Is Tastecard Worth it?

Find how to take advantage of tastecard offers including free trials and cheap £1 discount offers to save on your eating out bills with 50% off and 2 for 1 meal offers in this tastecard review.

tastecard is the Uk’s most widely used restaurant discount card and a potentially great money-saving option for you if you regularly eat out.

tastecard review and offers

Is tastecard Worth It?

Whether the tastecard is worth it will depend on a few factors personal to you.

The key factor will be the price you pay, so the better deal you get the more likely it is to be worthwhile.

  • How often you eat out
  • Where do you like to eat (do you use the restaurants listed?)
  • Your location – are tastecard discount restaurants are near to you
  • When do you eat out (will you get peak time discount?)

Of course, if you are really trying to save money or pay off debt, then not eating out at all is the best option.

tastecard Review 

Whether it’s worth it at full price for most people will depend on when, where and how often you eat out.

However, there are always a number of opportunities available for free trials and really cheap discounts that do totally make it a worthwhile option.

Find out more about tastecard and tastecard plus, and be sure to take advantage of the best deals:

Free tastecard Offers 

Claim a 3-month tastecard free trial via this link after which you will be charged £4.99 a month, but you can cancel anytime before being charged.

Or the 2-month tastecard free trial option which currently renews at £34.99 but you can cancel before it does.

Alert: If you take a free trial or cheap £1 deal, make a note of when it ends otherwise you will be charged more subject to the auto-renewal terms of the offer.

What Is tastecard?

tastecard is the Uk’s most well-known restaurant discount card.  It claims members can get 50% off food or choose to have 2 for 1 meals 7 days a week.

However, peak times at specific restaurants are excluded from the deal.  Often Fridays and Saturdays, and sometimes the whole of December!

Typically side dishes and extras are not included.

How Does tastecard Work?

When you are ready to eat out you simply search your current location and you will be presented with a list of local restaurants.

Make your choice of restaurant and ring and book a table.  Bookings should be made by the tastecard account holder.  Mention you are using tastecard, just to be on the safe side and avoid any misunderstandings as to whether the discount will be accepted (for example if it turns out it’s peak time or they’ve left the tastecard partnership).

Finally, enjoy the 50% or 2 for 1 discount when it comes to paying for your bill.

Take your card with you or make sure you have access to the digital version via the app.

How to Use The tastecard App

Download the free tastecard app.   It’s really easy and smooth to use.

Search for local tastecard restaurants by either:

  • the restaurant name, cuisine type or cinema
  • your location, city, town or street

You will then be presented with a list of restaurants in order of close proximity.

As you can see in the images below the app will show:

  • Distance to restaurant
  • No. of diners who can qualify for discount
  • Peak time acceptance status of tastecard via ticks and crosses

Tastecard Restaurant Search

In the first example above, for Cafe Rouge you can see:

  • Discount available to max 6 diners
  • tastecard not accepted Saturday
  • tastecard is accepted during December

For Pizza Express:

  • Discount available for a max of 2 diners
  • tastecard not accepted Fridays, Saturdays, and all through December

Next, you can filter your dining preference as per the options below:

tastecard filter restaurantsFilter options:

  • Offer type
  • Party Size (handy if there’s a group of you)
  • Availability
  • Restaurant Type
  • Cusine type
  • tastecard plus – cinema search by venue type

For more in-depth restaurant or cinema information, tap your choice.

tastecard frankie & bennys

Above is an example of tastecard Frankie and Benny’s.

From this page, you can directly call the restaurant and book your table and click “Directions” to activate your Maps app to provide you with the way to get there.

Check The tastecard Offer Terms

If you are choosing a particular restaurant primarily to save money using a tastecard, the last thing you inadvertently want to do is unwittingly overspend thinking it will all be half price when it won’t.

Here are some of Frankie and Benny’s terms as an example of what to look out for.

example of tastecard terms

As you can see the following are excluded from the tastecard offer:

  • Extra toppings and add ons
  • Festive Dishes
  • Sharing starters mains, desserts and sides
  • Set/fixed price lunch menus, kids menus, takeaways and delivery

Also worth noting:

  • it’s the cheapest dish that will be discounted
  • No use of any other voucher, discount deal or offer

Which Restaurants Accept tastecard?

tastecard boasts over 6000+ partner restaurants including some of your local restaurants.

Always double-check the apps as partners are subject to change, but these were the current restaurant’s chains that take tastecard at the time of writing:

  • Absurd Bird
  • All Star Lanes
  • ASK Italian
  • Azzurro
  • Banana Tree
  • Barcelona Tapas
  • Belgo
  • Bella Italia
  • Cafe Rouge
  • Chino Latino
  • Chiquito
  • Coal Grill and Bar
  • Coast to Coast
  • dim t
  • Domino’s – London
  • Domino’s – Yorkshire
  • Ed’s Easy Diner
  • Feng Sushi
  • Filling Station
  • Fire & Stone
  • Frankie & Benny’s
  • Friendly Phil’s
  • Garfunkel’s
  • Giraffe
  • Harry Ramsden
  • Jamon Jamon
  • Joe’s Kitchen
  • La Tasca
  • Marco Pierre White
  • Pizza Hut Delivery
  • Pizza Hut Restaurants
  • PizzaExpress
  • Prezzo
  • Prime Burger Co
  • rbg
  • Richoux
  • Tiger Tiger
  • Villagio
  • Wildwood
  • YO!
  • Zizzi

Sadly, no Nando’s or Wagamama’s on the list, but other than those 2 prominent restaurant chains, pretty much all the best ones are covered.

What Is tastecard Plus?

tastecard plus is an extension of the tastecard discounts although it’s not always clear whether specific tastecard offers, trials and deals are for just the tastecard or tastecard Plus.   When you have signed up, check, see if you have access to the tastecard Plus offers.  Often you will have.

The tastecard Plus entitles you to discounts off:

  • Cinemas
  • Hotels
  • Fine Dining
  • Entertainment (limited offering of Theatre, live music and comedy)
  • Days Out up to 50% off at select partners

tastecard plus Cinema Discount Partners

tastecard plus members are entitled to 40% discounts off a range of cinema chains which is where the real value of the membership is.

You can claim discounts at the following cinema partners:

  • Odeon
  • VUE
  • Empire Cinemas
  • Picturehouse Cinemas
  • The Light Cinemas Experience
  • Showcase Cinemas

Cineworld is not currently listed.

How Much Is a tastecard?

If you were to pay full RRP  for tastecard it would typically cost:

  • £6.99 a month
  • £79.99 a year

Although the majority of the time you would expect to get these much cheaper, say £4.99 a month and £39.99 a year.

Other tastecard Deals and Discounts 

Topcashback (it’s free to join) often offers members cashback opportunities for tastecard membership, sometimes including the free trial.

Exact offer details change over time, but at the time of writing they were offering:

  • Annual membership £11.20 cashbook
  • Annual gift membership £7.00 cashback
  • Free 3-month trial membership £4.20 cashback

Quidco a similar cashback site was offering £3.50 for a £1 trial for 90 days.   Which although not as good an offer, you can also get a £10 sign up bonus once you’ve earned as little as £5 in cashback.  So you’d only need another £1.50.

Offers change all the time, so both cashback sites are worth checking for the best offer.  I se both the main sites all the time and have made hundreds of pounds back in cashback.

For more information:

tastecard with Natwest and RBS Bank

Some Natwest and RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) customers have the option of choosing tastecard membership (over Amazon Prime student membership or National Express Coachcard)

  • Silver
  • Platinum,
  • Student
  • Graduate

Don’t lose the card though as a replacement will cost you £15.

How to Cancel tastecard

Whatever your option you sign up for, make sure you set a clear reminder in your phone or on your calendar to cancel the card to avoid further charges down the line.

There have been reported issues in the past with cancelling tastecard and subsequently being charged.

I’ve cancelled my own with no problems.

To cancel, visit the tastecard cancel page, then simply fill in:

  • First name on card
  • Surname on card
  • tastecard membership

and click/tap “Find My Membership” and proceed from there.

Check your email for confirmation of cancellation.

Alternatively, contact tastecard to cancel on 0800 567 7241, Monday to Friday 9.00 am to 5.00 pm.

Conclusion

The free trials are certainly worth considering, especially if you earn a bit of cashback on top.

Have you used tastecard, what has your experience been?

Let me know in the comments below.

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