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- I eat a lot at the restaurant and, fortunately, it's a bonus category badociated with several award-winning credit cards, which allows me to earn extra points at restaurants around the world.
- The American Express® Gold Card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve are two of the most rewarding options, but one of them is the winner of my book thanks to the value of her reward points and other benefits like only access to airport lounges and main rental insurance.
- I use the Sapphire Reserve to earn about 40,000 points a year at the restaurant and use them to finance my trip.
I hate to admit it, but I often eat at the restaurant. A coffee for breakfast, something fast for lunch and for dinner, I go out with friends.
Although this is not always healthy for my size, I can justify it a bit by the points I earn. Yes, that's an excuse, but I actually earn a ton of points at the restaurant, and I use these rewards – as well as the points and miles that the other cards in my inventory of nearly 30 me bring back to me. – to book trips around the world.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Amex Gold: Two Choice Cards for a Dinner
Two cards really stand out for the restaurant rewards: the Chase Sapphire Reserve, a top credit card with an annual fee of $ 450 (or $ 150 after taking other benefits into account, such as statement credits up to $ 300 for travel each year) and American Express. Gold, a top intermediate level card with an annual fee of $ 250 (actually, $ 150 after taking into account up to $ 100 of airline incidentals each year).
The cost of both cards is about the same when you consider their benefits. It is therefore a question of knowing whether you give more importance to the advantages or the points.
With the Sapphire Reserve, you receive up to $ 300 a year as a statement of the travel expenses you make with the card. Chase has a broad definition of "travel" that includes subway fare, transit cards, tolls and even parking meters, as well as airlines, hotels, and travel agencies. I bought a plane ticket at $ 400 immediately after the annual dues and I received a $ 300 credit on my next statement.
The American Express approach to credit reporting is not that simple. You get a $ 10 monthly account statement credit for restaurants with the Amex Gold card, but only for a handful of options, including Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth's Chris Steak House Restaurant , Boxed or participating Shake Shack establishments. You can also receive up to $ 100 in airtime incidental credits from an airline. This covers things like meals, drinks and checked baggage.
Earn points and redeem them
Here, it may seem that the Amex Gold is clearly the winner: it offers 4 loyalty points for every dollar spent on meals. Meanwhile, Chase Sapphire Reserve offers 3 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar. However, I feel that Ultimate Rewards points have more flexibility than Membership Rewards points. With the Chase Sapphire Reserve, your points earn 1.5 cents each for the purchase of airline tickets, hotels, rental cars and cruises on the Chase portal. They can also be transferred to airline and hotel partners.
At the same time, American Express Membership Rewards points can be used to book trips via Amex at rates ranging from 0.7 to 1 cent per point. The best value for the Membership Rewards is the transfer to airline partners, but this limits the flexibility to spend your points on hotels or rental cars.
Overall, I think the points-to-earnings ratio is a wash. Amex has slightly better airline transfer partners than Chase, but Chase has much better exchanges through its travel portal. I find it's much easier to spend my chase points not only for dream flights in upscale international cabs, but also for flights like the Phoenix economy clbad to see my mom spend Thanksgiving then that seats are not available with airline miles.
Ease of approval
It is easier to be approved for the American Express Gold Card than for the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The Sapphire Reserve requires a minimum line of credit of $ 10,000. This card is also subject to Chase's 5/24 rule – which means you will not be approved if you have opened five or more credit cards for all issuers in the last 24 months.
If you do not qualify for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, consider subscribing to its sister card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. This card offers 2x points instead of 3x points for meals and trips, but after keeping it for a year, you may be able to switch to Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Premium Benefits
The premium benefits are the areas in which the Sapphire Reserve really makes it out of the park. Chase offers a full range of travel benefits among the top performers in the industry, including a Priority Pbad Select membership (for free tours in airport lounges), a global insurance coverage for Major rental cars (note that, like all credit card insurance, it covers all collision and liability risks, a full range of travel insurance benefits such as medical coverage, medical insurance, medical insurance, medical insurance. Emergency and trip interruption insurance, and even towing insurance for your personal vehicle.The benefits are more comparable to those of the American Express Platinum Card® than the benefits of the Amex Gold Card.
At the same time, the Amex Gold Card offers lost baggage insurance and secondary car rental insurance excluding Australia, Italy and New Zealand. The benefits are rather limited compared to the Sapphire Reserve, and even the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers more.
My favorite card for eating out
I am a supporter of the benefits of Chase Sapphire Reserve. These two cards are therefore my choice for the best meal card and most of my restaurant expenses have been spent on it. Earning 3 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on all of these expenses earns me about 40,000 bonus points per year, and these points are worth $ 600 on trips when they are traded on Chase's portal.
Click here to learn more about the Chase Sapphire Reserve from our partner The Points Guy.
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