MCB is now a super user of http://www.idine.com/ - check it out today!
Detroit Restaurant Week starts today which kicks off a week of affordable fine dining at over 20 local establishments including MCB favorites Roast, The Whitney and Cuisine.Now in its fifth year, participating DRW restaurants feature various 3-course meals for $28 now through October 2nd.
My better half ("the foodie") and I ("the wallet") have been fans of DRW since its inception and it has been customary for us to dine out nearly every night during the weeklong event.
Considering the body blow my bi-fold is about to take I decided to try out a paid promotion that came across my desk a few weeks ago called www.iDine.com as a way to help soften the dent.
iDine is a dining rewards program that offers up to 15% back on your bill when you dine at participating restaurants. It is nationwide and offers a wide selection of locations here in the motorcity including bars, carry out and fine dining. Although some of my local favorites were not listed there were tons that were and plenty of places we had never tried before.
It was easy to register and link a few of my credit cards to my account. After dining at a participating location iDine automatically sends an email survey regarding your visit. It's cool that you don't have to notify the waiter or present a coupon of any sort. Once the short survey is completed you build benefit rewards and as this increases they send you $20 American Express Gift Cards that can be used on anything you like. The maximum yearly benefit is 15% which I will easily obtain. I liked the review section of the website where you can leave details about your dining experience and read up about what others thought as well.
In prep for DRW / iDine testing we searched iDine's database on the road this past weekend and discovered Cantina Diablo's in Ferndale was on the list. It is now the new home of Bart's Breakfast Club an old favorite of ours that we had not had a chance to try out since the move.
Overall the new location is top notch and it is funny that you can see the Bart's signage out the front window. Service was a bit slower than we were used to but the good news was the food was still on par. My western omelet was kick ass as usual and although we ordered something different the caramel infused french toast was totally amazing so thanks for the mix-up gals!
As part of our Detroit Restaurant Week plan we will be checking out Da Edoardo Foxtown Grille, Detroit Seafood Market and Roma Cafe which are iDine participating restaurants.
Also as part of our promo post we are giving away an iDine $20 American Express Gift Card to one lucky reader. Check out http://www.idine.com/ and email motorcityblog@earthlink.net which of your favorite restaurants you would like to participate in the rewards program.
We will choose 1 lucky winner on Friday - good luck.