Comments on: How can I say thanks with a nice night out, from afar?

Question: How can I say thanks with a nice night out, from afar?

mathowie — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:24:50 -0800

How can I remotely reward a friend in San Francisco with a nice night out? Are there gift certificates I could order for a restaurant and deliver them by email to my friend? I know there must be a system for this, but I can't seem to get the google search terms right.

A friend's been doing volunteer work for the past couple months and as a way of saying thanks and I appreciate the hard work he's been doing, I wanted to give him and his wife $100 to have a nice night out.

The only rub is that I'm in Oregon, he's in San Francisco. Is there a site I can go to and maybe pick from some restaurants, pay for a certificate or whole meal, then let him know about it and somehow redeem it?

By: zamboni

zamboni — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:35:15 -0800

http://gift.restaurant.com/ ?

By: rokusan

rokusan — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:36:44 -0800

I don't know how legit it is, but this seems to work the way you describe: Restaurant Gift Certificates by E-Mail.

If I was doing that, I'd low-tech it by finding a specific restaurant myself, then calling them to arrange something ad hoc. No need for a paper or e-mail certificate if they already have a credit on file in your name, after all. Then you can send anything you like to your friend as his notice.

By: liketitanic

liketitanic — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:46:19 -0800

You can find a restaurant via OpenTable.com--that might get you a little closer.

By: proj

proj — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:52:33 -0800

Low tech, but this has worked well for me in the past -- I just call the restaurant in question, purchase a gift certificate and have them hold it until your friend comes in (you'll have to tell him/her that you bought it) or have them mail it. I've never had a problem asking restaurants to do either.

By: sulaine

sulaine — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:00:16 -0800

I think most places would mail a gift certificate if you call the personally.

By: OrangeDrink

OrangeDrink — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:07:57 -0800

Absolutely. I did this for a great Sushi restaurant called Koo. I just called them directly, gave them my info and asked them to mail the gift certificate appropriately. They acted like this was a common occurrence.

By: roger ackroyd

roger ackroyd — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:09:07 -0800

Why not just give him a generic Amex gift card?

By: mathowie

mathowie — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:16:03 -0800

Cool, I'll just pick a restaurant and go for that.

By: wryly

wryly — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:01:25 -0800

Tell your friend that someone you know is visiting San Francisco -- ask him for restaurant recommendations. Ask whatever questions you want; he won't suspect.

Proceed to step two.

By: watercarrier

watercarrier — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:27:17 -0800

You want to give her a gift certificate for Cafe Gratitude. It's just very good.

By: serazin

serazin — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:03:45 -0800

NO! Not cafe gratitude unless your friend is a vegan or raw food person! There are hundreds of insanely awesome restaurants to choose from here!

By: mathowie

mathowie — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:28:19 -0800

In the end I asked my friend for a restaurant recommendation (he thought I was taking a trip there soon) and called the restaurant which offered gift certificates and they were even nice enough to mail it directly to him. He was thankful and it all worked out in the end. Thanks, all!