The Offer
- For every $50 in Carrabba’s gift cards purchased, get $50 in bonus cards when you purchase them in restaurant on December 23rd. Keep in mind the bonus cards ARE NOT gift cards and you’re actually getting 5 * $10 bonus cards.
The Fine Print
- Purchase gift cards in restaurant only 12/23/16.
- While supplies last.
- Not valid with online purchases.
- These are promotional cards.
- THESE ARE NOT GIFT CARDS
- Bonus cards are not redeemable at time of qualified gift card purchase.
- Valid upon future visits.
- Date restrictions apply, see each card for full details.
- Each purchase of $50 or more in Gift Cards will result in (5) $10 Bonus Cards with valid dates that vary.
- Bonus card may not be used for alcohol, tax, gratuity or gift card purchases.
- Dine-in only.
- Not valid with any other offer, discount, or certificate including any Dine Rewards redemption and Family Bundles.
- Bonus cards do not carry an unused balance and must be surrendered at time of use.
- Not redeemable at Kirby or Woodway locations in Houston, TX or Tampa Airport location.
- Distribution of bonus cards belongs exclusively to authorized representatives of Carrabba’s Italian Grill, LLC and/or its affiliates.
- Carrabba’s strictly prohibits the reproduction of this bonus card in any form or the sale or exchange of it.
- Bonus card will not be replaced if lost or stolen.
- No cash value.
- Excludes catering and Private Dining.
- Bonus cards can be redeemed at participating US locations listed on the card, see individual cards for full details.
- Offer ends 12/23/16.
Our Verdict
The bonus cards suck, they can’t be used for alcohol, tax or tip and from memory you can only use one per visit. I was sure there was an Amex offer that would have made this more useful, but the last one expired in September. I guess it’s still $10 off a visit, so it’s not too bad if you like going there.
Carrabba’s gift cards can also be used at the following brands: Outback, Fleming’s or Bonefish Grill. The resale rate is 74% so theoretically you could pay $13 for 5 * $10 bonus cards. Hopefully readers have some ideas on how to make this deal better.
Hat tip to reader Ted
Doh, dropped by a bit ago and they had sold out completely within the first 2 hours.
I drove 45 minutes to get this deal and they said they sold out earlier. “While supplies last”… sure pissed me off.
T&Cs state no Dine Rewards
It only means you cannot use both the 4th visit $20 bonus and the bonus card / coupon.
You certainly can still earn eligible dine when using the bonus cards.
In fact when we used our first 2 x $10 bonus cards at Bonefish, the Dine Reward program was just started. Because of the bonus cards directly reduced the value of the dine (it was coded as coupon or discount off), our food portion went down to $19xx. I wasn’t aware of this until days later. Sent an email to the program informing them the rules weren’t clear and we could easily ordered a little something extra to go over the $20 threshold as we were like $0.60 short. They replied to manually adjust it to be an eligible visit as one-tine courtesy.
The regular GC does not affect the $20 off 4th visit bonus.
If this works like the recent Bonefish bonus cards which also is $50 for $50, you would get 1 $10 bonus card valid in January that is good to use in any of the restaurant of the chain (Bonefish, Carrabba’s, Outback and the steakhouse which name escapes me), then a coupon book of 4 bonus cards one for each month (Feb, Mar, Apr, May) that is only good to use at Bonefish. I used the AMEX $10/$40 offer to buy the $50 Bonefish GC.
Depending on the restaurant, during the AMEX offer $10/$25 in July when Carrabba’s also had a $10 bonus card for $50 bought, one of my area’s restaurant allowed me to buy multiples of $25 paid with individual AMEX card, and still gave me the $10 bonus card for each $50 total I bought. So you could ask your restaurant if you could buy 2x $25 GCs and still get the bonus cards.
We went to Bonefish and Carrabba’s a lot even before the Dine Reward program so I made good use of the AMEX offers which had run 2 or 3 times this year. I stocked up those GCs. Also my Bonefish let me use 2 $10 bonus cards on each visit. All the Carrabba’s $10 bonus cards from previous purchases were used at Bonefish! Though on this latest promo I suspect only the Jan $10 bonus card is usable in all restaurants, the rest of the $10 bonus card is more like coupon book and can only be used at Carrabba’s.
Oh, since the Dine Reward is in effect, we earned our eligible dine at Carrabba’s and use our rewards at Bonefish or Outback because Carrabba’s menu pricing is cheaper and you only need $20 food to earn an eligible dine. On top of that, the reward dine also counts as eligible dine despite we cannot combine it with $ off coupon. I am surprised by the Reward Dine also counts as eligible dine. It is a fairly generous program if you go to these restaurants anyway.
Well they are $10 off coupons. You just get something that is slightly more than $10, redeem the coupon and the pay the rest with your gift card. If your party is larger, hand them out and split the check.
Will they allow you to split the check and use multiples?
Perhaps not since the Bonus Cards for the month long promotion say 1 per table although that part is excluded from the link above. I plan on using 3 of them get my 4th meal half-off with dine rewards for up to $40 off at Fleming’s, so I can try their Sunday prime rib dinner. If you don’t eat at Carraba’s, it’s obviously worthless. I will let you know tomorrow if you can use the bonus cards at Outback/Bonefish as well, since that would stack nicely with the Amex $10 off $40 for Bonefish.
If this promo is like the recent Bonefish promo, and I suspect it is, the first $10 bonus card is regular bonus card valid in January. Should be good for all 4 restaurants. The remaining 4x $10 bonus cards are one for each month so you cannot use 2 at the same time.
Last time when Carrabba’s offered bonus cards in July, I stacked it with AMEX $10/$25 offer. Got 6 $10 bonus cards which were all used at Bonefish, and they allowed 2 each time.
I still have a few hundreds worth of Carrabba’s and Bonefish GCs but would still buy at least one $50 from Carrabba’s tomorrow as we do go to Carrabba’s, Bonefish and Outback a lot. I dont think we have Fleming’s in my area.
You can use the bonus cards for take out. If you have 5 people, each person should be able to pay separately with a bonus card. I haven’t tried with 5 people, but I’ve done it with two.
Suppose to be Dine-In only….you got lucky if your Carraba’s applied the “bonus coupon” for the take-out.
Oh, I missed the dine-in only on these cards… Maybe the ones I used previously didn’t have that restriction…
the bottom of the post says the gift cards can be used at Outback… however does not mention the bonus cards.
The bonus cards are probably akin to coupons
If true, that’d prevent stackable discounts via other coupons that they typically run. Personally, I hate these deals especially since it states “Each purchase of $50 or more in Gift Cards will result in (5) $10 Bonus Cards with valid dates that vary.” So it seems that these will have an expiration date as well that varies. In addition, it’s unknown if you can have multiple per table say SO and I order on separate receipts for business M&E purposes. Seems like a great deal at first, but the exceptions kinda hurt. Would be great if you could use these to buy another GC without the terms.
Do you think the 10 dollar bonus cards can be used at Outback
Jim read the bottom of his post please.
Yeah that’s for the gift cards, I’m not sure about the bonus cards but I’d assume so.