Most people book restaurants the old-fashioned way. Ring up, grab a table, pay full whack. Nothing wrong with that, but you’re leaving money on the table every single time.
The apps we’re covering here flip the script. They reward you for booking through them with points, cashback, or straight-up discounts. Some cut your bill in half. Others pay you actual money back into your bank account.
Worth ten minutes of your time to set up? Absolutely.
TheFork: Enjoy Up to 50% Discount on your Food Bill
TheFork has several discounts, but when it comes to discounts, most are typically half off your bill, and this happens at TheFork Festival, which ran from October to late November in 2024, with more than 100 restaurants in London and across the UK.
Simply book the restaurants through the app, show up at the restaurant, and order from the menu, and your payment will automatically reflect the discount and there will be no need to tell the waiter. The 50% off only applies to the food and does not apply to the drinks, which is normal for these types of discounts.
Even when it’s not a festival period, there are many restaurants that are still offering a 20% to 50% discounts all the time. In the app, you can also filter by “Special Offers” to see what’s available in your vicinity.
The Yums are the loyalty system. You get 100 points when you make a reservation and show up to the restaurant and you can redeem 1,000 Yums for a discount of £20 off your next meal. Reserve more than 2,000 and you get £50 off. Some restaurants provide you with double or triple Yums when you do certain bookings.
If you eat out regularly, the system works out quite well. After 10 bookings, you can get £20 off. Doesn’t seem like much, but it does add up over time.OpenTable: The Points Game
OpenTable’s reward system is unique. They start you off with 100 poiints, but some tables incentivize your booking with as much as 1,000 points if you dine at off-peak hours.
In the UK, you can redeem 1,000 points for a £6 discount off pre-paid dining with select restaurants, including Gaucho, Sushi Samba, and Pizza East.
You start off with 0 points, but you need to reach 2,000 points to redeem anything. This requires a minimum of 20 bookings before you see any return. However, if you are dining at a restaurant that offers bonus point tables, you can reach the threshold much quicker.
Complete six reservations within 12 months, and OpenTable will reward you with Gold Status Club which directly provides you with priority bookings for last-minute tables and six months of free Uber One.
Quandoo: Actual Cash Back
Quandoo allows for an even easier system. Instead of redeeming points for restaurant credit, you actually get instant cash reward directly deposited to your bank account.
You get £3 cashback once you create an account. Making a booking and then showing up to the restaurant earns you £4.50. After your dining experience, you can leave a review for an additional £1.50 reward. Let’s say you refer a friend. You earn bonus points and a cash reward for both of you!
You need to finish one reservation and gather at least 1,000 points, and then you can request a cash payout. When you reach that, it’s sent directly to your bank account. You don’t have to worry about restaurant credits or anything like that.
The app works in large cities like London, Manchester, and Edinburgh. While there are fewer restaurants compared to TheFork or OpenTable, the straightforward value of cash back over a loyalty program skews to the app’s favor.
First Table: 50% Off for Eating Early
Unlike the other apps, this one is simple and straightforward. Restaurants want to fill their first tables of the service, and you agree to eat early to receive half off.
The app shows you the first breakfast, lunch, or dinner time slot at participating restaurants for the next 7 days. When you book one, your entire table gets 50% off the food, and drinks are still full price.
There’s a reservation fee of £4-8 depending on the restaurant, but it’s a positive deal all things considered. If there is a £50 food bill and a booking fee of £8, you’d pay £25 for the food, and then £8 for the reservation. That’s £33 in total, which is still a great savings.
First Table currently works in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff, Leeds, Bath, Bristol, and Brighton. They collaborate with independent restaurants and mid-range chains – steering clear of fast food. In Belfast, they even include the Michelin Bib Gourmand awarded restaurant, Home on the platform.
Too Good to Go: Relish Restaurant meals at a discount
Too Good to Go began as a supermarket food waste app, however it has expanded to include a large number of restaurants. The idea is simple: restaurants end service and still have unsold food. Instead of throwing it away, they offer it on the platform in what they call ,,surprise bags„ consisting of what they have leftover at the end of the day, at about a third of the price.
In the UK, surprise bags cost about £3-6 and contain food value at about double the cost. On the app, you can find restaurant chains such as Pizza Express, Leon and Pret or varying independent restaurants and cafes.
Due to the app’s surprise element, you do not get to pick what meal you get, and you have to show up at the end of the service and claim what is still available. This is particularly true of restaurant bags – the large ones contain a lot more food – while the bakery and cafe bags tend to be much more compact. In 2023, the app won over 30 million meals and over £95 million saved to users. The same year it received the cultural Apple Impact award.
Karma: See What You’re Getting
Karma works like Too Good To Go but allows for more visibility – you can see what you’re buying beforehand.
Karma shows you the exact food before it is purchased. How do you ask? Because the app tracks individual restaurant and grocery store deals with 50% off food. No bad surprises here. If a restaurant has excess copies of a dish, for example, a Thai restaurant with 3 makings of pad thai, it goes on the app.
Karma is UK based. London has 1800 participating groceries and restaurants, but Remember, small restaurants are more likely to get their food on here. If you value and need a service like Too Good to Go but want visibility, this app is defintely worth it.
Tastecard: The Unique Membership Approach
Tastecard differs from all booking apps. It is a subscription based system, and it offers users money saving deals with partnered restaurants.
Tastecard has a 2 for 1 main meal deal (1 is free, you take 50% off the 2nd meal) at restaurants like Prezzo, ASK Italian, Ed’s, Diner, and other smaller local restaurants. When you get a starter, main, and dessert, you can do 2 for 1 on all, but sides of the meals do not apply.
Tastecard subscriptions are 4 GBP a month which averages to 40-80 GBP a year. Some customers get it for free from banks like NatWest. Some of these offers may include a free subscription.
The more you use the app, the better the value you get from it. If you use the app to eat out over the participating places two times a month, you will save more money than the cost of the subscription. If you use the app once every few months though, you will probably be better off using the free out of the apps listed above.
The Timing Trick: Off-Peak Dining
Several chains offer discounts for eating outside peak hours, no app required.
Greggs drops their pizza slice and drink combo from around £3.50 to £2.85 after 4pm. Pancake chain Stack offers bottomless pancakes for £5 on Fridays, or £9.50 between 3-5pm other days, compared to £11.50+ at peak times.
Prezzo runs a limited free lunch offer on weekdays where the first two pairs of diners at window tables eat free, though you need to buy drinks and specifically ask for it.
Set lunch menus at sit-down restaurants consistently offer better value than evening a la carte. Many mid-range London spots do two courses for £20-30 during weekday lunchtimes that would cost £50+ after 6pm.
Which App for What Situation
- Date night on a budget: First Table or TheFork Festival. Both give you proper sit-down restaurants at half price.
- Quick weekday lunch: Too Good To Go for maximum value, or an off-peak chain deal if you want consistency.
- Building long-term rewards: Quandoo for cashback, TheFork for Yums if you eat out frequently.
- Group booking: OpenTable or TheFork, since both handle larger parties well and bonus points can add up.
- Trying somewhere new: First Table encourages experimentation since the discount makes unfamiliar restaurants less risky.
For readers seeking deeper insights, the concept of manage restaurant bookings efficiently becomes particularly relevant here, offering a meaningful extension to the topic early in the journey.
What to Watch Out For
A few gotchas worth knowing.
TheFork Festival discounts apply to food only. Order a bottle of wine and you’re paying full price for it. Same with First Table. Factor drinks into your budget expectations.
OpenTable points expire if you don’t make a reservation for twelve months. Quandoo points last indefinitely as long as your account stays active. TheFork Yums expire after one year.
Too Good To Go collection windows are strict. Miss your slot and you lose both the food and your money. Set a phone reminder.
First Table requires you to stay for the meal. You can’t grab the discount and leave after starters. Fair enough really, since the restaurant wants the table full during that first hour of service.
Some Tastecard restaurants restrict use to certain days or exclude weekends. Always check the listing before you book rather than assuming it works every night.
Final Thought
None of these apps cost anything to download. Setting up accounts takes about five minutes per app. After that, you’re comparing options instead of booking blind.
The savings compound over time. Use First Table once a month and you’re looking at £150-200 saved annually. Add TheFork Festival twice a year and that climbs higher. Stack Quandoo cashback on top and you’re eating significantly better for the same budget.
That’s the whole point, really. Same meals, same restaurants, less money out of your pocket.
