Restaurant.com Gift Certificate Warning

You may have heard friends, family, or coworkers raving about Restaurant.com gift certificates. Perhaps you got an email or two about them. If you haven’t tried them before, they aren’t a bad deal at all. The gift certificates can be a great way to save money (sometimes large amounts of it) and a good reason to try other places.

Also, the gift certificates do not expire. Also, they can be reprinted whenever you need – so don’t worry if you print a copy and accidentally throw it away.

However, since you don’t purchase them the way you normally purchase gift certificates (i.e. give the store/restaurant $50.00, get $50 worth of food/merchandise), I figured they wouldn’t be accepted exactly the same way, either.

Although they generally are accepted and taken the same as other gift certificates, be warned that the restaurant automatically tacks on 18% gratuity to your bill.

You don’t get a choice in the matter, they add it to your bill when they bring it to you and then offer you the chance to give an additional tip.

If you had lousy service or just planned to pay 15%, too bad.

This isn’t usually a problem if you are eating at a cheap establishment, but if you are dining fancy – be prepared to shell out a few extra bucks.

Overall, still a good deal and very worth the money.