I FInally Used My AMEX Gold Dining Credit The Way It Was Intended

by joeheg

There are many “perks” of having the American Express Gold Card. One of the most mentioned benefits is a $10 monthly dining credit. This isn’t a true dining credit as you only get $10 back after eating at Ruth’s Chris Steak House, The Cheesecake Factory, participating Shake Shack locations, or by ordering through Grubhub or Seamless. There is one other way to use the credit without dining.

Until now, I’ve ordered food once a month just to use the credit. After paying the service fees, delivery fees and tip to the driver, I didn’t save anything. I use the monthly credit just to use it, which I hate having to do to justify paying a card’s annual fee.

However, this month I did use the benefit with no additional effort, when we ate at a Shake Shack in Manhattan.

We took a quick weekend trip to New York just as Omicron unknowingly started to hit the city. The reason for the trip was to see as many Broadway shows as we could, making up for almost two years of being away from one of our favorite cities.

We had about 90 minutes before our next show and hadn’t eaten for hours. We didn’t have enough time to sit down for a meal (because the theater district was PACKED) but we had too much time to grab a slice of pizza to go. That’s when we saw the lighted sign on 8th Avenue.

Sharon and I remember Shake Shack from its humble beginnings when we were unwilling to stand in a line that extended around the block, just for a burger. We eventually visited when they opened more locations and the lines got a bit shorter. In all, we weren’t impressed. The burger wasn’t bad but it didn’t live up to the hype.

But that was years ago. In the present, we were hungry and it was there. Why not.

I ordered a bacon cheeseburger and parmesan garlic fries. I do want to mention that since we were in NYC and said we were eating inside, the cashier asked to see our vaccination cards (which is a requirement for indoor dining.)

After ordering, we had to wait quite a while for our food. That’s probably why I took a bite before remembering to take a picture.

a plate of food on a tray

I can’t lie; it was tasty. The burger is a touch too greasy but not as bad as I remembered. In fact, the fries were perfect, and I’d order them again. Sharon got the chicken bites which she said were as good as the ones at Chick-Fil-A (from when we used to eat there, over a decade ago.)

Of the three restaurant options given to use the AMEX Gold dining credit, Shake Shack is our top choice. However, it’s an effort to get to one in Orlando since they’re either in the tourist district or on the other side of town. There are burger places that we like better closer to our house. In addition, we’re not going to hunt down eating at a Shake Shack in New York because there are so many better places to eat.

But if you’re hungry, feel like a burger or chicken nuggets, and have your AMEX Gold in your pocket, you could do worse than waiting in the moderate line at Shake Shack for some decent quick (not fast) food.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary

Cover photo by Shinya Suzuki/Flickr CC BY 2.0

2 comments

John B. December 29, 2021 - 1:42 pm

Thats that Shake Shack that was down the block from my old gig (aint dere no more)! I got there once (the lines were always too long to wait). Shakes were amazing! I remember one with honey and fig if I recall.

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Eduard December 30, 2021 - 12:46 am

I have same feeling about $10 “dining credit” from Amex gold. By not using it I save much more.

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