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I'm looking for some good tips for saving money when eating at restaurants in the city—other than "don't". I'm from a small town and love all of the good eats the city has to offer, but it's hard to be cost-effective. I've been using an app Moderator cut: No links with less than 10 unrelated posts which is pretty useful for this, but was wondering if anyone had any other ideas.
Have a cocktail before you leave home, and ask for tap water. Their profit margin is all in the alcohol, not the food.
Then, to be really righteous, calculate the waiter's tip as if the final bill had included a drink. While that won't save you money, you'll be well-served the next time you go there. And you'll still come out ahead, even after the tip.
A handful of restaurants offer "small portion" to adults for their entree dishes, at a reduced price. You have to research hard to find them, though.
Try out places during lunch hour. Dinner menus sometimes increase the prices.
Weekend Brunch is often a good food value for the money, compared to full meals. It's a popular time to socialize, and stretches well into afternoon hours some places.
If you like "diner/restaurant" food, find a place you like and go there often. But hurry, they're going fast.
Don't buy dessert with your meal. Finish with the entree, walk onto the street, buy something great at a bakery, and go home to enjoy it.
Look out for "Restaurant Week" in NYC for discounted meals at many restaurants. Maybe it comes twice yearly (?).
Group-on coupon, Entertainment Book and other promotions can get you a two-for-one ticket to some places.
If you eat with a large group, try to get all to agree to separate checks at the time you order, NOT when the check's delivered to at the end of meal because that's too late. Often, there's someone in a group who starts ordering everything, and when one check arrives, will loudly declare, "Let's just split it up evenly, okay?" So you chose what you could afford, but the bigshot who ordered 3 appetizers and guzzled wine gets subsidized by everyone else around the table. The big orderers in a group are always jovial and generous to spend other peoples' money, so watch out for that. If it's really a problem, ask the waiter quietly as you order for your own separate check, or second best: find the waiter when you walk to the bathroom, so it's not embarassing to you in front of the crowd, but it may be too late to change then so I don't know. (Can a waiter advise on this?) Most good waiters will be discreet at the table, because they're working people and know. At your dinnertable, you just handle your own check payment without comment. That's been something I've had to do around here because sometimes I'm with people at a restaurant who forget that others at the table have smaller budgets.
Last edited by BrightRabbit; 12-29-2015 at 01:17 PM..
If you like "ethnic" foods, go where recent immigrants live. You can feast like a king for a fraction of the cost. College students know where to eat good on a budget. For instance, there is a vast array of cheap eats around N.Y.U. Eater has good articles and reviews for cheap eats and there are Youtube vloggers like Strictly Dumpling who reviews typically inexpensive good food.
I'm looking for some good tips for saving money when eating at restaurants in the city—other than "don't". I'm from a small town and love all of the good eats the city has to offer, but it's hard to be cost-effective. I've been using an app called Servy (found it at Servy - Restaurant Customer Feedback and Mystery Shopping ) which is pretty useful for this, but was wondering if anyone had any other ideas.
I have a new app, it's called givemeyourmoney.. You can download it at the app store. The App is basically you donating money to me for my cause. (my cause is personal and private and none of your business so don't ask but do give me your money)
I'm looking for some good tips for saving money when eating at restaurants in the city—other than "don't". I'm from a small town and love all of the good eats the city has to offer, but it's hard to be cost-effective. I've been using an app called Servy (found it at Servy - Restaurant Customer Feedback and Mystery Shopping ) which is pretty useful for this, but was wondering if anyone had any other ideas.
Cheers.
You can groupon. A lot of places in the city offer groupon deals be forewarned though that some do it begrudgingly and tend to not treat groupon customers as well as regular customers.
Happy hours. A lot of pretty decent to great bar and grill type places have great happy hour deals.
You can figure out which places give bigger portions using Yelp and if you are not a big eater you can share with whoever goes with you.
Take advantage of restaurant week when it comes around.
1. Don't order anything that doesn't involve labor. Such as beer or soda.
2. If you want to splurge on a good restaurant, see if their lunch menu is cheaper than their dinner menu.
3. If a waiter recites the specials for you, ask the prices.
4. Tip reasonably, but don't be pressured to over-tip.
5. Make inquiries on Chowhound. There are a bunch of knowledgeable people who are attuned to moderately priced good food. The Village Voice is also good about this. This, however, assumes that you will be branching out from your small-town roots and investigating all the various ethnicities, like Chinese food.
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