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Eating out is often one of the first things that people cut when they start budgeting. It makes sense when you think about it, after all, it is a lot cheaper to eat at home than it is to eat out at a restaurant.
Despite eating out being more expensive than eating at home, sometimes you will want to go out and have a nice meal at a good restaurant. It might be a special occasion with your significant other, or perhaps a night out with a group of friends – it doesn’t really matter. The main thing you need to remember, is that even when you are on a budget, there are ways to spend less when eating out.
1 – Utilize Coupons
I pretty much never eat at a restaurant unless I have a coupon that will save me some money. Sometimes it might be something like a buy one get one free, or buy one get one half price – I love these type of deals!
2 – Check the restaurant ahead of time
Using coupons is one thing, but if the restaurant is super expensive, then there is a good chance that the coupon is just bringing the meal down to a normal price. The best way to combat this is to take a look at the menu online prior to booking a table. That way you can see the prices ahead of time and compare them with other places to eat in a similar area.
3 – Don’t Tip
I live in Australia, and tipping just isn’t a big deal over here – some people do it, others don’t. Now I know that tipping is expected in some countries, and in those cases I would consider giving as small of a tip as I can manage without offending someone. Or if you can, go somewhere where tipping isn’t expected.
4 – Try going out at Lunch Time
Often places will charge a lot less if you decide to eat out at lunch time rather than at dinner time. I’m not sure of the exact reason for this, but in some cases you are able to save upwards of 15-20% on meals. My guess is that because a lot of places have less patronage throughout the day, they reduce their prices to try and get as many people as possible through the door.
5 – Do dessert elsewhere or not at all
Some restaurants charge insane prices on their dessert menu items. I have personally been to restaurants that have charged $15 just for ice cream – needless to say, we didn’t have dessert there.
Something that my wife and I do whenever we go out and want dessert, is to stop off on the way home at a local ice cream shop where the prices are a lot more within our budget. Other times we will just skip dessert entirely, either way we are saving money compared to eating dessert at the restaurant.
6 – Offer to provide a positive review on their website for a discount
My last tip is a little obscure, but it has worked at least once for me in the past, and that is to offer to leave a good review for the restaurant on their website in exchange for a discount on the meal, or a free dessert.
This almost never works unless the owner or manager is the person you are talking to, but if you can hunt them down it can be worthwhile. In my instance the owner ended up giving us a meal for free in exchange for the review.
Tip #6 is fantastic! If I owned a restaurant I would definitely comp a meal for a good review!
I also check out the menu ahead of time. That way I’m not pressured into a rushed decision once I get to the restaurant. I can also read reviews on a particular dish to know if it’s good there or not. It’s like insurance. I’m always the guy who’s gabbing instead of looking over the menu when I sit down anyway!
With tip 6 you need to be a little bit outgoing though, as some people don’t like proposing things like that.
We use a lot of coupons when we go out. We also split an entrée most of the time. It is always way too much food.
My wife and I like to do the same, although it depends on what we order.
I always or at least try to use coupons whenever I go somewhere. I also try to go to Lunch instead of dinner if I have the chance. I never thought about giving a review for a discount, but I might try it.
Yeah, you really need the manager or owner to be there to talk to though, otherwise you are out of luck.
I always use coupons, check out the restaurants in advance, and try to save dessert for home or elsewhere. In addition to coupons, some restaurants have loyalty programs that reward you with various perks. Going for lunch is a great tip, and along those lines, I also try going for “happy hour” with discount drinks and appetizers, which can replace the meal.
My wife and I normally try to go for lunch rather than dinner. Not only is it cheaper, but there are less people so we end up enjoying ourselves more.
How about not ordering a beverage? I find with my family of four, by only drinking water, I save $10 or more per meal. 🙂
I trained my kids to only ask for water when eating out. We have five kids, so we saved $15 every time we ate out just by avoiding sodas.
We also gave everyone a fixed amount they could spend. They could order anything they wanted, but paid out of their own pockets for anything they ordered above that figure. They spend their own money much more wisely than the spend dad’s.
As Kevin said – I like to try and just order water whenever possible.
I would not recommend NOT tipping in NYC or anywhere in the USA for that matter. I’ll use coupons and discounts, but I wouldn’t dream of not tipping on the full amount.
I know that tipping is a really big thing in the US, but in Australia it really isn’t done all that often.
The difference is the base wage that is being paid to wait staff. Up until a year or two ago it was $2.75 an hour. So, to not tip is: culturally very uncool and not compensating the person for the service that you got. Whenever traveling I just do what the locals do regardless of my personal feelings about it. If you’re in the U.S.A.-you tip. If I’m outside of the U.S.A in a country where it’s not done-I don’t tip.
I save money on restaurants by cutting the number of times that I go out so I don’t have to worry about all of this finagling. It’s too complicated. If I go out to eat once a month (maybe with a Groupon/Living Social Deal) I’m good. If I have to spend a whole bunch of time trying to figure out how to cut the costs…it kills the fun out of going out. I’ll just cook at my house instead.
The idea behind leaving a tip is to encourage good service. I know in European countries they are paid a lot more, causing the food prices to go up, so diners are paying about the same as they would in America where a tip is left. The difference is that in one case the servers know what they’ll get paid regardless of the quality of the service they give, while in the other they theoretically earn more when they provide better service.
Surprisingly, in America I’ve found this doesn’t always work and you get servers who could care less even though a big part of their pay is due to tips. Maybe this is because people tend to leave a reasonable tip in any case, so it is only the difference between $5 for doing the minimum and $6 for working hard, or maybe it is because the servers have too many Europeans and stingy Americans stiffing them even when they give great service. Or maybe they just don’t understand the concept. Thoughts from the European/Australian side?
Before we go out, we always check for coupons or on Groupon. As far as the tipping goes, that would not go over very well in the states. If you don’t tip, in my opinion, you should not be going out to eat.
I would love to know the reason behind the whole tipping thing in the US. Where I live tipping is reserved only for when you get amazing service or an amazing meal. It certainly isn’t the custom.
Check out my comment above-tells you why
Yes, the idea to eat only lunch is a novel one. It not only saves you money, it also saves your waistline. 🙂
Have never actually thought about getting desert at a different restaurant. What a great idea! I’ve spent entirely too much money on desert at restaurants over the years.