$300 Chase Sapphire Reserve Dining Credit: How To Use & Eligible Restaurants

My understanding is that Amex's dining credit works virtually anywhere bookable through Resy. CSR partners with OpenTable. If CSR really wants to compete with Amex, why not open this benefit up to many, many more restaurants bookable through OpenTable, rather than just a select few in major cities?

I live in Seattle, which has a few restaurants on the list, but they're not places I'd be going anyways. I'd get far more value from this perk if it included OpenTable-bookable restaurants more generally.

Phoenix Palace in Chinatown. Thank me later. (Even if you don’t have a credit. Worth it.)

Can it be used for carryout orders?

That concept would cost Chase a lot of money.

We don't know if behind the scenes the "exclusive" restaurants are subsidizing to some extent the dining credit. It would not shock me if they are.

Opening it up to more restaurants would likely hurt Chase's bottom line. They like that it's difficult to use.

That concept would cost Chase a lot of money.

We don't know if behind the scenes the "exclusive" restaurants are subsidizing to some extent the dining credit. It would not shock me if they are.

Opening it up to more restaurants would likely hurt Chase's bottom line. They like that it's difficult to use.

I don't understand this statement: "Certain types of purchases may not be identifiable and will not qualify, like delivery and takeout ..."

In my experience, it works for take out when calling over the phone and paying on arrival or making the order in person, paying in person, and taking the food to go.

Maybe you meant that it won't work if the take out order and payment is done online like through DoorDash or some other third party?

Thank you, RealTaylor, you answered my question, and I hadn’t even seen where it was addressed in the peace which I truly did read.

@ RealTaylor -- Exactly, "may" is the key word there, and the idea is that it won't qualify if you order through a third party (like DoorDash), or if the restaurant somehow processes delivery order payments differently (which is rare).

@ TravelinWilly -- I think you already know the answer now based on the above, but just to be 100% clear, you're fine with carry-out as long as it's done directly with the restaurant, and you pay there.

And it's a great question, so let me add that to the FAQs. 🙂

@ Andrew -- It's a fair point, of course, and both Amex and Chase have different advantages with their premium cards. Conversely, Chase is great with the travel credit, while Amex's airline fee credit is of limited value.

My thoughts are along the same lines as what GEG_WA said. I suspect there's a closer financial relationship here, where the cost of this benefit is being subsidized somewhat by third parties. Meanwhile Amex owns Resy, so clearly the goal there is to simply get people to increasingly use the platform.

I was surprised to receive the dining credit for a restaurant I haven't seen on any list. As far as I know they don't take reservations and therefore are not bookable on OpenTable. Our bill was under $150 so we went back the next week and got the remainer of the full $150 credit. We dined more than a month ago and the dining credit still shows as used. This was at The Fish House in Monterey, CA.

As Andrew said below, very different from Amex's Rest credit. Most of the eligible restaurants are "I suppose if I want to capture the credit" type of restaurant. And, not restaurants that I would normally choose. That's is challenge of this credit. And, it seems Chase has been very intentional with it. Combined with everything else, I feel as if Chase is *trying* to mess with me.

I am so done with this credit card. The cost-benefit analysis has collapsed from my vantage point.

The best dining credit seems to be the one on the Marriott Amex because the only limitation is that it is divided into a monthly allowance but it allows any restaurant coded transaction. The problem with this is if your city is not mentioned this has no value. Some of the cities really are not what they say because they have restaurants in nearby places instead.

I'm so mad at myself for renewing this card in January I should have cancelled or at a minimum downgraded to Preferred. The new "benefits" are a joke.

Just another case of couponing. Having to go out of my way to use a coupon does not equal much value. Same with The Edit credit. Often enough these hotels are lower priced by around the same amount of the credit if booked directly with the property.

This and the last sapphire article nailed a decision for me. Dumping the reserve after 10 years of it being my primary go to spending card

I also live in Seattle and used our credit at TOMO. It was okay, but not a restaurant I would visit if I did not have a credit. Definitely not a restaurant I'd spend $200+ on. The other options in Seattle seem like douchey "tasting menu" prix fixe places. For $150, just get me a big steak.

It looks like most of the comments support you. I canceled my Chase Sapphire Reserve last October after having it for 10 years, which says a lot because I used to think it was one of the easiest premium cards to justify.

I’d honestly love to see the internal numbers right now: retention rates, downgrade activity, cancellation trends, all of it. At some point Chase has to notice the pushback. The bigger question is how long it takes before they rethink the benefits again.