Amex Gold Card Adds 3 New Monthly Dining Credit Merchants

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Ellen Hoffman / Insider

• The American Express® Gold Card
  offers a dining credit worth up to $10 per month at eligible restaurants and merchants.
• Amex has added three new participating partners: Milk Bar, Wine.com, and Goldbelly.
• If you already shop with these retailers, you could save a bit of cash — but you won’t find items for under $10.
• Read Insider’s guide to the best American Express cards.

Amex is an Insider advertising partner.

Premium credit cards that charge high annual fees often come with benefits, such as statement credits or travel perks, that can help justify their yearly cost. At times, it’s hard to pin a dollar value on these extras when you’re evaluating whether or not a card’s annual fee is worth paying.

The Amex Gold Card makes this calculation simple because its $250 annual fee (See Rates) is easily offset by two key benefits:

• Up to $120 per year (up to $10 per month) in Uber Cash (this is only applicable to U.S. Eats orders and Rides, and the Gold Card needs to be added to the Uber app to receive the Uber Cash benefit)
• Up to $120 per year in dining credits** (up to $10 per month), which you can use at Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Chris Steak House (through August 1, 2022), Boxed (through August 1, 2022), and participating Shake Shack locations (enrollment required)

Now, Amex has added three more merchants to the dining credit list: Milk Bar, Wine.com, and Goldbelly. However, two retailers — Boxed and Ruth’s Chris Steak House — will no longer qualify for the credit effective August 2, 2022.

While having more options for using card benefits is a good thing, these new partners aren’t as broadly useful as some of the existing retailers that are eligible for the credit.

We’re focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won’t be worth it if you’re paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it’s important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.

Amex Gold adds 3 new dining credit partners

Milk Bar, Wine.com, and Goldbelly are (mostly) online merchants that sell products on the pricier side. So these additions may not be terribly practical if you’re looking to maximize the Amex Gold Card dining credit by making purchases close to the $10 mark each month.

However, if you regularly order from these sites anyway, this news could help you save a bit of cash. Here’s what to know about the new Amex Gold Card dining credit partners if, like me, you’ve never ordered from them before.

Milk Bar

Milk Bar is a trendy bakery chain with over a dozen shops, mostly in New York City, plus single locations in Los Angeles, Boston, Las Vegas, Toronto, and Washington, DC. You can also order Milk Bar cakes, cookies, pies, and even ice cream online at milkbarstore.com.

Prices here range from $32 for a gift box of cake truffles to $140 for a 10-inch gluten-free birthday cake. 

Wine.com

According to its website, Wine.com is the world’s largest wine store, offering wines by the bottle, in gift sets, or through a subscription service. Before you order, be sure to check out online reviews — many are quite negative with reports of inflated pricing and poor customer service.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) gives Wine.com a D- rating, with an average customer review of one star (out of five).

Goldbelly

Gourmet food and gift retailer Goldbelly sells fancy treats, regional specialties, and iconic dishes from well-known restaurants all over the country. From lobster rolls to macarons to in-season produce, you’ll find all things foodie on this website.

These delectable goodies don’t come cheap, though. For instance, right now you can order a gift box of 13 Georgia peaches for about $60 before tax. Here’s Insider’s Goldbelly review to find out if it’s worth splurging.

How does the Amex Gold dining credit work?

Once you’ve enrolled in the Amex Gold Card dining credit (more on that below), you’ll receive up to a $10 statement credit after you make a purchase at any of the participating partners. Amex says it can take up to eight weeks for the credit to appear on your account, although in practice it typically only takes a few days.

These credits don’t roll over, so if you don’t use the full $10 credit each month, you’ll lose it. Keep in mind Amex’s terms and conditions say you can’t use the dining credit for gift cards, so if you had those purchases in mind as a way of accumulating credits to use all at once, you’re out of luck.

How to register for the Amex Gold dining credit

If you haven’t yet taken advantage of your Amex Gold Card dining credit, you’ll have to enroll your card first. It’s easy enough to do — just sign in to your American Express account online and navigate to the “Benefits” menu for your card.

You’ll see the enrollment link with the title “$120 Dining Credit” near the top of the benefits page. Alternately, you can enroll by calling the number on the back of your card.

Jasmin Baron, CEPF

Editor