The Deal:$14 for $35 at Davide Restaurant.
I’ve been meaning to try Groupon Now for awhile now, but I usually have a place in mind when I’m going out to eat, or I’m in an area where it’s not available. Tonight, I found myself downtown, wanting to eat out with a friend, with no idea where to go. So, I pulled out my phone to see what I could find. Davide is on Commercial Street, near the water, so it was a nice walk on a hot summer night.
Groupon Now is an interesting idea. You pull up deals near your physical location, and, once purchased, you have until a specified time to use them (this one happened to expire at 9:00 p.m. I think it’s usually at closing.). If for some reason you aren’t able to use the deal by the end of the day, Groupon automatically refunds your money. So, you can change your mind and not lose anything.
First, and this is important - you cannot access your voucher on your phone once you get to the restaurant. It’s in a dead zone. Pull up the voucher first and take a screen shot so you can give them the number, because your phone won’t work there. Mine didn’t, and this apparently happens often. Luckily, they offered to take $35 off, and they allowed me to call with the voucher number once I got to a place that had service. (If they hadn’t, Groupon would have refunded my $14, but that’s not the point - I chose to eat there because of the deal).
The place is downstairs, and it’s very nice. The atmosphere is rather intimate, yet there’s peppy music playing. It was a little incongruous, but I liked it. Our bread was a little burnt, as was the bruschetta. Honestly, the bruschetta tasted mostly like olive oil. The salad was fine - but it was literally field greens with a bit of vinaigrette for $9. I know, I know - what else do you expect from a “field greens” salad on the menu? Some tomatoes or nuts might have been nice. Maybe some red onions. I don’t know. The entrée was very good, though - I got veal scaloppini with prosciutto and fontina, on a mountain of polenta (which looked like mashed potatoes, so I had a bit of surprise when I took a bite), and sautéed spinach on top. It was all very well prepared. I don’t know if I’d want to pay full price, but the end result was that we got a tasty meal for about half the normal cost, so this deal is definitely worth using, if you’re in the area.
Cost: $14.00
Value: $35.00
Savings: $21.00
Total Estimated Deal Savings, to Date: $1,069.92.
