Restaurant gift cards for dinner, lunch and takeout

A restaurant card is an easy gift for coworkers, teachers and neighbors. The store carries designs like the foil-wrapped Chipotle burrito, a Panera Bread loaf and a Cheesecake Factory raspberry slice.

Choose a preset amount, then decide between an eGift by email or a plastic card in the mail. The eGift arrives in a couple of hours, which suits a dinner planned for tonight.

For plastic cards, remember that orders are processed in about 24 hours on weekdays and about two to three days over a weekend. After that comes the carrier time for USPS or UPS, which runs roughly 4 to 9 business days.

If you are sending several cards to the same home, free standard shipping on up to 3 physical Choice cards can cut the delivery cost. Choice cards are the ones that qualify.

Merchant cards can only be spent at the place they were bought for, so they are less flexible than an open-loop Visa. That makes them a good fit when you know exactly which restaurant someone loves.

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