iDine Puts the $ Back in Your Pocket Just for Eating Out

This is the first in a series of useful sites that can save you some major cash.  First, let’s tell you about how awesome iDine.com is.  It’s pretty simple.  All you need to do is sign up for an account, enter the credit card(s) that you use to pay your meals with, then hit up restaurants in their directory.  After you go, iDine.com will ask you to complete a quick survey about the restaurant, then up to 15% of the bill will go into your account.  When you reach $20, you can request an American Express gift card to be sent to you or you can wait until another increment of $20.  After just a few weeks you’ll have a credit card loaded with your rewards that you can use on anything.  You start off with %5 back at Level 1, but as you spend more money at restaurants (the money you’d be spending anyway), you’ll raise to Level 2 (10%) and Level 3 (15%).

While sometimes there might be restrictions such as, “Doesn’t count for Saturday dinner,” most of the restaurants that we’ve visited are pretty lenient with their rules and stipulations.  We’ve also been surprised a few times while on vacation.  One time we visited Southampton Publick House on Eastern Long Island then discovered that just for having some brews and some food we were getting about $5 bucks in rewards.  Cha ching.  It’s really a no-brainer and costs you nothing.

Here are just some of the places in Connecticut that participate (there are still lots more we didn’t list):

Bridgeport:  Barnum Publick House, Taberna

Danbury:  Franke Pepe’s

Darien:  Fuji of Japan, Matsuri, and Coromandel

Fairfield:  Black Rock Oyster Bar, The Field, Franke Pepe’s, Quattro Pazzi, Village Bagels

Greenwich:  Barcelona, Nuage, and Village Bagels

New Canaan:  Cherry Street East

Norwalk:  Bar Sugo, Dino’s Pizza, Nola, Tintos,

Stamford:  Brasitas, Cotto Wine Bar, The Fez, Fin II, Myrna’s Kitchen, Pellicci’s, Minetto’s, SBC, and Tabouli Grill

Trumbull:  Marisa’s Ristorante

Westport:  Black Duck, Finalmente Trattoria, Matsu, Sakura, and Via Sforza

Wilton:  Luca Ristorante