I’m often asked by friends (the ones who know my secret identity is Diner Dave) ”What are the absolute ESSENTIAL websites for someone who dines out frequently?”.    There are soooo many great websites and mobile apps available to help restaurant addicts that it was difficult to select my absolute faves.   I have over 300 dining and restaurant websites bookmarked and I’m STILL finding new and exciting ones out there on the net.  

If I had to put together a virtual swiss army knife of the “must have” websites no diner should be without these would surely rank in my top 10.  Here are the first 5, in no particular order:

1. Entertainment.com - Restaurant dining “on the cheap”
   If you are looking for coupons for restaurants in your area, the absolute best site to visit would be Entertainment.com. Known for 50% off discounts at local restaurants, they also offer incredible savings on grocery shopping, movies, major attractions, sporting events and more! All you need to do is go to their website, put in your zipcode or city and pay $25 to $45 to buy their coupon book. You will recoup the cost of the book by eating out once and going to a movie using their coupons. Important note: Once the book arrives, make sure you register the membership number at their website to print MORE coupons from some of their listed businesses.
2. Restaurant.com - Restaurant Gift Certificates in 55 seconds!
   This is one of my absolute favorite sites! You can see why in my post on how can save $303 in one week using Restaurant.com! The beauty of this website is that it ALWAYS sells $25 restaurant gift certificates for $10. Moreover, if you go to DinerDave.com and use the coupon codes I provide, you can purchase these gift certificates for only $4-$5 (sometimes as low as $3)! Just go to Restaurant.com, select your favorite restaurant in your city, purchase the gift certificate using the coupon code and print it right from your computer. Elapsed time: 55 seconds from restaurant selection to printed gift certificate. Pretty cool, eh?
3. Zagat.com - Restaurant Reviews for 25,000 Restaurants
   This is the best $2.08/month I have EVER spent! When you become a member of Zagat.com you get online access to ratings & reviews for over 40 Zagat Guides covering restaurants in over 99 U.S. & International cities.  And the best part is that these reviews are provided by actual diners like yourself!  You can access online menus, maps & directions and other useful tools to help you find the perfect restaurant, nightspot, hotel, or attraction.
4. Urbanspoon.com - Find a nearby restaurant online and on your iPhone
   You’ve probably seen those iPhone commercials showing someone shake the virtual restaurant “slot machine” to find a nearby barbeque joint.  That is the #1 reason I bought an iPhone!  Just so I could find restaurants in my vicinity and check out the reviews.  I’ve used Urbanspoon on my iPhone at least 4 times this week alone!  No worries if you don’t have an iPhone.  You can find restaurants in your area on their website too.  I won’t go into too much detail here because you can read more in my other post UrbanSpoon + iPhone = Match Made in Foodie Heaven!
5. LocalWineEvents.com - You want some wine with that dine?
   As most of you know, my background is in the wonderful world of wine! I transformed into Diner Dave by selling wine to restaurants across the southwest and southeast for over 14 years. LocalWineEvents.com has helped me in spreading the word about all the “wine and dine” events that I have scheduled. Local Wine Events is the world’s LARGEST food & drink calendar. You can find a wine tasting, wine dinner, cooking class, beer festival, homebrew competition, single malt scotch tasting - and more - in your area. Plus, you can sign up to receive email alerts about upcoming food and wine events in your area.

How do I love thee Restaurant.com? Let me count the….SAVINGS!

First of all, it should be noted that I am NOT on the Restaurant.com payroll, nor am I related to anyone that is employed by Restaurant.com. I just happen to think that their website is the best thing since…well…RESTAURANTS!

Many of you know that I have been spreading the Restaurant.com gospel to everyone within earshot (or email-shot). I have used it many times to save at least 50%-75% off my meals. In fact, I use their restaurant gift certificates at least once or twice a week almost every week. Well, last week I decided to put the savings to the test and “kick it up a notch”. I dined out EVERY SINGLE day for lunch AND dinner for an entire week using Restaurant.com gift certificates at ALL 14 restaurants.

I’ve outlined my gastronomical journey below with the savings calculated in the table illustration. The savings REALLY added up in 7 days! I was able to save 43% and $303 for the entire week! Here is how I did it:

Step One - Searching for good grub!
I went to Restaurant.com and searched for restaurants in the Houston, TX area by zip code. You can also search by cuisine, by city or alphabetically if you know the name of the restaurant you are seeking. I had business meetings in different areas of town each day, so I searched by zip code. There were 175 restaurants in the Houston vicinity, but once I narrowed it down to the appropriate zip codes, there were generally about 2 dozen restaurants in each zip code. I selected 14 restaurants that sold $25 gift certificates for $10 and purchased them on Friday.

(Insider Tip: I saved even more by inputting a coupon code at checkout that further reduced the cost to ONLY $4! You can find the latest coupon codes by going to the daily deals page of DinerDave.com every week.)

Step Two - the EASY PART
I printed the Restaurant.com gift certificates directly from my printer. Easy, right?

Step Three - the FUN PART
I ate at 2 new restaurants every day for 7 days!  I never dined alone for lunch or dinner that week, so the restaurant got TWO new customers because of their listing on Restaurant.com.

Step Four - “Check Please”
Present the Restaurant.com gift certificate to the waiter when the bill arrives and it is deducted from the final tally.

Step Five - Bask in the Savings!
Add up the savings! Click on the table below for the results:

One Week of Lunch & Dinner Savings in Houston, TX

Restaurant.com Savings Spreadsheet

For those of you who want proof of the savings, I’ve even included a pic of the receipt from Monday’s lunch. You can see that the original tab was for $36, but with the $25 gift certificate the new total was $11.80! I generally tip about 20% of the ORIGINAL amount for good service so I tipped $8.20, bringing my total to $20. If you add the $4 I paid for the $25 gift certificate, then I paid a grand total of $24 for a $44 meal! Not bad, eh?

See the receipt here: Sand Trap Grill Receipts

So there you have it. The story of how one diner with a little forethought and a credit card can cut his lunch and dinner bills by 43% using Restaurant.com.  Not too shabby, eh?

Wanna know more about how to save EVEN MORE on Restaurant.com?  Check out 8 Tips to Save More and Get the MOST Out of Restaurant.com!