We all like good food, but they do not come cheap. This is especially so in Bonifacio Global City where the real estate commands a premium price.
But we have found ways to eat in good restaurants at prices that are much lower than the published rates. Some times this involves taking some trade-offs and accepting some restrictions, but often, all it requires is a few minutes of your time to make the arrangement. So let’s get started.
Restaurant booking apps
You have heard of Booky. It offers discount when you reserve a table through them. The discount available changes with the time of day. The catch is you need to spend at least P1,000 (excluding service charge) before you can avail of the discount, and if you do not pay a monthly subscription fee, your maximum saving allowed is only P1,000.
Apart from Booky.ph, there are at least two newcomers that work in a similar way. In order to gain market share, these newcomers are offering something better.
Eatigo.com at present does not require any subscription and has no minimum spending. BigDish.ph is also the same. However, Eatigo.com has a better user experience because visitor does not need to register before making a booking. You can just book by providing your email address.
Restaurant selection and discount
Good news for us consumers, each of these companies has quite a large number of restaurant partners in BGC. Some restaurants partner with more than one booking site/app.
As of March 2018, restaurant partners of these app in BGC include:
Booky
55 partners. Biggest discount of P500 available from Downtown and Halsted (Forbestown Road), FAT (Burgos Circle) and Va Bene (Central Square).
Eatigo
51 partners. Biggest discount of 50% off is available at 48 partners such as Alta (Ascott Residences), Saboten (Serendra), Jin Joo Korean Grill (SM Aura), Morganfields (Uptown Mall), at different time slots.
BigDish
19 partners. Biggest discount of 50% off is available at 11 partners such as Tipple & Slaw (Forum), Motorino (Net Park), Basil (Arya Plaza). The number of seats available at each discount rate can be small though.
Booky’s discount makes it suitable for a meal for no more than two persons. Savings from the last two can be substantial. We got over P1,000 off a meal that was worth P2,800 from a Eatigo booking a few days ago.
Hot picks for March 2018
Of course the discount offered by the restaurants can change hour to hour, and day to day. But at least we can show you what is available now so you can decide.
Best deals in our view offered by these three apps in March 2018 are:
Booky
- P500 off at Downtown and Halsted, Forbestown Road. 11am to 11pm. The food at this restaurant is quite good, but the location is a bit obscure.
Eatigo
- 50% off at Early Bird Breakfast Club, Fort Strip. 7pm. Maybe the name of the restaurant makes people think that it does not serve dinner, which is not correct.
- 50% off at Kushikatsu Daruma at Uptown Mall. 11am. We actually like their rice bowls more than the breaded skewers, but whatever your taste, the discount is good if you can go at that time.
BigDish
- 40% off Grind Bistro, Netpark Building, 5th Avenue. 7pm. This restaurant serves very good burger. Combined with the good time slot, proper dinner time, we think the discount is a steal.
Note though discount does not apply on service charge.
For us consumers, there is no reason to limit ourselves to one app or even to one format of discounts. If last generation discount platforms like Metrodeal.com or Dealgrocer.com can bring even better deals to the table, why not take them? But right now, the apps offer a better way for restaurants to fine-tune their discounts, and thus able to offer better deals to consumers than the groupon type of discount platforms.
To see if the restaurant of your choice is offering a discount through any of these apps, visit our restaurant map. We try to be most up-to-date with the information, but these apps may add or delete their partners without notice.
