Sites to Save you Money When Dining Out

**This post does contain some referral links and some affiliate links**

I’m a planner.  I’m already getting ideas for things to do and places to go for our family vacation in August.  It’s a good thing though because planning ahead can save you a lot of money if you plan on eating out on vacation…or anytime really.   It’s fun to dine out in a restaurant but for a family, it can get expensive.  It’s a treat for us to all go to a sit down restaurant but that doesn’t mean we can’t still save a few dollars while doing it.

Here are some sites I actually use to help get deals on dining out for our family.

Daily Deal Sites – There are a number of daily deal sites that offer discounted offers for restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops, and more.  If you haven’t used these sites before, the idea is you can get a service or product deeply discounted in your area.  You might get an offer that you pay $20 for $40 worth of food or $15 for a 45 minute massage that might normally cost $30, etc.  Select the area you want the deal in.  If you find something you like purchase it for the discounted price.  Then you either have to print out the certificate and present it when you go or some allow you to just show a digital proof of purchase via an app.  Here are some of those site:

Groupon, probably one of the most popular ones.  It’s not just for food though you can find products, experiences, travel, and tickets as well.

LivingSocial.com similar to Groupon.  Both let you select your area (or the area you’re in at the time) to find deals.

Great Eats has coupons available for different restaurants in your area

Gift Card buying sites — There are sites that buy and sell unwanted gift cards.  Maybe someone gives you a Sears gift card and you don’t have a Sears anywhere near you.  Well you can buy these gift cards for a discounted price, this includes restaurant gift cards.  It’s usually not a huge discount. For example, you might be able to get a $50 Olive Garden gift card for $45 on one of these sites.  I’ve bought and sold gift cards from a few of these sites. They verify the gift cards and usually have free shipping both ways. Here’s a few of those sites that I’ve actually used:

Gift Card Granny

CardCash.com (used to be PlasticJungle.com)

Restaurant.com – This one is in a category itself.  You can buy a Restaurant.com gift certificate or credits on the site then use it to buy discounts at local restaurants.

Restaurant websites – You can also check out specific restaurant websites some off things like birthday clubs that get you anything from a free meal, free dessert, or coupon for your birthday while others offer incentives and coupons for signing up for their email.  Here are some restaurants that do just that (I’ll try to update as I find more)

Chilis restaurants – email club (you get coupon for free chips and salso, queso, or guac when you sign up)

Orange Julius –

EatnPark – their email sign up says “save over $40 a year with exclusive coupons (PS they also do free kids meals from time to time) they also have a coupon tab right at the top of the site

Darden Family Restaurants (Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, etc) the have an eclub that says you’ll be the first to know about specials, events and more

Denny’s Restaurants have tons of offers on their site.  If you sign up for their “Denny’s Rewards” it says you’ll immediately start getting money saving rewards and promotions.  They also have a birthday special for a FREE Grand Slam breakfast, and a kids eat free night.

Panera Bread has their “MyPanera” reward card.  You can check it online to see what surprise rewards they put in your account.  Sometimes it’s a free bakery items, sometimes it’s  a coupon, sometimes it’s  a free drink.  They also do birthday offers.

Dunkin Donuts has their DD Perks it says if you pay with a registerd DD Perks card or DD gift card you earn 5 points for every dollar spent. You also get a free drink when you sign up and for your birthday.  It also says members only rewards loaded right to your card.