Fine Print on Chain Restaurant Alcohol

It seems like most chain restaurants add fine print where they're able, and alcohol is one of those infamous loop holes. This year my husband and I got, for the holidays, some gift cards to chain restaurants such as Applebees, Macaroni Grill, etc. Ordinarily we stay away from these places, there being much better and cheaper food readily available in the area, so I figured I might as well exchange the credit at a place like leveragecard for something I could use.

But, a lot of those restaurants do have bars, and occasionally my husband and I will pop in for drinks with friends or if there's a business function. Do most bars take this gift cards as payment if they're part of the restaurant? It seems logical that they would, but there's always fine print...I guess using a gift card would discourage tips, too.

Yeah, I know a lot of places do not allow you to use the gift cards for alcohol. Which, to me, is surprising. They make a ton of money from the sale of alcohol. You'd think this would be a money maker.
But, my guess, it has something do with a liquor (blue)law somewhere, and thus the whole chain follows suit.

As far as I know, the money on a gift card can go towards the tip. so, if you have a $25 gift card, and your bill is $20, you have the option of leaving the card as payment. The card, is like cash (except that pesky alcohol rule) The server gets the $5 tip just as if you left $25 on the table.

Of course, each card is different, and fine print, is, well, the fine print.

quote:

Originally posted by termays

It seems like most chain restaurants add fine print where they're able, and alcohol is one of those infamous loop holes. This year my husband and I got, for the holidays, some gift cards to chain restaurants such as Applebees, Macaroni Grill, etc. Ordinarily we stay away from these places, there being much better and cheaper food readily available in the area, so I figured I might as well exchange the credit at a place like leveragecard for something I could use.

But, a lot of those restaurants do have bars, and occasionally my husband and I will pop in for drinks with friends or if there's a business function. Do most bars take this gift cards as payment if they're part of the restaurant? It seems logical that they would, but there's always fine print...I guess using a gift card would discourage tips, too.

I would just call ahead and ask!

Geeez, Greymo. You sure killed this thread.

In my experience, coupons for discounts at restaurants do not apply to alcohol, but gift cards are the same as paying cash. And, yes, I have used the balance on the card to pay the tip. They usually have me sign a slip similar to a credit card slip where you write in the tip and then apply the gift card to the total amount.

quote:

Originally posted by Greymo


I would just call ahead and ask!

HA! Well, yeah, that's the easy way, isn't it??

As it turns out, many of the restaurants don't, which is rather unfortunate. My husband also pointed out that it's somewhat tacky to whip out a gift card in a restaurant bar, but whatever...

quote:

Originally posted by termays
My husband also pointed out that it's somewhat tacky to whip out a gift card in a restaurant bar, but whatever...

How does he figure? It's payment, after all.

However, I have to admit that I would feel like the world's biggest schmuck if I put the TIP on a gift card.