wedding gift - restaurant gift card suggestions?

[eastiefoodie]

Hi all,

My friends live in Chicago and I'd like to get them a gift certificate to a nice restaurant as a wedding gift. I'm looking to spend $100 on the gift certificate, but I've noticed that many places (such as the girl and the goat) don't have gift cards readily available online - which is to be expected. Does anyone have any restaurant recs that I can look into?

I'd also be open to getting them a gift card to a nice wine/cheese shop as well.

Thanks so much for helping me out.

Megan

[nsxtasy]

My top recommendation would be to give them a gift card at Lettuce Entertain You (LEY), which you can purchase from the Lettuce website at www.leye.com Lettuce Entertain you has around forty restaurants in Chicago (city and suburbs), covering a broad spectrum of cuisines and prices from cheap eats to some of the fanciest, most expensive restaurants in the city. The nice thing about giving them a gift card to LEY is that they can use it at one restaurant, and if there is a leftover balance, they can go to another restaurant entirely instead of being forced to return to the same place.

Another option is American Express. You can buy a gift card on their website and it is good at any restaurant (or business) that accepts their credit card. This means it has the same advantage as LEY, i.e. any leftover balance can be used somewhere else.

I should add that most of our nicer restaurants typically run more than $100 for dinner for two including wine/tax/tip. You can give them what you want, of course, but if the intention is to give them a nice dinner, I'd make it at least $150.

If you want to get a gift card to a nice wine and cheese shop, my top recommendation would be Fox & Obel. F&O is our premier gourmet food store, with the finest of everything - wines, cheeses, meats, fish, baked goods, etc. www.fox-obel.com Our best cheese shop is probably Pastoral. www.pastoralartisan.com However, $100 seems like quite a large amount for a gift card for a cheese shop. And you don't mention where the couple lives; if they're not downtown (near F&O and Pastoral) or on the north side of the city (Pastoral), it may be inconvenient for them to use it.

[ferret]

As for $100 being a lot for a cheese shop, it's not terribly hard to burn through that pretty quickly.

[nsxtasy]

>> As for $100 being a lot for a cheese shop, it's not terribly hard to burn through that pretty quickly.

That all depends. If you know that the couple is a big aficionado of cheeses, they can burn through it pretty quickly. But if they are not, they may never use it up.

[ferret]

Prepaying at F&O may not be a great idea:

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com...

[nsxtasy]

Good point. There's a risk inherent in any gift card tied to a specific small business, whether it's a grocery store or an individual restaurant. And one you can avoid with a gift card valid at a lot of businesses, such as the ones for Lettuce Entertain You or American Express.

[lrhr]

A problem with using a credit card type gift card (though perhaps not with Amex) is that you cannot use the entire amount at a restaurant. The credit card machine, which is clearly smarter than humans, assumes that you will be tipping and will not authorize the entire amount. In other words if your check comes to $105 for dinner and you think I'll put the $100 on this fantastic gift card and pay the extra five and the tip in cash (or on another card), instead you will have the card rejected.

I'm not familiar with Chicago restaurants, but I would imagine that most medium-upscale places could arrange a gift card if you call directly. I leave it to the locals to help you find a spot in your price range.

[nsxtasy]

>> A problem with using a credit card type gift card (though perhaps not with Amex) is that you cannot use the entire amount at a restaurant.

Absolutely not true, in my experience. The gift card works just like a credit card. The restaurant can post whatever amount you specify to the gift card, and you can pay any extra via cash or credit card. It's just like when you split the bill, and you tell them to charge X dollars to this credit card, and the rest to another card. I've done this many, many times, with gift cards from individual restaurants, groups of restaurants (LEY), and credit card companies (AmEx) and have never encountered any problems when doing so.

On one or two occasions I've had individual servers who have been unsure about how to process gift cards, and needed help from another server or the manager on duty to put it through. But I have never had one declined.

[ferret]

I strongly second the AmEx.gift card. Sure, it's not targeting a specific restaurant but it gives them lots of flexibility (and you could print a menu or give them recommendations in the gift card).

[nsxtasy]

The only thing I really object to with the AmEx gift cards is that they charge a fee on top of the gift card amount itself, something around $7-8 IIRC. They benefit from the "float" on gift cards, so an extra fee should not be necessary.

[mountsac]

I recently got a gift card from LEY. I think it was great because I got to pick from a list of great local restaurants, including several special-occasion destinations (L2O, Tru, Everest).

Alinea also sells gift cards via its website.

[BeanTownGolfer]

Get them an "A La Card Deck" and a generic amex card. Sure it's generic, but that gets them 52 $10 gift certificates to 52 chef driven restaurants around the city. Some great dinner places (Big Jones, Boka, etc) but also gives them good lunch places (Hot Dougs, DMK, etc). Tack on a $100 amex card or something and tell them to enjoy the entire year. LUEY have great restaurants (L2O, Tru) but they also have crap. Go for a local, chef driven restaurant. As someone who lives in the town, the last thing they'd probably want is a gift cert to a chain restaurant. Give them options.

-----
Boka
1729 North Halsted, Chicago, IL 60614

[nsxtasy]

>> that gets them 52 $10 gift certificates to 52 chef driven restaurants around the city.

But how many of them are they really going to use? Two? Three?

>> LUEY have great restaurants (L2O, Tru) but they also have crap.

I disagree. I think their track record with local, unusual, creative restaurants is very impressive. I can't think of a single restaurant they have that I would consider "crap", to use your unfortunate choice of words. Of course, the gift card recipient can choose which restaurant to go to, and skip the others.

>> Go for a local, chef driven restaurant.

LEY is local, and many of the LEY restaurants are chef-driven. Many of them are joint ventures between LEY and the restaurant's chef-owner. And that's not just the expensive ones. Restaurants like Cafe Ba Ba Reeba for tapas, Nacional 27 for Latin fusion, Shaw's for seafood, and Mon Ami Gabi for French bistro fare are moderately-priced chef-driven restaurants among the best in their respective categories. Each of the LEY restaurants is a unique concept, every bit as unique as say the A La Card restaurants Boka or David Burke's (which are "chain restaurants" too).

If you want to give them freedom to use the gift certificate anywhere, put it all into an American Express gift card. But the Lettuce Entertain You gift card also gives them a wide variety of great unique dining options.