I ate at six idine places in DC just recently. They were good to excellent. All were 10 miles/$. You can look these up on the idine website:

Thai Tanic Restaurant (downtown) -- this place was fantastic. Subtle and complex spicing.

Aroma Indian Restaurant (downtown) -- had a great lunch buffet for about $10 plus drinks plus tax.

Chadwick's (Georgetown) -- a wood-paneled neighborhood bar and grill; good food and very friendly service.

Bistro Med (Georgetown) -- a Mediterranean (Turkish) place that has a good lunch buffet also about $10.

Thai Kitchen (downtown) -- food not as good as Thai Tanic, but generous portions and friendly service.

Art Gallery Grille (downtown) -- a casual place with sidewalk seating. Food was good but not outstanding. The people-watching was great.

ALWAYS double-check the listings to make sure a place is still in the idine program, and what days of the week they award points. Restaurants come and go frequently and some of them don't award points on weekends.


Kathy

Kathy,

Thank you so much for the information. It really help when you in the new place.

Lee

markpedal, Welcome to FT!!! I think you misunderstood me. Many, if not most of us here, are pretty familiar with idine and the standard 10 miles/1$ (and other smaller amounts of miles/1$). But the purpose of my post was to hopefully inform others of the 20 miles/1$, but to be cautious as the DL idine site still only has the max at 10 miles/1$.

I hope that helps.

cheers,

Chobby100

For you Chicago Northsiders...

Bolat African Cusine at 3346 N Clark - Clark & Roscoe. 20mi/$

I ate there last night, got carryout. The food was really good, my first time trying goat!

You can also use your Entertainment card in iDine restaurants - 2-for-1 dinners and miles too!

I found a few restaurants that fit this possibility on my upcoming trip to Kona; has anyone eaten at Michaelangelo's?

Jace-thanks for you post. Am planning on going there tomorrow after a play with my daughter for mother's day. We love Ethiopian food, also several in Wrigleyville. Unfortunately oue favorite left the program (Addis Ababa). It killed me to spend $80 there last month and not get miles. Have you been to the other two? They are only 10 miles per $1 at this time!

------------------
Ms.DtG

Unfortunately Bolat is closed on Sundays - even though it shows open at the IDine Web. So we ate at Mama Desta's instead - only 10 miles but the food was good (Ethiopian).
Now open on Sundays - and the food was great!

------------------
Ms.DtG

[This message has been edited by dgordon (edited 07-05-2003).]

I'm quite happy after setting up my online iDine profile. As mentioned before, there are increase earning opportunities. Also, it makes it easier to view listings and add/delete cards. I now am getting e-mails to confirm that my miles have posted after visits to participating restaurants.

dgordon,

What I like to do in order not to lose my 20% discount yet still earn my 500 bonus miles each month is ask the waiter to put a small amount of the bill, say $10 or $20 dollars on my IDine mileage award card and the rest on my IDine card that yields me the 20% savings. It's kind of like having your cake and eating it too.

Went here the other night. The setting was more like a bar/lounge than a restaurant but the food was great. Recommend the oyster shooters and the lobster roll.

My total bills aren't that much usually. Since not every place takes Diner's Club, it might be an easy division - use DC where they take it and get 20% and use AMEX or Visa/MC where they don't.

------------------
Ms.DtG

How would one find on the website whether a restaurant offers 10 points/$1 or 20 ?

Well, all this discussion finally prompted me to sign up. Also noticed that a place I'm often at for lunch has signed on (the first one I go to with regularity to be a part of this).

I can't see geting a lot of miles under my patterns, but this looks useful for topping up "orphan" miles in 2 or 3 of my accounts to levels that could get something like a Hawaii interisland award.

(BTW I used to use orphan miles for mag subscriptions, but with sites like Bestdealmagazines offering $3 and $4 subscriptions, that's gone a bit by the board).

Just log onto aa.idine.com (join and create an online profile if you haven't already done so) and do a search of the area you want. You will then see the kind of miles offered (like the example below):

Alex
6703 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles
(323) 933-5233

European

Earn 5 miles/$, All Day

Bamboo House
4852 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles
(323) 668-2437

Thai

Earn 10 miles/$, All Day, Everyday

Dining rewards available on your first visit to this restaurant each month.

Banquette
400 S Main St #202
Los Angeles
(213) 626-2196

Californian

Earn 20 miles/$, All Day, Everyday

Dining rewards available on unlimited dining visits to this restaurant each month.

[This message has been edited by sk3 (edited 05-30-2003).]