Dineout App Review

By | September 19, 2018

Dineout is a restaurant table reservation service company founded in 2012 by 3 guys based in New Delhi, India. Since its acquisition by Times Internet Ltd in 2014 (then TimesCity), Dineout claims to have grown over 200%.

According to the company, it provides online reservations for about 25,000 restaurants around the country and serves over 1.5 Million diners a month (as of Sep 2018) across 8 cities. Okay, that’s the info from Wiki, lets get into the real life use case 🙂

Dineout – A Table Reservation App

Why Dineout?

The first time i’ve ever got to know about Dineout App was when ICICI Bank ran Rs.1000 Dineout Voucher Offer on their Amex co-branded credit cards. At the beginning, i used to giveaway the vouchers to my friends but then one day decided to really explore it and that’s when i came to know the real potential of the Dineout App.

According to me, their USP is their Dineout Pay option, which they used to call as Smartpay earlier. Its more like a wallet and pay to restaurants as such, like real cash. Some restaurants need reservations, while some don’t.

One downside is that not all restaurants are Dineout Pay enabled, though you could find good # of restaurants in a given area with Dineout Pay enabled.

Coverage

Like most other dining app, Dineout covers metro cities only for now. Here’s their current coverage:

  • Delhi
  • Mumbai
  • Bangalore
  • Kolkata
  • Pune
  • Chennai
  • Ahmedabad
  • Hyderabad

My Experience with Dineout

Ever since i came to know about the app, i accumulated about Rs.4000 worth of Dineout pay through the ICICI offer and used it in many places in Chennai like Punjab Grill, Coal barbecues. Here’s one of my experience at the restaurant named Mamagoto, Chennai – a Pan Asian restaurant. 

I reserved the table for two 1 hr before and informed the restaurant before we began with the meal. The app said we get a mocktail free on the reservation, but what it didn’t tell was that its applicable only on weekdays, so we missed that.

Well, we ordered a lot of new dishes which i never know that exists in Chennai. Here’s a quick look into the meal & the bill.

Mamagoto Chennai

Dineout Mamagoto Chennai

So we splurged about Rs.2700 for two people. I had about Rs.2000 in wallet by that time, so i used credit card for the remaining amount. Its by far the highest ever i had paid in my life for a dinner, for two – that too for a not so great food. Even in Singapore, we managed to pay under 2k for two.

But the good part is, you get cashback to wallet even on this payment, as you could see on the image above (Rs.300). You cant use these cashbacks to pay for more than 25% of the bill in future. You can still use 100% of the voucher amount received from ICICI Offer.

Lesson Learned: Make sure to look at the price from next time onwards, irrespective of whether i have wallet cash or not 😀

Offers

While above wallet thing is so cool, you also get offers like: 25%-50% offer on the bill; 1+1 on drinks/food from time to time, just like any other dining app.

They also have the premium plans like Gourmet Passport & Dineout Plus – which am not sure how great they’re as i’ve personally not used it. Maybe Standard Chartered – Ultimate card holders could comment on that.

That aside, you could also get Rs.200 into your wallet for signing up using this link or by using the referral code: 6LDHS. Using it is like gifting me a meal, maybe a quarter meal 🙂

Bottomline

As long as you’ve wallet credit, Dineout app is the best dining app around. If not, you may need to explore Zomato or Eazydiner Prime, which i’ll review shortly. After the revolution in the hotel booking sector, dining is going to be the next big thing. You could already see how aggressive Eazydiner is getting lately.

  • Cardexpert Rating: 4/5 [yasr_overall_rating]

I wish all credit card companies has to drop their not so popular individual dining programs & get into this platform and issue more Dineout type vouchers. I’m waiting for the day when ICICI runs the offer again. Do you?

Have you used Dineout or any other Dining app before? Do share with us your tips on how you save on dining.

Author: Siddharth

Helping Indians to choose right credit cards, pick right offers and enjoy luxury vacations for less. Day & night exploring the spiritual reality of our human existence.

40 thoughts on “Dineout App Review

  1. Amann

    Gourmet app started of in Delhi Ncr and has spread to Mumbai, Bangaluru and Hyderabad. It offers either 1+1 on buffet or on main course. The buffet option is definitely worth it if you do go out weekly. I’ve saved 27,000/- through this app over 2 years. It costs 1100 for a year’s membership of Delhi and gives you 3 coupon at all partner restaurants.

    My rating 4.5/5. Just wish all restaurants offered buffet option as well.

    Reply
  2. Gkcards

    Try eazydiner this month. They have 1+1 buffet or 50% off on many top restaurants

    Reply
  3. Gaurav Malik

    They run great offers but then you have to be careful that the cash back that you receive gets expired almost after a month so you have to be extremely careful about this cash back amount.

    I have been using this app/DineoutPlus which I got along with my SCB Ultimate card. Very Helpful I would say and the CX team is also quite helpful in case booking is denied. All in all a win win situation.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      I could see mine with 3 months validity on such “cashback against bill payments”. Good enough isn’t it?

      Reply
  4. Prashant Gupta

    I have been uaing this app for a long time and save many rupees. Even if a restaurant doesnt have a deal or booking option you can upload bill and get cool dineout cash.

    One other point while paying bill through dineout app add money in dineout wallet before payment and u will get 5-10% extra amount added in wallet depending on that day offer – thats a further saving.

    Reply
  5. Ameya

    The issue with Dineout in Pune is that many restaurants accept only 25% of the bill amount as SmartPay. I too had availed this offer and have 2k sitting in the SmartPay…hope I can avail to the fullest!

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Its 25% with all restaurants now i guess – when you use those promo cashback amount. Yet, you can still use 100% when you use the voucher amount received from ICICI.

      Reply
  6. Mickey

    Right now the most Rockin’ app is Zomato with their Zomato Gold membership. They’re running a disc now so you can get their yearly membership at 1500 instead of 1900. Huge savings

    I just used the Eazy diner at Burger King – Rs 260 – u get – 2 whoppers + 1 cheesy fries + 2 sundae + 2 Pepsi

    Now I’m going for a run…😂😂

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Sounds like a loot!

      That reminds me of the day when i first visited Burger King outlet at Lulu Mall, Kerala. One of the best burgers i’ve ever had in my life 🙂

      Reply
    2. Prashant Gupta

      And with Hdfc DCbB u get 33% back. And adding a promiti code will get u 20% mor discount. I will cost u nett Rs900.

      Reply
    3. Ameya

      If you have MMT Black, then once you complete travel worth 50k or less, they issue a wallet+cash which can be redeemed for Zomato Gold 15 months free membership

      Reply
    4. Amit G

      I Got Zomato Gold in 800/- (+ DB points) for 1 year membership . I would like to tell members a trick. Zomato offers Gold in big cities at a premium, while same Gold membership is available at a cheaper price in tier 2 cities like Jaipur, Indore. I live in Gurgaon, last month is visited Indore and opened Zomato, Gold was showing at 50% less price. You can try subscribing Zomato Gold by changing your City. Additionally you can use referral code to get 20% discount.

      I use Dineout Pay over and above Zomato gold. Thanks to ICICI Amex Vouchers.

      Reply
    5. GTMAX

      Zomato Gold has been devalued recently with only 1 unlock allowed for every 2 diners on the table effectively giving a 25% discount(and not 50%). Still remains a good membership though!

      Reply
  7. Tushar

    AmEx offers free EazyDiner Prime membership for one year. They’re running a 50% off food festival this month, and it’s quite nice.

    Reply
    1. Mouli

      Its free for 3 months and then they will charge your card unless you discontinue your Prime membership within 3 months
      Plz recheck it

      Reply
  8. Mouli

    I am using it for a while .When you book restaurants through the app you can JP miles also .
    I think its just 40 JP miles/booking
    Though I have Dineout Plus that I received from SC Ultimate card but unable to use it as Chennai is not covered

    Reply
  9. GS

    A similar app is nearbuy. The advantage there is that the cashback can be used @100% across all their categories spa, travel, movies etc. Coverage isn’t as good as Dineout

    Reply
  10. Anoop E S

    The dineout offer from ICICI is one of the best offers out there. The main catch is that wallet loading is also considered eligible if it is above Rs.1000

    I had used the dineout app at Delhi, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad. The experience was good, except in one restaurant in Delhi Lajpat Nagar metro station building, where we were denied entry saying the restaurant is full. We managed to get entry the nearest restaurant in the same building and used dineout earnings. For all reservations, I’m getting 40 JP miles.

    I had faced some issues with the voucher provided. For the month of February 2018, I was given the same voucher code and PIN of the December 2017 voucher. Then the voucher for January 2018 was missed. Although I raised a complaint with ICICI wealth management, the issue is still pending.

    Reply
  11. Aayush Chawla

    This is a great time to be a foodie 😀
    I simply top up my Dineout wallet for a couple of months at a time. Not only does it save a lot of money(read: over 20 percent) but it is a great time saver as well. Paying virtually is always faster than swiping the card 🙂
    We had a similar price war going on between MMT and Goibibo a few years and it was great for the travel enthusiasts. Now we see something similar here with Dineout/ Eazydiner/ nearbuy/ gourmet passport/ Zomato gold all targeting the same crowd.

    Reply
  12. GP

    Guys Check it out :-Dineout premium plan : Gourmet Passport (1+1 on buffet or on main course/ alcoholic/Non alcoholic Beverages ) Membership- 3 Months(All Cities) Free ONLY for Visa SIGNATURE / INFINITE Debit/ Credit cards holders for a limited period.

    Valid till Sep ’19.
    Go grab….

    Reply
  13. Diya korwani

    Very bad experience… booked a table for my husband birthday with inaugural offer from dineout.. got a confirmation from dineout but the restaurant says the offer not valid. Called dineout and had word with customer service many times. They told they will confirm but still no answer from dineout.. very poor customer service.. I would recommend never to believe them👎👎

    Reply
  14. Ravi

    Worst expirience with dineoit give 20% cash back on my food bill but when i was to try use cashnach amount therr is u can use only 20% of yuor cash back You you guys thinking we are phool bulshit your dineout

    Reply
  15. Ramya

    Dineout is a fraud
    I won’t recommend Dineout to anyone as j have a very bad experience with Dineout. I purchased GIRF coupon from them but I was not able to redeem the coupon due to unavoidable circumstances. I asked Dineout to refund or to change the date , but they said GIRF ones bought cannot be changed or refunded.reference number: 459494.

    Reply
    1. MT

      You probably didnt read the Terms and condition of the coupon , please read them before calling dineout a fraud

      Reply
    2. rahul

      Where is fraud is this. You bought the coupon and could not use it. They gave it for less because they expect a certain percentage to not use it, that’s how the discount work. take from someone, give to someone else.
      how does that become a fraud.

      Reply
    3. Sumit

      Dineout is not fraud – you didn’t read the TnC of GIRF coupons before buying. There is a difference!

      Reply
    4. SG

      Even BookmyShow does not refund or reschedule, what was the basis of your assumption? Read TnC next time.

      Reply

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