Featured Saver: High-Life Dining Card

By Deb on May 16th, 2008

This is actually Tom's Restaurant, NYC. Famous as Monk's in Seinfeld, and as :en:Tom's Diner, in the Suzanne Vega song of that name. It is located at the northeast corner of W. 112th Street and Broadway in New York, close to the campus of Columbia University, in the same building as the :en:Goddard Institute of Space Studies.

I recently became aware of a program here in Ireland called the High-Life Dining Card. I found out about it through my Buy and Fly statement where I could cash in 100 points for a three month membership. I went ahead and did this, knowing it could save me quite a bit of money.

Obviously if you are on a tight budget or trying to save money dining out should be one of the first things to cut from your budget, but if you still have some leeway or just find yourself dining out a lot, this might be a good program for you. As usual with these types of programs people in Dublin will gain the most, as there are many restaurants to choose from, but even if you only use it a few times, it is likely to pay for itself very quickly.

The premise is simples, it’s 2 for 1 dining and extends to all three courses. So if you’re out to eat with someone and you both have three courses, the cheaper courses are free. Some of the restaurants around Ireland that are in the book include all the Milano Restaurants, Apache Pizza, Basserie 66, Brown’s Barn, Ely CHQ, Hard Rock Cafe, Eno Wine Bar, Odessa, TGI Fridays, and The Porterhouse. There are quite a variety of restaurants around the country with quite a few in Belfast.

There are some exceptions. For instance most restaurants require you to ring for a reservation mentioning you have the card (although I never have and it’s always been accepted, no questions asked) and many won’t let you use it on Fridays or Saturdays. The card comes with a book outlining these rules for each restaurant. For a list of restaurants by location, click here.

Originally a UK concept, there seems to be more and more Irish restaurants added in each edition of the guide book. A 12 month membership costs €69.95, but three courses at some of these restaurants would get you that back in a night.

Again, not practical for everyone, but if you do dine out a lot, it’s a good way to cut back!