I have written several times about daily deals.  Yet even I had thought that one of the good things that happen with Groupons is having a restaurant that you enjoy send out a Groupon so you can enjoy a meal that you would have had anyway for less money.  So when one of my local Connecticut favorite restaurants was featured in this morning’s Groupon, the first thing I thought was – maybe they wanted to keep the restaurant staff busier during a slow winter period and by promoting a ‘deal’ they might make less but keep valued staff.  Not a bad idea if that were to be the case.   Whatever the reason, I was ready to pounce.  Then I actually read the deal, navigated to the menu for the restaurant, only to find that the ‘deal’ was not a good deal but a bad one.

Here’s how it was pitched.

Choose from Four Options

• $55 for a three-course gourmet Italian dinner for two, redeemable Sunday–Thursday ($100 total value)
• $65 for a three-course gourmet Italian dinner for two, redeemable any day of the week ($100 total value)
• $115 for a three-course gourmet Italian dinner for four, redeemable Sunday–Thursday ($225 total value)
• $125 for a three-course gourmet Italian dinner for four, redeemable any day of the week ($225 total value)

The dinner for two includes the following:

• One appetizer ($19 value)
• Two main courses ($70 value)
• One dessert ($11 value)

The dinner for four includes the following:

• Two appetizers ($38 value)
• Four main courses ($140 value)
• Two desserts ($22 value)
• One liter of wine ($25 value

Checking the menu on dinner for 2 – one appetizer (there is only one for $19), Two main courses (the most expensive main course is $26 so how can it be a $70 value?), one dessert (there are zero desserts for $11).   So if I chose $19 appetizer, Two entrées at $26 ($52), and one dessert $8.50 the total would be $79.50 – not the promoted value of $100.    And if you were to order a less expensive appetizer and not the most expensive entrée it’s a money losing proposition.

So who is at fault here?    The restaurant for promoting a $100 for $55 or $65 (or $225 for $110 or $125), or Groupon for not checking out the true value of their deals?

How about both of them?