How I Maximize the Amex Gold’s Dining Benefits To Score Free Travel and Save at Restaurants

It’s no secret that the American Express^® Gold Card is one of my most used cards — in fact, last year I earned more than 75,000 points with the card. This is largely because it earns 4x points at restaurants worldwide. And as a couple of foodies, this is a huge earning opportunity for my wife and me.

On top of this, the Amex Gold card has a slew of other benefits that make dining out less expensive and help offset the card’s relatively high $325 annual fee (rates & fees). This includes a monthly dining credit, a credit you can use at U.S. Resy restaurant, and even monthly Uber Cash (enrollment required).

Let’s look at the Amex Gold card’s earning structure, benefits, and how I use them to save money on dining. I’ll run through how many points I earned at restaurants with the Amex Gold card and how I used its various dining credits last year.

Overview of the Amex Gold Card

The Amex Gold card is a dining-focused card with outsized earning rates at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets. Even better, it earns American Express Membership Rewards points. You can redeem these points for everything from hotel stays to business-class airfare.

Here’s a look at the card’s bonus categories:

• 4x points at restaurants, up to $50,000 per calendar year in purchases (then 1x)
• 4x points at U.S. supermarkets, up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases (then 1x)
• 3x points on flights, purchased directly from airlines or at AmexTravel.com
• 2x points on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases on AmexTravel.com
• 1x points on all other purchases

And its earning rates are just the start. As mentioned in the intro, there are various credits you can use to offset its annual fee and lower your dining costs. I’ll run through these in the following sections but know they almost completely offset the card’s annual fee.

BEST FOR DINING

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American Express^® Gold Card

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This is the best card for food lovers who dine out at restaurants (worldwide), order take-out and want big rewards at U.S. supermarkets!

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American Express^® Gold Card

This is the best card for food lovers who dine out at restaurants (worldwide), order take-out and want big rewards at U.S. supermarkets!

Welcome Offer

Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards^® points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

60,000 points

UP's Bonus Valuation*:

$1,200

Annual Fee

$325

APR

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Credit Recommended

Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO^®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.

Good to Excellent (670-850)

Why We Like This Card

The American Express^® Gold Card is a game-changer.

With this card, you can earn 4x Membership Rewards points at restaurants, up to $50,000 per calendar year, and you’ll also earn 4x Membership Rewards points at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000 per calendar year, then 1x.

There isn’t another card on the market that offers a 1-2 punch like this. Of course, there are several other benefits of the Gold Card as well, including extra monthly dining rewards and more.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 4x points per dollar at restaurants worldwide, up to $50,000 per calendar year; then 1x thereafter
• 4x points per dollar at U.S. supermarkets, up to $25,000 per calendar year; then 1x thereafter
• 3x points per dollar on flights purchased directly from airlines or at AmexTravel.com

Cons

• $325 annual fee (rates and fees)
• No lounge access

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Card Highlights

• Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards^® points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
• Earn 4X Membership Rewards^® points per dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
• Earn 4X Membership Rewards^® points per dollar spent at US supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
• Earn 3X Membership Rewards^® points per dollar spent on flights booked directly with airlines or on AmexTravel.com.
• Earn 2X Membership Rewards^® points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases booked on AmexTravel.com.
• Earn 1X Membership Rewards^® point per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
• $120 Uber Cash on Gold: Add your Gold Card to your Uber account and each month automatically get $10 in Uber Cash for Uber Eats orders or Uber rides in the U.S., totaling up to $120 per year. Effective 11/8/2024, an Amex Card must be selected as the payment method for your Uber or Uber Eats transaction to redeem the Amex Uber Cash benefit.
• $84 Dunkin' Credit: With the $84 Dunkin' Credit, you can earn up to $7 in monthly statement credits after you enroll and pay with the American Express^® Gold Card at U.S. Dunkin' locations.
• $100 Resy Credit: Get up to $100 in statement credits each calendar year after you pay with the American Express^® Gold Card to dine at U.S. Resy restaurants or make other eligible Resy purchases. That's up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually. Enrollment required.
• $120 Dining Credit: Satisfy your cravings, sweet or savory, with the $120 Dining Credit. Earn up to $10 in statement credits monthly when you pay with the American Express^® Gold Card at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, and Five Guys. Enrollment required.
• Explore over 1,000 upscale hotels worldwide with The Hotel Collection and receive a $100 credit towards eligible charges with every booking of two nights or more through AmexTravel.com. Eligible charges vary by property.
• No Foreign Transaction Fees.
• Annual Fee is $325.
• Apply with confidence. Know if you're approved for a Card with no impact to your credit score. If you're approved and you choose to accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
• Terms Apply.

Financial Snapshot

• APR: See Pay Over Time APR
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Rewards Center

American Express Membership Rewards

Earning 4x Membership Rewards Points on Dining

My wife and I love dining out — and living in New York City, there’s no shortage of opportunities to do so. We typically go to a restaurant and order delivery once or twice per week. The spending adds up, but we enjoy trying new foods and exploring new NYC restaurants together. Thankfully, the Amex Gold card helps us turn these delicious meals into award travel.

The card earns 4x points at restaurants worldwide on up to $50,000 in charges per year. Then the earn rate drops to 1 point per $1 spent. We’ve (thankfully) never reached this cap, but we’ve managed to rack up a ton of American Express Membership Rewards points over the years using this card.

In 2024 alone, we earned 51,456 Membership Rewards points by using our Amex Gold card to pay at restaurants. This is almost all of our dining spend over 2024, as we use the Amex Gold card every time we dine out. That is, so long as the restaurant accepts American Express cards.

Upgraded Points values Membership Rewards points at 2.2 cents per point largely because of its roster of 21 transfer partners. This spans 18 airline and 3 hotel loyalty programs, including Air Canada Aeroplan, Delta SkyMiles, and Hilton Honors. My wife and I have leveraged Amex’s various partnerships to redeem Membership Rewards points for as high as 8 cents per point.

With this valuation in mind, we earned just over $1,132 in value by earning 51,456 points from dining with our Amex Gold card.

Using the Monthly Dining Credit

One of the Amex Gold card’s flagship benefits is its up to $10 monthly dining credit. Using this credit is straightforward: Spend with one of Amex’s dining partners every month and the first $10 you spend is reimbursed as a statement credit. Note that you must enroll in the benefit before you use it for the first time.

Partners have changed over the years, but the current roster includes Grubhub, the Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, and Five Guys. We use our dining credit at Grubhub since many of our favorite local restaurants deliver food through the app and we have a free Grubhub+ subscription with Amazon Prime.

This means we use the full $120 per year in value from the Amex Gold card’s dining credit since we’d already be ordering from Grubhub with or without the card. Plus, we earn 4x points on all Grubhub orders we charge to our card.

Redeeming the $100 Annual Resy Credit

Amex added an annual up to $100 Resy credit to the Amex Gold card in mid-2024, so we only used it once last year. Enroll in this benefit and you receive a statement credit when dining at U.S. restaurants that take reservations through Resy. The $100 is split between 2 $50 statement credits — you can use the first between January and June and another between July and December.

After you enroll, you receive the credit when you swipe your card at any restaurant that participates in Resy even without a reservation. Because of this, we accidentally used our Resy credit when we had lunch at Bistro Les Amis in Manhattan last fall. It was a great meal, and getting $50 off the bill with the Resy credit was a nice surprise.

I expect we’ll be able to use the full value of this credit every year thanks to Resy’s large footprint in New York City. This may not be the case if you live in a smaller city, but you can always save the credit for trips to a larger city where Resy is more common.

Since we used the credit without thinking about it, I’ll give it a $50 value for 2024. American Express added the credit in the middle of last year, so only one $50 credit was available. I suspect we’ll be able to use the full $100 in credit next year given the number of Resy restaurants in our neighborhood alone.

Using Uber Cash for Rides and Uber Eats

Further, the Amex Gold card includes up to $120 in annual Uber Cash, which is doled out in $10 increments every month. Just link your Amex Gold card to your Uber account as your payment method, and the Uber Cash is automatically added to your account every month. Uber Cash from the Amex Gold card expires at the end of every month.

My wife and I have never had an issue using our monthly Uber Cash. We generally use it for Uber rides to the airport or around New York, but have also used it for Uber Eats delivery orders when the price makes sense. We’d be paying for these rides anyway, so I count this as another $120 discount from the annual fee.

Grabbing Coffee at Dunkin’

I’ll be honest, Dunkin’ isn’t my favorite place. I prefer making espresso at home or supporting a local coffee shop. But there is something undeniably refreshing about a large cup of Dunkin’ coffee on a hot summer day. Likewise, when it’s freezing in the winter and I’m walking to the subway, just about any hot caffeinated liquid will raise my spirits.

I’ve used the up to $7 monthly Dunkin’ credit every month since the credit was added to the Amex Gold card in mid-2024. However, these aren’t purchases I’d make anyway, so I assume I get half the stated value from the benefit, bringing the value to $3.50 per month for me.

The benefit was announced in August 2024, so I assume I got $14 in value from the credit last year. I should get $42 this year so long as I stop by a U.S. Dunkin’ once a month.

Final Thoughts

All things considered, the Amex Gold card gave me $1,536 in dining value last year. I calculated this by adding the points I earned on dining purchases and the value I assigned to each statement credit I used in 2024. And even when you take out the $325 annual fee, this is still $1,211 in value.

With this in mind, the Amex Gold card isn’t leaving my wallet anytime soon as a frequent diner. Fellow foodies should do the math and see if the Amex Gold card is right for their wallet too — chances are you’ll come out ahead even if you only use the statement credits.