New York City Restaurant Week is right around the corner. I missed it last year because I was so busy traveling, but this year I’ll be in town and looking forward to it. You know the drill, January 18 to February 5th, at participating restaurants, lunch $25 and dinner $38.
Here’s the list of participating restaurants.
American Express is once again offering $5 credits when you spend $25 on an enrolled card. You must register the American Express Card you will be using! Here is the enrollment link.
Some tips:
1 – If 2 of you are going to lunch, split the bill between 2 enrolled cards, etc.
2- Check on the American Express Offers page for additional offers at participating restaurants. For example, there is a current offer on my Amex cards for Sushi Samba (spend $50 get $10 back) and Scarpetta (spend $100 get $20 back). By enrolling an Amex card for both the Restaurant Week offer and the individual restaurant offer, you can stack the offers.
3 – Though not widely known, Capital Grille Steakhouse, which has 3 Manhattan restaurants participating in Restaurant Week, is a Darden restaurant (Olive Garden, Yard House, Seasons 52 among others). Darden gift cards are widely sold in supermarkets and drug stores, or online at a discount, so you might choose to pay for a Restaurant Week meal at Capital Grille, in part or full, with such gift cards.
4. Another thought. Right now there is an American Express Offer on my Amex cards for Olive Garden (Get a one-time $10 statement credit by using your enrolled Card to make a single purchase of $50 or more online at OliveGarden.com/Amex10 by 1/15/2016. Offer valid only on gift cards). Since Olive Garden is a Darden Restaurant, I believe you can buy a $50 gift card for $40, then use it at any Darden Restaurant.
Now it’s your turn. What other suggestions do you have? Do you have favorite restaurants that you recommend for Restaurant Week?
A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
Go in and buy multiple $25 gift cards to the restaurants you plan on going to. This way if your meal is $100, you will get $20 off of it, instead of just splitting it on 1 or 2 cards.
fabulous idea!
Wonderful tips. Do you know if there is anything similar for San Diego Restaurant Week.
thank you so much. I don’t see anything on here http://www.sandiegorestaurantweek.com/ but I would check with the organizers and American Express if I were you.
If you have a large enough check, you can certainly split it amongst several of your own AMEX cards. You can also offer to take your dining mate’s cash so you can still do the same (assuming none of the others are using AMEX). In most cases, I just give back 5 bucks to my dining partners =)
Not a major “tip” for everyone, but if you do take advantage of OpenTable, don’t forget to use that to make your reservation(s). In some cases, you can stack a 1,000 point-reservation (basically a $10 reward check if you cash out via OpenTable) on top of all the others you mentioned.
along the same line, you might want to check to see if the “chosen” restaurant is on any of the dining programs, and, if so, to make sure the enrolled Amex Card is likewise enrolled on the dining program.