I’ve been a fan of Restaurant.com for at least a decade.
Seriously! You purchase a discounted gift certificate (make sure to check the certificate for restrictions, such as a minimum purchase amount or mandatory gratuity) for a local restaurant. You have a year from the date of purchase to use it.
Right now the following deal is available:
$100 eGift Card for only $18.00
$200 eGift Card for only $36.00
The Restaurant.com eGift Card can be redeemed at over 62,000 restaurants and providers nationwide. Available denominations vary by restaurant, and certificates are subject to minimum spend requirements and other restrictions. You can split up the $100 or $200 among a few local restaurants.
Here are two examples of how to use the certs to your advantage.
Cafe XYZ- Certificate for $15.00. Terms of cert: $15 off the purchase of $30 or more.
The check comes to $30.00
Minus Cert amt. -$15.00
Total New Bill: $15.00
Gift Certificate Cost $6.00
The price for this complete meal is $21.00 (that includes the cost of the certificate). The total amount saved $9.00.
ABC Cafe- Certificate for $25.00. Terms of the cert: $25.00 off the purchase of $35.00 or more.
The check comes to $35.00
Minus Cert amt. -$25.00
Total New Bill: $10.00
Gift Certificate Cost $10.00
The price for this complete meal is $20.00 (that includes the cost of the certificate). The total amount saved $15.00.

The other day I wrote about Mogl, which is an appt that helps you earn cash back at restaurants. Today I’m going to tell you about another Awesome way to earn cash back when you eat out: 



Olive Garden in the big kid’s favorite “grown-up” restaurant (aka they have cloth napkins). He saw a commercial for this deal the other day and told me I had to tell the internet about it.
The basics of the deal are that you order a meal to eat in the restaurant from the list above (complete with the soup or salad and breadsticks that you all know and love), and you get to take home another prepped meal (Spaghetti with Meat Sauce*, Fettuccine Alfredo, Five Cheese Ziti al Forno, or Cheese Ravioli) sans soup/salad and breadsticks (although you usually can snag a couple extra breadsticks in a doggy bag if you ask your waitperson nicely).