Daily Dining Deals

Subscribe to the Austin Daily Dining Deals ical to save cash when dining out

For all the new viewers out there, the main point of the site is for you to be able to take advantage of all the great Austin area restaurant dining deals listed on the ical.  By subscribing to the calendar, you can easily access it whether online, on a smartphone or in your desktop calendar app.  Deals are sorted by day/time with details on the restaurant and whether it's a deal for kids, 2 for 1, etc.

View the deals page/calendar

Enjoy!

Austin Business Lunch and Coffee Map

A map of my favorite locations for a business lunch or coffee meeting.  Criteria is a blend of how good the food, value, atmosphere and parking are.  List is weighted towards the South and Central side of town.  Feel free to comment if you think some restaurants are missing.  I'll continue to update.

View Austin Business Lunch & Coffee Map in a larger map

A new Texas roadmp for must stop BBQ joints and Cafes

I've always thought it would nice to have a map to reference when traveling across Texas to find the must stop BBQ joints and cafes.  I couldn't find one, so I've created it.  I'm just getting started, but I'll continue to update and am open to suggestions.  These spots are all worth a slight detour when you're traveling anywhere nearby.

View Map

Good site for austin dining deals for kids http://www.kidseatfor.com/metro/tx/austin/

Issued a press release about the site

Would love to get a little press coverage just to help more people find the site and start using it to save some bucks.

http://www.prlog.org/10209473.html

Austin area happy hour specials

I have toyed with creating another calendar just for happy hour specials, but I don't have enough interest/time to keep a second calendar up.  Besides, there's a pretty good list on dailyhappyhour.com.  If you're interested, check them out.

Using Twitter to share dining deals

A number of people have asked for a simple guide to getting started with twitter and using it to share dining deals they come across.  Here goes:

1. Signup for a twitter account
2. Login to twitter.  Type "follow diningdealsaus" in the text box.  You're now following someone!  You'll see any tweets by diningdealsaus on your twitter homepage.
3. To twitter from your phone, click Settings>Devices on the top of the twitter site, click the allow SMS checkbox and enter your phone number with a +1.  Add a contact named Twitter to your phone with a phone number of "40404".  To send a tweet from your phone, send an SMS to the Twitter contact you just created.  Go ahead and test to see if it's working correctly.
4. When you come across a deal at a restaurant, tweet @diningdealsaus with the deal details.  I'll see the tweet and if appropriate, will add to the dining deals calendar.

A few notes:

• Remember, tweets are broadcasts.  Except for direct private messages, they're public.  For those following you, they'll see your tweets on their twitter homepage.
• To reply to someone, enter "@username" with username being the username of the recipient
• To send a direct private message, enter "d username"
• See list of available twitter commands
• You can search google for twitter apps for your mobile device (e.g. iphone or blackberry) or computer (windows xp or mac).  This is an alternative to logging into the twitter site to view tweets and manage your activity.
  

Getting ready for additional cities

The Austin calendar has been moved to a dedicated page on this site (link on your right).  I'm doing this in preparation for adding new cities down the road.  Each city will have its own page, calendar and twitter address.

If you know me, live in another city and would like a dining deal calendar and twitter address for your city on this blog, just email me.  I'll set it up and all you'll need to do is update a google calendar.  Simple as that.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you're wondering how to make better use of this site or how to contribute, please visit the FAQ page.

Save some cash when dining out

Having scoured the internet for a good source for local dining deals, e.g. kids specials, 2 for 1, etc., I've come up empty handed.  So, I've decided to create a simple site to compile local dining deals.  If it proves popular, I'll expand into other cities.  Right now, it's focused on Austin, TX and surrounding communities.  As I come across good deals, I'll tweet and update the Austin Dining Deals calendar on this site.

Subscribing to the blog, calendar or following diningdealsaus on twitter will be the easiest way to stay up to date and to help populate the site.  I do need your help to make this site useful.  If you run across a good deal around town, please share with others by commenting on the calendar post or tweeting me.  I'll update the calendar so the listing are always comprehensive.  Thanks!