Fort Lauderdale foodie's new guide finds the best Dine Out deals
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Dine Out Lauderdale is all about trying our local restaurants for less. But have you ever wondered how much of a deal you're actually getting?
Why it matters: Fort Lauderdale resident Matt Hall created a website that compiles 262 menus from the 179 participating restaurants and tells you what to order to get the best bang for your buck.
- His free new site, DineDecoded, adds up what each dish would cost on the regular menu to show you how much you're saving.
How it works: Each restaurant listed on the site has calculated savings, ratings, its Dine Out schedule and the price of each item.
- Hall either found the prices via the restaurant's website or third-party sites like Yelp and DoorDash.
- When he couldn't find a price for an item, he roughly estimated based on other items in the menu. Some owners have also reached out directly.
- The listing says if the savings were verified, partially estimated or mostly estimated.
Zoom in: The website started as a hobby project for Hall, who's been experimenting with AI and was looking for the best deals for him and his fiancée.
- "We've always been foodies going out, and everyone's kind of seen prices have started going up, so then you start looking for deals," he tells Axios.
- You can search for each restaurant on the site and create a list of favorites, or search by item or cuisine if you have a particular craving.
Case in point: Thanks to his new tool, he went to Santorini by Georgios for its $35 prix fixe lunch and saved nearly $30.
- "You can't lose on that one," Hall says. "Their dishes are like 29 bucks or more."
Zoom out: After posting the website on the local South Florida subreddits, Hall says he's received great feedback and created a guide for Miami Spice.
- He's also received requests to create a separate Palm Beach County site.
The latest: Hall has expanded to include the 130 happy hour deals in Greater Fort Lauderdale.
- "It would be useful for people to know where the happy hours are, when they're offered, which ones [and] what days," he tells Axios.
The bottom line: "Most restaurants are definitely offering good deals," he adds.