i’ve bought restaurant.com gift certificates in the past and given them as gifts to family, friends and coworkers. i heard about them years ago on ebay, i think they can credit their popularity to them. sometime in october, i came across a promo code… every $25 gift certificate for only $2. i was all over it. the site had a major lag but i was determined to pick up at least 10. in addition to the lag, their search isn’t by city but by area and a los angeles county search gives you at least 200 restaurants – which wouldn’t be a problem if you didn’t care about specific restaurants’ special instructions, terms & conditions.
most of the special instructions are that the gift certificate can only be used sunday-thursday, dine-in/dinner only, minimum purchase $35 & 18% gratuity.
i bought a few extra so i could treat out C & i, we decided to try out lascari’s italian restaurant. we got there at 4pm. there were about 7 full tables and i was shocked to see that many people out! when we sat down i noticed the tent specials and saw that seniors eat for $6.99 everyday from 2-5pm, no wonder they were rollin’ deep. take note in case you are scared of seniors. the menu seemed a little similar to olive garden (except for the sandwich page), i was expecting a bit more. maybe it’s the anthony bourdain/andrew zimmern/guy fieri hopeful inside of me. i settled for a chicken florentine and C chose chicken parm. 
each of our entrees came with soup or salad & sourdough rolls. i went for the minestrone soup and C picked caesar salad. my soup was tasty but nothing to call my mama about. when our entrees came out, i was happy to see a little bright green peeking at me. my chicken was perfect. good cut, good fresh well cooked spinach on top (not overdone yay!) with a light marinara sauce and real cheese! it also came with spaghetti and fresh veggies. the squash was fresh and good. as with most authentic italian restaurants we’ve eaten at, i couldn’t finish my dish! since we had to shell out $35, we asked for a canolli. now this is my 2nd time ever having a canolli and the first small bites we shared were just eh. it wasn’t till the end that i actually enjoyed it. would we go back? maybe if we’re seniors or we get hooked up with a discount. lascari’s was good but it wasn’t franco’s. franco’s is the type of place i would handwrite and snail mail a letter home to mom.
our total was only $17.64!
LASCARI’S RESTAURANT / 16255 WHITTIER BLVD. / WHITTIER, CA / (562) 943-1113
FRANCO’S / 4453 CERRITOS AVE. / CYPRESS, CA / (714) 761-9040
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