Tuesday, March 17, 2009

$20 Off Dinner -- Not Too Good To Be True

This sounds too good to be true, but, you can get $20 off dinner at several Howard County restaurants by buying gift certificates this week from Restaurants.com.

Restaurants.com sells discounted gift certificates. Right now, you pay $4 for a $25 gift certificate (or more for larger ones). You print it from your computer, and it's good for a year. No shipping charge. No hidden fees. The only hitch is that your bill has to be at least $35 to use the certificate and some restaurants restrict their use to Sunday to Thursday. (The certificates are normally $10, but they're discounted now.)

Mrs. HowChow and I used a certificate on Sunday at Cuba de Ayer in Burtonsville. We paid $22 (with tip) for an appetizer, two dinners, dessert, soda and cafe con leche. Normally, we wouldn't have eaten that much. But then, normally we woudln't have gone to Cuba de Ayer, so everybody wins. This appears to be a way to impress customers, and it worked on us because we loved the tres leches cake.

This is a great way to try somewhere new or indulge on appetizers and dessert at Cuba de Ayer, LeeLynn's, the Diamondback Tavern, and other local places. Click here for a list of the participating restaurants in Howard County. (Hat tip to Adventures in Baltimore Restaurants, which turned me on to this.)

3 comments:

  1. Hot Damn! Thanks for the tip! House of India, here we come!

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  2. I love restaurant.com! My one caution before buying the certificate is to call the restaurant and make sure they know of it. I have gone to two restaurants where the staff just gives me blank stares. However, restaurant.com has always given me the option to redeem the amount at another place. Also, make sure you pay attention to the minimum and most places, unfortunately, do not count alcoholic beverages as part of the minimum.

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  3. I didn't realize Cuba de Ayer was participating- that must be new! I have some gift codes to redeem and it will definitely be for them!

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I love comments -- especially comments that specifically recommend dishes or items to buy. Tell people what you like and why. If you can, please don't leave it as "anonymous." Just choose "name/URL" below, type in a nickname and leave the URL part blank. I like following people's comments even if I don't know your name.