, Anthropologie, and past the Boston Public Library before catching the T back home. A perfect night in Boston.
Plus, our entire dinner, including the cost of the gift certificate, taxes, and a generous tip (on the pre-discounted bill) was only $26. Hard to beat.
I can't wait to meet you! You are thrifty-girl! Boston looks good on you.
I will definetely have to check out restaurant.com. Sometimes it's nice to take a break from the kitchen. I love eating out almost as much as I love reading.
Boston has lots of good restaurants!
Just for fun I searched my area. I knew it would have little selection. 2 restaurants to be exact. Both, sold out. Lucky to be you.
You probably already know this–but if you buy certificates in the next day or so, you can use the coupon code "ninety" to get 90% off your certificate. This means, of course, that you get $25 worth of delicious foods (we've never had a bad experience) for $1.
Maybe We'll have to take a trip to Boston, because that restaurant sounds beyond delicious.
Also, we just want to go to Boston. 🙂
We don't have Restaurant.com. BOO.
Great for you guys, though!
The restaurants available in our area are okay, but nowhere I'd really want to go. Boo. It's a good idea to check that out for vacations, though!
Great tip!!! Question: When you buy the gift certificate do you print it out instantly or do they send it to you in the mail?
Bethany Lee
I definitely need to check that out. I LOVE Indian food!
Clever girl. I always have to add $25 to the cost of a date. Sitter fee. *sigh*
Sounds awesome! Maybe if we stopped having kids we could get out sometime:) The sitter fee is a deal-killer for us too:( I know, I really should get creative about it. There are other ways, arne't there?
We LOVE Restaurant.com, and I keep forgetting that I have a ton of certificates to use up!
This is FABULOUS! Thanks so much for sharing.
Sounds fun. I haven't heard of that website, but I am super excited to look. Thanks for sharing.
Have a great weekend.
There are quite a few restaurants in Providence listed with restaurants.com, too. If you ever find yourself in the Prov., RI area, you might try some of those. There are some truly fantastic places to dine in Providence and it's a neat city. Waterfire nights are a good bet, free entertainment with your discounted dinner. Or gallery nights (I think the first Thursday eve. of every month) when participating (most of them from what I understand) art galleries are free of charge.
I've never heard of rest. dot com but will have to check it out. i love Indian food and everything sounded delicious!
I love restaurant.com!
I want to live in an Anthropologie store. 🙂
I love this website. There are quite a few participating restaurants in Denver, too. We should check them out.
Brad and I have used restaurant.com a couple of times–once it was awesome but the vietnamese place we just tried was awful.
You know what's really the best though–gift certificates. Just knowing that you haven't paid a dime for a meal makes it taste all the better.
Oooh, I've never used restaurant.com! I will have to check it out. I have, however, been to Kashmir. Yum!
Saving cash and making me happy may be a way to (finally) get Mr Bea to try Indian food. Thanks for the tip!
Oooh, awesome! Thanks, Jass.
Boston sounds so fun and I am so glad you are finding all the fun things to do there so that when we come to visit you will know where to tell us to go =)