If you love to check out new restaurants, as I do, you know how quickly the costs can add up — especially if you live in a major city. One or two nights out can easily cost $200 or more per week, $800 each month, or nearly $10,000 over the course of a year. Suffice it to say, this is not a habit you want to embrace on your journey to financial independence. Fear not because this seated app review will help you save money when eating out.
New apps like Seated can help you solve this problem by offering cash back and savings on your restaurant bills. Whether it’s weekend brunch or dinner with a client, Seated rewards you for eating out.
In this post, I’ll cover how Seated works, how much you can earn, and how it compares to other dining apps. You’ll also learn some tips for maximizing your rewards.
Keep reading to find out whether it makes sense to use Seated next time you go out for a bite to eat.
or, skip straight to the section on how to sign up for Seated
What Is Seated?
Seated is a free mobile app that offers rewards when you dine in or get takeout. You can use the app to find the best restaurants in your city, book a reservation time, and earn rewards.
Seated was founded in 2017 and has adjusted its service area over the years. It’s currently operating in fewer cities due to the pandemic’s impact on the restaurant industry but plans to come back in a big way.
To get a better idea of what Seated has to offer, let’s take a look at all of the features that come along with it.
Seated App Features
Here are the top features of the Seated app.
How it works
Seated partners with restaurants in major U.S. cities and offers up to 30 percent back on your entire bill. Overall, the platform is pretty simple and easy to use.
Once you sign up, you can search for restaurants in your city with dine-in, delivery, or takeout options. You can book a restaurant reservation through the app, and some eateries offer rewards for walk-ins, too.
As you browse the app, you’ll see a cashback percentage attached to each restaurant. The amounts change over time. I recommend honing in on places that are surging and offering the highest rewards and trying to eat only at these kinds of places.
To get your rewards, all you have to do is upload a screenshot or photo of your receipt after you pay. It’s that easy.
If you’re using Seated for delivery, it’s important to note that the app isn’t compatible with third-party apps like Uber Eats and Grubhub. Unfortunately, this means that only restaurants with in-house delivery options will be available through Seated.
Aside from occasional promotions, there’s no minimum spend requirement, so you’ll earn rewards whether you get drinks and apps or a five-course meal.
1,500 restaurants in 6 cities
At the moment, Seated is available in six major U.S. cities: New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Chicago.
Seated houses more than 1,500 participating restaurants between these cities, so you should see more than enough popular choices.
If you don’t live in one of these places, all hope is not lost. Seated plans to expand soon to the following foodie cities:
- Los Angeles
- San Francisco
- Miami
- Austin
- Providence
- Houston
- Washington, DC
- Seattle
Mobile app
Seated is entirely mobile-based, so everything from making a reservation to uploading your receipt is taken care of on your smartphone. Using the app, you can easily toggle restaurant options by price, location, rating, and highest rewards.
The Seated app is available on both Apple and Android, though iOS users seem to have the better slice. Seated currently has a 4.7-star rating in the App Store but just 3.4 stars in the Google Play Store.
Seated Rewards
Every time you book a reservation or place an order, you’re in line for cashback rewards for up to 30 percent of your total bill. Most often, you’ll see rewards in the 10 to 20 percent range.
Disclaimer: Seated Rewards aren’t true cash back since you’re only able to redeem them in the app for gift cards to partner retailers. Fortunately, Seated works with some of the most popular gift card brands, including Uber, Amazon, Starbucks, Lyft, Sephora, Airbnb, and Nordstrom.
On top of its regular dining rewards, Seated frequently offers promo codes online for additional rewards earnings.
Integrated Yelp reviews
Seated takes some of the guesswork out of picking a place to eat by integrating Yelp reviews into the app.
This way, you can browse through the highest rewards while making sure that you’re picking a spot that isn’t going to suck.
If you want to find the food in your city that Yelpers are craziest about, head into the Seated app and filter for Top Rated. You’ll see a list of the restaurants that have the best reviews.
Private events
If you’re planning a larger event, you can take advantage of Seated’s free concierge service. So whether it’s a birthday party, happy hour, or a company-wide outing, Seated will take care of the planning.
All you have to do is fill out a form and let Seated know your desired date, the number of people, and the ideal neighborhood, and the concierge team will find the perfect spot for you. Not bad if you ask me.
Seated App Pricing & Fees
Seated is completely free to use, and you won’t pay any fees for cashing in on rewards.
That said, the key to maxing out your rewards is to use them strategically. Sure, the app doesn’t cost anything to use. But if you’re eating out more than you normally would, you’re going to end up with a higher credit card bill, which is a bad thing.
My advice is to use Seated as a complementary tool. If you’re already planning on a date night or birthday dinner while your mom is in town, it makes sense to earn cashback for that spending.
On the flip side, just because you can get rewards from eating out at restaurants, doesn’t mean you should eat every meal out.
Signing Up & Getting Started
To sign up for Seated, download the mobile app and click Sign Up. You’ll then have to enter your phone number and verify the security code they send via text.
Be sure to use your real number because you will need that to confirm your account and book reservations.
Next, fill out your name, email address, password, and promo code if you have one.
Congratulations! You’re now ready to browse Seated restaurants and earn cashback.
Getting hungry yet?
Seated App Promotions, Bonuses & Coupons
On top of promo codes, which always come and go, Seated also offers a referral bonus for bringing new people on board.
When you sign up, you’ll get a unique referral code that you can share with your network. If someone signs up with your code, you’ll both get a $15 bonus after your referral’s first meal.
Plus, once you bring in five referrals, you’ll earn Partner Status, which will net you a 5% bonus on each of your referrals’ future meals. Smells like a side dish of passive income to me.
Seated App Security
From a security standpoint, Seated is a low-risk app because it doesn’t store any personal information except your phone number and email address. Seated will hit you up with offers, but you can opt-out of text and email messages if you want to.
There’s no need to enter any credit card or bank account information either since you’ll pay for your food directly at the restaurant or through its preferred delivery platform.
Customer Service & Support
Click on the Help section in the Seated app if you have questions about your account. You can chat with a customer service person during normal business hours or leave a message for them to follow up with you.
The app’s FAQ section contains answers to the most common questions.
Seated’s parent company, Seated Technologies, Inc., currently has a B rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and is not accredited.
Seated App Pros & Cons
Here are the pros and cons of the Seated app.
Pros
- High rewards earning from surging restaurants
- Solid referral bonus
- Super easy to use
Cons
- Only available in select major cities
- No cash reward option (only gift cards)
- Not compatible with Uber Eats, Grubhub, or Seamless
Top Alternatives to Seated
Here are the top alternatives to the Seated app.
OpenTable
OpenTable is the most popular platform for making restaurant reservations. Unlike Seated, it’s available in most metro areas in the U.S., plus parts of Europe, Australia, and Japan.
OpenTable also offers rewards, though they’re more limited than Seated.
The verdict? OpenTable is better for booking restaurants but Seated is better for earning rewards.
Resy
Resy is similar to OpenTable and allows you to browse through the best restaurants worldwide. You can easily find up-and-coming or top-rated options and read about trends in the hospitality industry.
Resy is a cool platform for booking tables. But unfortunately, there aren’t any rewards here.
FAQs
Here are the most frequently asked questions about the Seated app.
Do Seated points expire?
Yes. If you don’t submit a receipt within ninety days after your dining experience, you may miss out on getting your rewards. Likewise, if you submit your receipt but leave your rewards sitting there in your account, they may expire in the same time period.
With this in mind, when you earn rewards, I recommend using them at the next available opportunity.
Is Seated available in Los Angeles?
Seated was previously available in Los Angeles but has since scaled back and isn’t at the moment. However, Seated says it will be back in LA “soon,” so keep an eye out.
Is the Seated app legit?
Yes, Seated is a legitimate restaurant rewards app. It costs nothing to use and pays out real rewards. If you like to eat out, it’s a no-brainer.
The Bottom Line
Here’s the bottom line: If you eat food that comes from a Seated partner restaurant, then yes, the app is right for you. Seated is a breeze to use, and you’re basically getting free gift cards from dining out.
The main drawback is that it’s only available in six major cities. So you’re out of luck if you don’t live in NYC, Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Chicago, or Atlanta.
At the same time, you also have to be careful about overspending. While it’s nice to earn cash back, racking up credit debt is the worst thing you can possibly do.
Personally, I love eating out for special occasions. It’s one of the areas where I allow myself to splurge — and after learning more from the Seated app review, I will definitely look to book through Seated the next time I visit its market areas.
Until then, here’s to enjoying your journey to financial independence, one plate at a time. Bon appetit!
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