Giveaway: Win a $50 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate + *HOT* 80% Off Promo Code is BACK!

For those of you who read/entered the Restaurant.com giveaway last week, you will remember that I asked the winner of the giveaway to purchase and use at least one $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate within the next few weeks and then to write up a short blurb about his/her experience. Since the winner from last week has not yet had time to utilize her gift certificate, my sister in Boise, Idaho, was nice enough to volunteer to share her recent experience with Restaurant.com! Here is an email that she sent me regarding her experience…

Hi Col-
Last weekend, I decided to meet 3 friends for lunch; originally, we planned to meet at a fast food restaurant like McDonalds so we could chat and our kids could eat/play. However, just as I was getting ready to leave the house, I decided to browse Restaurant.com to see if there were any kid-friendly restaurants that we could meet at instead. I discovered a local Boise restaurant called Donny Mac’s Trailer Park Cuisine (I know, funky name but fun atmosphere and kid-friendly) and was able to purchase a $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate for only $3 using last week’s promo code. I was sure to read the fine print which indicated that I had to spend at least $35 AND that the 18% gratuity was added prior to the certificate being applied.
So, we had a great lunch and ate way too many onion rings and sweet potato fries (yummy 🙂 )! The funny part is that we were worried that we were not going to reach the $35 mark so we were sure to order an appetizer and drinks (i.e. when I say drinks I mean soda/iced tea…no cocktails for me at the noon hour!). However, we went a little overboard as our bill at the end was over $70 (woops…not very hip, huh?!). So lesson learned…the food and drinks added up much more quickly than we expected! After all was said and done, we ended up spending $46.49 out of pocket plus $3 for the gift certificate…so under $50 for 4 adults AND 4 kids to eat a really nice lunch! Enjoy the pics!

For those of you that are not familiar with Restaurant.com, they provide certificates for thousands of great restaurants (many of them right in your neighborhood) that bring you the fun and pleasure of eating out while spending less. Sound too good to be true? Not at all…Restaurant owners like to use restaurant.com because it allows them to attract new customers. Keep in mind that Restaurant.com gift certificates are essentially equal to cash…notice in my sister’s receipt above that the $25 gift certificate is considered “cash tendered.”

Here’s how it all works…

*Click here to find a restaurant in your neighborhood (you can search by zip code or city)

*Browse through the list of participating restaurants in your area (you will be able to view the menu, location, and phone # for each restaurant)

*Pick your restaurant and the appropriate gift certificate amount and then click add to cart; Be sure to read the restaurant’s special instructions before purchasing the certificate; many restaurants require that you make a minimum purchase in order to use the certificate (i.e. minimum purchase of $35 is required to use a $25 restaurant.com certificate), many add 18% gratuity prior to the certificate being applied, some state valid for food or dinner only, and some restrict the days that the certificate can be used (i.e. Monday-Friday only).

*Enter the promo code MEAL into the “Promo Code” box in the shopping cart; your 80% discount will then be applied to your purchase. AND your final cost for a $25 certificate will be just $2! 🙂

*When you complete the transaction for your gift certificate, you will receive a confirmation page and an email that will allow you to customize, print, and/or email the certificate to someone; certificates can be customized with a choice of a background picture, a specific message, and the recipient’s name and you may also opt to receive notification when the recipients receives and opens the email…makes it super easy to send the certificate as a gift to someone special!

*Once redeemed, the restaurant specific certificates are good for one year from the date of purchase, although there are exceptions depending upon the state you live in; click here to read the restaurant.com terms and conditions

Thanks to Restaurant.com, 1 lucky Hip2Save reader will win a $50 Restaurant.com gift certificate!! Note that this is a $50 gift certificate that you can use to purchase $50 worth of gift certificates!

If you are interested in entering this giveaway, please click on the Enter this Giveaway button below. The winner of this giveaway will be asked to purchase and use at least one $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate within the next 2 weeks and will then be asked to write up a short blurb about their experience (you could even send us a picture of your receipt highlighting the awesome savings that you are sure to score!). If you are willing to comply with this request, please leave a comment stating your willingness to share your restaurant.com experience with us (if you are unwilling to comply with this request, please do not enter this giveaway).

If you are reading this giveaway post via RSS feed or via email, please click here to be directed to my blog to enter. Please do NOT email me to enter this giveaway; an email is not an acceptable entry.

This giveaway will end on Monday, April 26th at 6PM EST and the randomly selected winners will be announced Tuesday; you must be a U.S. resident to enter this giveaway.

(Thanks, Restaurant.com!)