I love World Curry. Every time I find myself in San Diego (which is usually only once a year) I make it a point to eat there. Thank you Rewards Network for helping me find a great restaurant (the airmiles don't hurt either ;). ^

Nola on the Square - Pittsburgh, PA

Cajun restaurant with an impressive beer selection and a lot of tasty entrees (be prepared for spicy food though) and excellent service. Good location in Pittsburgh too but do not parking is terrible.

Kind of bummed out that the program has so many ups and downs through the years. Lately, many good choices have dropped, and now (at least here in Los Angeles) 1/3 or more of the selections are Pizza Hut.

Completely agree. Up here in Pasadena there are only 2 restaurants that I would go to on a consistent basis - Green Street Tavern & Celestino's if you're ever up this way.

Its getting harder and harder to find a place to take clients to for miles...I mean lunch

Amazingly I just had my second dine of the year at an iDine restaurant and this was a total surprise. Junior's - Brooklyn, NY. World famous cheesecake place plus lots of sandwiches, burgers, homestyle dishes etc. and a full bar. That was a nice surprise.

Northern Virginia Restaurants
 

There are a couple I can recommend:

Clydes of Tysons Corner -- I think it is just on the list because of the ongoing Metro construction. I've never had a bad meal at Clydes. They often have a fish or seafood monthly special. They specialize in locally sourced ingredients.

Tara Thai in Herndon -- a little gem with beautifully presented Thai food. Many seafood dishes on the menu.

Salt Lake City Restaurant
 

India House is fantastic!

Forno Rossa Pizzeria - Chicago, IL:

My second surprise iDine of the year. Went here on a FT Do and was really impressed. It's Neapolitan style pizza so not Chicago deep dish but it's excellent. And for Chicago, the prices are excellent. A pie with prosciutto and arugula plus two Peronis was $25. The antipasto plate I tried was good too and I heard good things about the gelato.

There are a handful of good restaurants that recently joined in Oakland.

I highly recommend Lungomare. They have a $30 dinner deal on Sundays (not sure how long it's going on for)..Starter, main dish, dessert and unlimited wine. Lots of variety on the menu.

It's good to see some of these still are out there and joining! In the Sacramento CA // SMF area, it seems like mostly fast food chains (e.g. Jimboy's Tacos) and struggling (Black Angus, etc.) restaurants are in the program.

One exception is Ju Hachi, a small Japanese restaurant downtown-ish, owned by Taka Watanabe, well-known locally for the quality of his offerings (and three restaurants). I usually judge Japanese restaurants harshly, given I spent about two years working in Japan. I challenge them on their chirashi sushi, a dish which allows the chef to put his / her best foot forward, as it highlights fresh sashimi over sushi (vinegared) rice and adorned as they wish for presentation. Give me some old tako (octopus), fish with yesterday's pull date or tough, chewy or otherwise deficient rice and you are voted off my island. Give me some really nice, fresh and choice pieces of salmon, tuna and yellowtail, well-prepared and fresh rice, an eye-pleasing presentation and a reasonable price I'll be back.

San Francisco:
Chouquet's is actually quite good (if not 100% consistent). Rarely overly busy... it is often my 'last minute nice place' fallback.

Eastside West: Oh god their brunch is amazing. Kind of an obnoxious bar, I wouldn't sit inside on most days, but brunch at one of their tables outside on a Sunday morning is very much worth it.

Cafe Divine: Go during non-peak tourist season, or during the middle of the week. And if you want to go for weekend brunch, go when it's raining outside. That said, though, their food is quite good.

Polkers: They're fine. Their sandwiches are pretty good, their salads are pretty good, some of their dinner plates are quite good, and most of their breakfasts are good. Just, if you go for breakfast, don't order anything to do with poached eggs, because I've tried that a half dozen times and it always ends in tears.

Gussie's Chicken and Waffles: A guilty pleasure. Their fried chicken cobb salad is yummy.

Candybar: Desserts and drinks. Go after dinner on a school night, you won't be disappointed.

Oakland:
Pican: Pretty good. I've had better upscale Cajun before, but not in the Bay Area. Some things on the menu are markedly better than others.

The Vault Cafe: It is nothing special, but on the other hand it's relatively cheap, at least for the simple stuff. I wouldn't take a date there, but I do go there occasionally by myself.

Places not to bother with:
Region: I have never had food this bland that I didn't cook myself. I also have ALMOST never spent this long waiting for someone to take my money. I had to get up and walk over and talk to them TWICE.

Roxanne Cafe: Meh. If the food were half its price, I might eat there occasionally. Because then it would be cheap enough that its uneven quality would be overlookable. As it is, it's uneven AND drastically overpriced. Sure, it's three blocks from Union Square, but so are several places that I like, and they're not as expensive.

Butterfly: Been twice. I was surprised enough at how uninteresting it was the first time that I thought I'd give them a second try. Result? I guess it wasn't a fluke after all.

Gaylord Indian Restaurant: How do you make bland Indian food? Bland OVERPRICED Indian food? They used to be a lot better than they are now.

Grand Pu Bah Thai: There are two hundred Thai places in San Francisco that are both better and cheaper, even counting your iDine discount. Give this one a miss.

I gotta say: although I'd certainly be tickled if more restaurants in SF joined iDine, I am actually pretty happy with it even the way it is. 20% off (15% iDine, 5% US Bank Cash+) off places I'd go anyway? Yeah, I'll take that.

Just found a new one, just in case anyone EVER reads this thread:

Cafe Clem in Berkeley has awesome, very inexpensive breakfasts and lunches. $5 to $8 for eggs prepared in any one of a half-dozen ways, each one better than the last. Some of the most gorgeous and tasty pastries I've ever had. I can't comment on the coffee, but their other drinks range between good and excellent. If I lived nearby I would more or less stop looking for other breakfast places: they're that good, AND cheap, AND Rewards Network.

Oh, and they have a loyalty program. If you spend any time in Berkeley, trust me, you'll be loyal.

Hemmingway's Island Grill: Pensacola Beach, FL
 

Hemmingway's Island Grill: Pensacola Beach, FL

This place was so good we ate there three times on our visit to Pensacola Beach. Got tables with water views each time. They have a half dozen fresh catches each day. We had the tilapia, mahi mahi and shrimp. You have many choices in the style of preparation. The side dishes are quite good as is the Hemmingway's dinner salad. They have the best green beans I have ever eaten. The prices are reasonable too!

Sala Thai - Bethesda, MD:

Not the best I've ever had but it's a nice atmosphere and the food is pretty good. The portions are big and the food tasty enough and the prices are reasonable, especially for the area.

Location on M Street as well. Just got the targeted 10k AA miles for 10x$40 dines so I might roll this in for takeout or whatever.