Tastecard - game over? Would seem so.

[W11PEL]

Back in 2016 I used Tastecard quite a bit.

There were masses of "decent" eateries to choose from in Central London Z1/Z2. Really good restaurants. I let Tastecard lapse in 2017 for various reasons.

Some pals recently suggested a curry en masse so I said I'd get a free 1 month trial so we could all go down to the ubiquitous Brick Lane and save a few quid.

I decided to mess about with the app and it's clear that Tastecard have lost a massive percentage of participants. I'm talking 80% gone. Basically all that is left save a few weird places is Dominos offering a deal as long as you spend 30 quid. A great deal that is...

It would seem that restaurants cannot operate with people "ripping the ar$e out of it" and have pulled out.

Oh well!!

[Chucklehead]

Tastecard power the meerkat meals deals, so you'll probably find it's now more directed towards smaller groups and midweek dining rather than crowds of lads going for a curry at the weekend.

I had a tastecard free from work for a year back in probably 2015 or 2016. I thought it was st compared to offers you could get direct and I was in central London. I can't imagine it got better any further out.

[W11PEL]

Indeed.

But without a vast choice save crappy overpriced chains the concept is finished. Restaurants that are decent have come off because it doesn’t obviously work for them.

I seem to remember Pizza Express were all over it and Zizi. Oh and Prezzo. Even they’ve come off and they are fiercely overpriced for what you get. £15 quid for a pizza/pasta vs Franca Manca at £8 is probably why Pizza Express is in the $hit. But I digress.

What’s left is derisory on Tastecard. Meerkat Meals is not that much better IMPHO.

I used to go to The Princess in Primrose Hill regularly and it’s gone. So have a few others I went to in Z1/2.

Edited by W11PEL on Wednesday 27th November 09:03

[Liamjrhodes]

I have had one through work for the last couple of years and have to agree the selection is getting less and less. The main reason i use it now is the discounted cinema tickets

[princeperch]

as someone who has been to brick lane more times than I care to recall (most recently last week) I would have expected some fairly blank faces from the curry chaps if you'd got a tastecard out and asked them for a deal.

I did notice, on the subject of brick lane, that they are now trying to up their prices on the standard deal to 15/20 quid a head. me and my mates are used to paying 10/11/12 a head and have done for years - it took a bit of time to find someone who was prepared to work within our budget!

[W11PEL]

Taste card seems to be a bunch of grim curry houses and Domino's.

I can't see it lasting to be honest.

[Pothole]

princeperch said:

I did notice, on the subject of brick lane, that they are now trying to up their prices on the standard deal to 15/20 quid a head. me and my mates are used to paying 10/11/12 a head and have done for years - it took a bit of time to find someone who was prepared to work within our budget!

You've heard of inflation, have you?

[princeperch]

Pothole said:

princeperch said:

I did notice, on the subject of brick lane, that they are now trying to up their prices on the standard deal to 15/20 quid a head. me and my mates are used to paying 10/11/12 a head and have done for years - it took a bit of time to find someone who was prepared to work within our budget!

You've heard of inflation, have you?

if only my employer had heard of inflation too!

we used to pay 8 quid i think in 2008/2009 (in what was the cheapest one there), then it went up to a tenner, and now it seems they are trying for 15/20 quid.

thats fair enough if the tourists will pay it.

but if i've had 6 pints in the pride round the corner and want something cheap to eat with my mates afterwards before pushing off home then I'm afraid its unlikely I or many others of the regulars are going to wear the attempts to raise the standard price to 20 quid.

just the way it is really.

[sidekickdmr]

I used to have one and thought it was great, tried to avoid the chain places and check out a independent and met some great people and passionate owners just trying to get a name for themselves, in some cases it meant when they came off the app, we still went.

I cancelled mine when we moved to Devon, seems it hasn't reached this far yet, Shame to hear its gone downhill though, all good things (for the consumer anyway) must come to an end!

[deggles]

I did some work for tastecard/DCG a while back, and I've always thought it was an odd business model. None of the membership fees go to the restaurants, they just get a bit of free promotion/advertising if they agree to honour some kind of offer. It's really just seen as way for restaurants to bolster their off-peak trade, deals are hardly ever available at busy evening or weekend times. There was also a lot of effort went in to making sure offers could be 'turned off' for bank holidays/valentines/the whole of December, etc.

There is, it would seem, no such thing as a free lunch.

[OriginalFDM]

Not entirely surprising that small restaurants can’t absorb giving free food away on a constant basis.

For the paltry sum it costs we probably get 3 or 4 x our money back each year. Good for when we take our niece and nephew out - cinema and Frankie and Benny’s for 4 of us and it’s paid for itself for the whole year.

Hardly fine dining but serves a purpose - and probably these days much more suited to families with kids etc.

£10/£11 a head for curry? What are you eating, just poppadoms?!

Edited by OriginalFDM on Wednesday 27th November 14:34

[princeperch]

last week it was a few pints in the pride (the cat is sadly dead btw for anyone who has been there last few years) then eventually over to preem where the owner seemed most keen to negotiate unlike the others. £12.00 a head, including a free half pint of beer, a poppadom each, a starter, main, rice and nann.

it repeated a bit on me the next day, but you can't whack it for the money.

[W11PEL]

I remember the days (early 90’s) when you got a Brick Lane ruby for a fiver. All up..

Now you can easily pay ten quid just for the curry dish. Plus starter. Plus sides. Plus rice. Plus bread. Plus Cobra.

Easy to do £30-40. So basically I don’t as it’s too much and not what I consider value. In fact much of the UK is getting too expensive. I went to the NEC classic Show on Friday and it cost £34 each to get in plus parking.

I think the golden days are over on most levels. Shame really but there you go. I’m now selling up and GTFO as fast as I can and intend to. Selling all my toys. Anyone with half a brain can see the future. Not for me thanks!! I’ll observe from afar...

Edited by W11PEL on Wednesday 27th November 16:59

[vikingaero]

I get a free Tastecard with my packaged bank account. Rarely use it. Just Googled Maidstone and the choice is rather uninspiring - one or two are decent but the majority are too chainy.