Best Credit Cards for Restaurants and Dining Out of January 2023

It’s easy to see the appeal of dining out: good food, nice ambiance, and someone else has to do the dishes. But all that delicious convenience can be expensive.

In fact, the average American spends about $3,675 a year, or roughly $306 a month, on dining, according to a sample budget based on the latest spending data available from the location intelligence firm Esri.

But there are some easy ways to offset these costs if you use the right credit card. We analyzed 32 popular rewards cards using an average American’s annual budget and digging into each card’s perks and drawbacks to find the best options based on your consumer habits. (See our methodology for more information on how we choose the best cards.)

Choose a card from our list and you could earn you over $100 a year on restaurant spending. Some also offer excellent rewards on grocery shopping, too, in case you want to eat in from time to time.

Here are Select’s picks for the top cards for restaurants and dining out.

Who’s this for? The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is geared toward foodies and frequent travelers who are looking for luxurious perks, such as free airport lounge access and complimentary hotel room upgrades. Cardholders earn a competitive 3X points on dining and travel worldwide. Based on Select’s calculations, we found the average American using this card could earn an estimated $165 per year in rewards for dining purchases alone (assuming you redeem rewards for travel via Chase Ultimate Rewards®, receiving 50% more value).

The value of Chase rewards points varies depending on how you use them. If you redeem points for cash and gift cards, each point is worth $.01, which means that 100 points equals $1 in redemption value. (See more on how the value of points is calculated.)

This card has a unique benefit where all points are worth 50% more when redeemed for travel via Chase Ultimate Rewards®. For example, 60,000 points are worth $900 redeemed toward airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. This perk is a great way to get the most value for your rewards.

While this card has a robust rewards program, it also comes with a steep $550 annual fee. All the card’s added credits and benefits provided by Chase can help offset the annual cost. The $300 annual travel credit effectively reduces the annual fee to $250. Cardholders can take advantage of a Priority Pass™ Select membership that has a value of about $429. They also get a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit of up to $100 every four years.

Who’s this for? The American Express® Gold Card is an ideal card for food lovers, offering a high 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year in purchases, then 1X). Cardholders also earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on the American Express Travel website and 1X Membership Rewards® points on all other purchases. Based on Select’s calculations, we found the average American using this card could earn an estimated $147 per year in rewards for dining purchases alone.

Membership Rewards® points value varies depending on how cardholders redeem them. You can use them in a variety of ways, from paying with points at checkout to redeeming for gift cards or a statement credit to booking travel. (See more on how the value of points is calculated.)

Beyond rewards points, this card offers a great additional perk that helps reduce the $250 annual fee (see rates and fees) to an effective $130. Cardholders can benefit from an annual $120 dining credit ($10 a month) at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar and select Shake Shack locations. Enrollment is required.

This card also provides money-saving Amex Offers that can earn you a statement credit or additional Membership Rewards® points at select businesses. These offers are location-based and additional terms apply.

Who’s this for? Food lovers who want to earn more rewards on dining purchases but don’t want to pay an annual fee should consider the U.S. Bank Altitude® Go Visa Signature® Card, which provides one of the highest rewards rates on takeout, food delivery and dining at 4X points. Based on Select’s calculations, we found the average American using this card could earn an estimated $147 per year in rewards for dining purchases alone.

If you prefer to order takeout or food delivery and watch a movie at home, you can benefit from this card’s annual $15 statement credit on eligible streaming subscriptions, such as Netflix and Hulu. That’s in addition to the 2X points you earn on streaming services, as well as on gas station and grocery purchases. All other eligible purchases earn 1X point per $1 spent.

U.S. Bank is offering new cardholders: earn 20,000 bonus points when you spend $1,000 in eligible purchases within the first 90 days of account opening. You can redeem points for a statement credit, gift card, travel or merchandise.

There’s also an introductory 0% APR for the first 12 billing cycles on purchases and balance transfers, which is great for financing new purchases or refinancing debt. After the intro period, there’s a 19.24% – 28.24% variable APR.

Beyond rewards and special financing, the Altitude Go card offers noteworthy travel perks, such as no foreign transaction fees, auto rental collision damage waiver and travel and emergency assistance services.

Who’s this for? The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card is one of the few cash back cards that offers unlimited 4% cash back on dining purchases. This card allows you to maximize rewards on fast food, restaurants, ice cream trips and more. Plus, you can enjoy foodie-centric perks, such as exclusive access to premium reservations with OpenTable.

This card is also a good choice for people who regularly attend entertainment events, such as concerts and plays, since those transactions earn unlimited 4% cash back. Additionally, you get exclusive access to premier culinary experiences, sports and music events, such as the NYC Wine and Food Festival and iHeartRadio Music Festival.

Who’s this for? The U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card offers the highest rewards rate on fast food purchases: 5% cash back. Cardholders can choose to earn 5% cash back on two bonus categories each quarter, on your first $2,000 in combined eligible net purchases, then 1%. Based on Select’s calculations, we found the average American using this card could earn an estimated $84* per year in rewards for dining purchases alone.

Currently, fast food restaurants, such as Subway and McDonald’s, earn 5% cash back. You can choose fast food as a 5% category every quarter to maximize cash back. Other categories include department stores and select TV, internet and streaming services.

You also get 2% cash back on one everyday category, such as grocery stores or gas stations, and 1% cash back on all other purchases. Cardholders can update their preferences every quarter, so you can change categories based on your needs.

This card also comes with no annual fee and a generous welcome bonus of $200 cash back bonus after you apply online and spend $1000 within the first 120 days of account opening.

You can also enjoy no interest on balance transfers for 15 billing cycles (after 18.74% – 28.74% variable APR), so if you need to pay off high interest debt, this may be the card for you. 

*We assumed half of all dining purchases you make are at eligible fast food restaurants and that you choose fast food and department stores as 5% categories every quarter. We also assumed you made these selections for the bonus 2% cash back category: groceries for two quarters, gas for one quarter and dining for one quarter.

To determine which cards offer the best value for dining out, Select analyzed 32 of the most popular credit cards offered by the biggest banks, financial companies and credit unions that allow anyone to join and offer bonus rewards on dining out. Bonus rewards means a cardholder earns 2% or 2 points per dollar in a given category. In this case, restaurants.

We compared each card on a range of features, including cash-back rewards, welcome bonus, introductory and standard APR, balance transfer fee and foreign transaction fees, as well as factors such as required credit score and customer reviews when available. We also considered additional perks, the application process and how easy it is for the consumer to redeem points.

Select teamed up with location intelligence firm Esri. The company’s data development team provided the most up-to-date and comprehensive consumer spending data based on the 2019 Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can read more about their methodology here.

Esri’s data team created a sample annual budget of approximately $22,126 in retail spending. The budget includes six main categories: groceries ($5,174), gas ($2,218), dining out ($3,675), travel ($2,244), utilities ($4,862) and general purchases ($3,953). General purchases include items such as housekeeping supplies, clothing, personal care products, prescription drugs and vitamins, and other vehicle expenses.

Select used this budget to estimate how much the average consumer would save over the course of a year, two years and five years, assuming they would attempt to maximize their rewards potential by earning all welcome bonuses offered and using the card for all applicable purchases. All rewards total estimations are net the annual fee.

It’s important to note the value of a point or mile varies from card to card and based on how you redeem them. When we calculated the estimated returns, we assumed that cardholders are redeeming points/miles for a typical maximum value of 1 cent per point or mile. (Extreme optimizers might be able to achieve more value.)

Our final picks are weighted heavily toward the highest five-year returns, since it’s generally wise to hold onto a credit card for years. This method also avoids giving an unfair advantage to cards with large welcome bonuses.

While the five-year estimates we’ve included are derived from a budget similar to the average American’s spending, you may earn a higher or lower return depending on your shopping habits.

For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, please click here.