My take is that although these are the official terms and conditions, it's up to the individual restaurant in how far they want (or don't want) to enforce it. At least that's been my experience.

On another subject, I've found in my hometown 4 restaurants are no longer participating in the program, or have changed their terms and conditions. Is this a sign the worst of the recession is over and restaurant business, in general, is on the upswing?

Where I live, one restaurant said they're no longer selling certificates, however will honor those still outstanding. Another restaurant stopped selling them altogether, and if you have any outstanding certificates you can either refund it through Restaurant.com or this particular establishment will discount your bill by 15%. Another restaurant has stopped selling certificates and has a sign on their door "Restaurant.com certificates no longer accepted." I do have some outstanding certificates, but haven't contacted them on how to remedy. Finally, the 4th restaurant is still selling certificates, however new ones are sold with the stipulation they're not valid Friday & Saturday nights. I have previous certificates still outstanding with no day of week restrictions. Will they still honor my certificate on a Friday or Saturday night since it was purchased without restrictions?

I'm somewhat surprised to see four different restaurants all handling things differently. I would have thought Restaurant.com would have some sort of official policy with participating vendors with regard to how outstanding certificates are to be handled when the vendor has stopped selling them or changed the terms and conditions, such as the new day of week restriction.