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In this difficult economy, a bit of good news: It is becoming easier by the day to find great restaurant deals in Philadelphia and elsewhere without ever having to settle for the humdrum.

With a little homework, dining out in Philly needn't break the bank and might even be an inexpensive alternative to eating at home. While many on a tight budget assume that fast food and dollar menus are the only reasonably priced alternative to home cooking, nothing could be further from the truth. For native Philadelphians as well as visitors to the city of brotherly love, it is not only possible, but easy, to sample a variety of exciting cuisines and to include a little atmosphere in the mix just by first visiting a few excellent on-line resources.

Start by checking out the premier site for bargain dining, Restaurant.com. There, you will be able to purchase coupons for dozens of restaruants in every neighborhood. Within the site, you can search for restaruants by zip code or type of cuisine, read reviews, and even click on links to the restaurants' own websites. Once you have found a restaurant that interests you, you will be invited to purchase a discount coupon. Most typically, these are $25 discounts for which you pay $10 and $10 discounts for which you pay $3, although larger discounts can be found as well.

Restaurants are free to restrict how and when these coupons may be used, but the restrictions are clearly marked in the purchase box for each restaruant. For example, in Philadelphia, Bump on Locust Street offers a $25 discount on food purchases of $35 or more provided that your party consists of at least two people. Another fine restaurnt, Dolce, on Chestnut Street offers, in addition to a larger dinner discount coupon, a certificate for $10 off at lunch provided your party's total food purchase is at least $25.

As if those bargains were not enough, you can make them even better by first paying a visit to another website, CouponCabin.com, where you will find a discount code to use when you check out your certificate purchases at Restaruant.com. The discounts vary from day-to-day, but 40% is typical. Thus, for example, using the 40% discount code you found at CouponCabin you will check out at Restaurant.com paying only $6 for a $25 discount at Bump, instead of the regular price of $10. Now your savings have increased to a full $19 just by spending a few minutes on line before dining out.

Another great resource for finding interesting dining and great bargains in Philadelphiais

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