FREE tastelondon membership - 50% off at 600 London restaurants

78mjt

Here’s the deal. I’ve been a member of tastelondon for 2 years now (https://www.tastelondon.co.uk). It’s a diners club that offers 50% off the food bill at 600 London restaurants. I've posted about it before, but never seen a free trial run.

Normally annual membership is £69.95, but there are other offers out there, the cheapest I’ve seen now being Metro (£44.95 www.tastelondon.co.uk/metro reduces the price to this).

This morning there’s a free trial offer in Metro – no obligation to buy, and you don’t have to give them bank or card details. The membership lasts for a month, no doubt after this point they are planning to market to the participants, but without bank details you aren’t having to worry about joining then canceling a direct debit.

There are a few things to note. If you only eat out a couple of times a year then don’t bother buying a tastelondon card – just use toptable instead (www.toptable.co.uk) Toptable offers online restaurant bookings and there are normally about 30-40 2 for 1 offers on there. However, times can be limited, and when I’ve booked through toptable I’ve been given a shorter set menu in most of the restaurants. So don’t go expecting to be able to order Lobster or Kobe Steak.

Secondly, quite a few of the tastelondon restaurants do exclude Friday and Saturday nights, so if you only eat out at weekends, you’ll probably only find 100-150 restaurants that offer 50% off. Also, some state they are “1st visit only”, but in 2 years I’ve never had a restaurant cross their number off my card, hence I can always go back.

Having said that, if you eat out quite a bit, and want a big selection of restaurants (including some top ones like Almeida, Frederick’s, Bam Bou, Mint Leaf right through to chains like Spaghetti House, La Tasca, Slug & Lettuce, etc) then go for tastelondon. Importantly, the restaurants can’t limit their menus and I’ve saved an average of about £35 each time I’ve used it (the most recent time being Saturday night in Mint Leaf – 6 of us dined, and saved over £100). You aren’t going to find 600 ½ price offers anywhere else, and I can only speak from personal experience, but have saved an absolute fortune.

The offer says you can either e-mail or phone. The e-mail is [EMAIL="freetrial@tastelondon.co.uk"]freetrial@tastelondon.co.uk[/EMAIL] and the phone number is 0800 5677 241. You have to give them your name, address, phone number and e-mail address. If anyone has the ad and can scan and ad it below then that would be great, I haven't got a scanner.

One other thing, if a few people join who know each other make sure you get your friends to put your name as the recommender – you get a £10 M&S voucher for each person, so in essence that’s really £34.95 to join – half price.



Not sure how long the offer will last, so I'd be quick.

frugal_rock

Just sent the e-mail and I should receive the card in the next 7 days.

This site is proving none too helpful for my diet!

Cheers

saverspud

Thanks for this - I've been wondering whether we'd use one of these often enough to make it worthwhile. It's a good way to see what's on offer.

Cheers

78mjt

No worries, I'm not sure if they'll send the directory or not (it's about 300 pages thick and looks quite expensive), but you can just use their website if not. The card is the only thing you need to get the discount.

juliafrench1

Thank you so much for this. Got forwarded the link to this page by a friend - have been thinking about joining for some time now.

E-mailed and got an e-mail back saying it will be with me in 7 days!!!

xx

mightyj

thank you so much for this since we planned to take a day off and go to London for our annivesery this trail card would be handy!

Anyone knows how long the trail period would last?

timmo44

Here's a scan of the ad in today's (01/04) Metro:

tonykenny1975

:T I have a business meeting tomorrow and one on friday and the the place I go is part of this scheme this card is going to save me a fortune !!!!

Thanks
:rotfl:

Beate

Thanks! Am I right in thinking that "50% off the total bill" means not just my bill but everyone's who was at the same table, so if I go out with three friends, everyone get 50% off?

78mjt

50% does apply to the whole group, you only need one card for everyone.

Some of the restaurants put an upper limit, when I went to Mint Leaf this was maximum 8 people (although there were only 4 of us). Check the website or directory first.

Purple_Peril

My Dad lives in London, and when I go down to visit him we like to make an occasion of it - I'm going in a couple of weeks for a long weekend. So I've asked for the free trial, but I very much doubt that either of us would take out full membership.

Do you think that they'll still let me take up the offer as I live over 250 miles from London, so am unlikely to take paid membership?

Update: I've just received an (automated?) email saying that the membership card will be with me in the next 7 days.