The Better Deal-Amber Restaurant

Today's Better Deal is for Amber Restaurant (if you're not familiar with the Better Deal, please refer to this The Better Deal).  It's not a traditional better deal, because the 2 deals are for different locations, but the menus/restaurants are essentially the same.  The first deal is offered by Groupon, and is for the West Village location of Amber, located at 6th Avenue and 9th Street.  The deal is $15 for a $30 voucher, which expires May 9, 2011.  The second deal is through Restaurant.com ("RC"), and is $15 for a $25 voucher for the Gramercy location (3rd Ave between 27th and 28th).  Of course, by now we all know that Restaurant.com doles out frequent 80% off promotions, so you should never pay full price for a restaurant gift certificate on that site.  And there is an 80% off promotion going on now--just enter the word "LOVE" at checkout to receive it.  Thus, the Restaurant.com cert would only cost you $3.  That would be a savings of $23 at the Gramercy location.

Which is better?  Depends on your situation.  The RC cert doesn't expire, while the Groupon expires in a few months.  The RC savings are larger; however it comes with a $50 minimum purchase (before the discount is applied).  The Groupon offer has no minimum.  So if you don't think you'll order that much food, it may not make sense to buy the RC. And lastly, there's the location.  If you live in the WV, you're probably not going to want to schlep to Gramercy, and vice versa.  So I've laid it all out for you, it's up to you to decide!