Eat For Free @ IKEA

Ikea is running an Eat for Free Promotion April 22-April 25 where you eat in the Ikea Restaurant and receive a coupon to reduce your furniture purchase of $100 or more by your food bill.

I've never eaten at the Ikea restaurant before although I have enjoyed the Ikea Food Mart $2 meal combo which includes 2 hot dogs, chips and a soda. Ofcourse the refillable soda is the most critical part of this combo as it keeps you refreshed during your marathon shopping trip at IKEA.

My wife and I were planning on an Ikea furniture purchase anyway so we figured we would take advantage of the Eat for Free promotion this weekend. We took my inlaws and our kid (4 adults +1 child) out to dinner at Ikea. I tried to read up on the fine print for this promotion, but there isn't much:

Dine in our [IKEA] restaurant and we'll deduct the price of your total restaurant purchase from any home furnishing purchase over $100! Restaurant purchase must be consumed on premises. Limit one restaurant recipt per store discount. Home furnishings purchase must be made the same day as the restaurant purchase. Not valid on IKEA Gift Card purchases. Simply had over your IKEA Restaurant receipt with coupon to the store cashier to have your discount applied. Total home furnishings purchase must be $100 or more before tax.

Regardless between the 5 of us our food bill was $56.09 and we enjoyed a pretty good meal. We all agreed we'd be willing to come back for some of their future restaurant promotions. The restaurant is cafeteria style and the food offerings were limited to 4-5 entrées plus side items, desserts, etc.

IKEA Restaurant Observations
Some random observations for this deal:

1/2 rack of ribs was the most expensive entrée
The restaurant had to go boxes set out for taking home leftovers
The restaurant had some packaged food you could buy including cookies, candy, and ofcourse bags of frozen Swedish meatballs

My wife and I then made our furniture purchase - we picked up a $99.99 night stand, $14.99 kids chair, and a $2.99 set of plant pots (the last was an impulse purchase on my wife's part). When we checked out they knocked off $56.09 from our purchase. Since IKEA rarely has sales on individual items, this is a fantastic deal for those who are planning on buying something from IKEA anyway and can haul in friends/family with them.

When Will IKEA Have the Eat for Free Promotion?
While in the store I picked up an Eat For Free Promotional Flyer that included the future dates for this promotion: April 22-25, May 28-30, and July 22-24.

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