4 fun dining shops

We had 4 shops this weekend, which we are all quite good. We started off Friday night with Lucky Strike Lanes, where we got to do a bar visit, restaurant, and 2 games of bowling. It was a pretty fun place, but kind of loud. Food was decent, and drinks were good.

Then Saturday, we did Naples at downtown Disney, great pizza and delicious panini. The Tiramisu was also great. It was a fun place, but the service lacked a bit. Saturday night, we did Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ, which was also a fun place, with good drinks. Really good brisket and tri tip with bbq sauce. Big old apple pie for dessert too.

Finally, Sunday for lunch we did a RA Sushi, which just opened this new location in dead hot Chino Hills. The food was great as always, but from the service you could tell this place just opened. Iced green tea is great if you've never had it.


So all in all, saved a total of $280, and made $6 (only the Lucille's shop paid a fee for the report). Not bad, considering we had leftovers from two of the shops.

Weekend summary

This weekend, we only did two shops, haha.
One was the Jazz Kitchen Express in downtown Disney, we have done this and the regular Jazz Kitchen like a dozen times in the span of like 3 months, which is very odd. Most companies, you need at least a 30 day gap between each visit, but hey. I like these because they are easy, and the reports pay $10. Food at express is decent.

On Sunday, I picked up a bonus paying Smart and Final shop. It paid $14, looks like someone did a last minute cancellation. This was easy and could spend up to $10 on groceries.

5 shop Thursday

Well, I had 4 shops today, this is a first. I had a Daphnes, Chinese Gourmet Express, which was just across the street from another one: A Touch of Romance. Also did a Trader Joe's ID verification shop and a Quick Stuff shop.

For lunch, I had Daphnes, and I also had a coupon to use, so I could bring some good home to the wife. I got reimbursed $15 for this and paid $10 for the easy report. Food was pretty good and they make it fast. The Quick Stuff shop was easy: Get $4 worth of gas and $1 of merchandise, and got paid $10 fee too. Then I did Trader Joes, this was even more worth it: Bought an alcoholic beverage (6-pack of TJs Hefeweizen) and just to see if checker asks for ID. Get reimbursed for the beer and paid $13. I love their beer. These forms each took less than 5 minutes to report too.


After this drove a few blocks to do the chinese food shop, which was in a mall. I bought $10 of food and just get reimbursed for it. Then walked over to Touch of Romance. This was one of the best, since they send you a $40 gift card to use for anything, and pay you a $5 fee for a short narrative of the visit and how I was helped. Got some fun stuff for me and the wifie! It's great because you do not have to wait for the reimbursements.

Then on Friday, we did a Pat and Oscar's shop for dinner. First time I have been here, pretty cool atmosphere, good priced food, and does not taste too bad. This was a very easy shop.

I dont like to pay for stuf

Tuesday, started off the "mystery" week nicely, with a delicious Bruegger's Bagel shop, which was an instant reward one. Unfortunately, had to present the bad news afterwards to the manager (employees failed to upsell properly), but he was okay with it. My poor sandwich maker said "Sorry, maybe next time" on my way out when she found out from her manager. Poor lady, she looked embarassed. But it was a damn good pesto chicken sandwich on a sundried tomato bagel!

Later that day, I did a Yankee Candle shop, where I bought two little candles, that smell quite nice, mango peach salsa and vanilla caramel. Wife will like that. And I also used the rest of two old gift cards from previous Auntie Annes mystery shops which was in the same mall, AND I also had a buy one get one pretzel free there, so I ended up paying about $1 out of pocket for two delicious hot pretzels, not bad!

Wednesday, I had a free Del Taco bean and cheese burritos for lunch (back of an old receipt), and picked up a free bag of hot, tasty breadsticks at Pat and Oscar's for signing up online for their breadstick club. I signed up originally as these clubs usually send you coupons every so often and I am doing a mystery shop later this week at Pat and Oscar's. Lucky enough, I also got a couple two for ones which I can use for my mystery shop later. Nice to get great value, and get paid to eat! Stopped at Target on the way home to get a free six-pack of Sunchips for the toddler's lunches. They just included this free coupon on some other product we bough. All in all, a great free week so far!


Tomorrow: 5 mystery shops total to do!!

Tip: Sign up for online "e-clubs" with different restaurants, and you will often get a free initial item and ongoing deals and coupons.

Weekend summary: 8 shops!

Friday was fun, after ending work early this afternoon, I took my toddler to downtown Disney and did 4 shops while there. I did two Sunglass Hut shops, which were purchase and return, paid $34 total, one Illuminations shop (candles), and a Haagen Dazs shop. This was lots of fun and easy to do. That Illuminations store is really amazing, good feng shui I guess. Haagen Dazs was alright but way overpriced. I spent $4 for a pretty average soft serve, but got paid $15 for the shop so it was cool. Got a nice Pomegranate candle from Illuminations, which the wife liked. The toddler always has fun at downtown Disney (Disneyland to her, hehe) since theres a bunch of stuff to do and look at.

Then in the evening, took the wife to the Yard House, where we got to spend up to $100. This was quite fun and drinks were really good, they have like over 100 beers on tap. The food was really good too. Then did a Millies shop the next day, kind of higher class Norms. Then Saturday to Sunday, we got another hotel shops at a Sheraton, which had an awesome pool. I think I want to swim more now, that felt so good since it was hot out in Ontario where the hotel was. The meals were really good there too. Also did a quick ID check shop while in Ontario on the way back. All in all, it was a busy but fun and FREE weekend!

Week of August 4-10=Major savings and profits!

So did a breakfast buffet shop at a hotel on Tuesday, which included valet, two buffets, and a coffee kiosk purchase. The shop also paid a fee of $20, not bad. The shop looked at testing both the coffee shop and valet. We had to leave dollar bills and jewelry in obvious locations in the car to see if they would be in the same place when we retrieved our car. We were also supposed to make an "impulse" purchase at the coffee kiosk right as the cashier was ringing us up. The employees passed, thankfully! I hate when I have to write a report and worry about an employee being disciplined or canned.


Later that day, did an Auntie Annes pretzel shop. I got the original pretzel this time, this one is the best since it just had salt on it, and not their flavor packet things sprinkled on. Also did a Virgin Records shop, where I had to check on a bunch of items being present, employees doing the right thing, and prices being correct. Also, had to see if an employee would greet me within 10 minutes. This shop is interesting because after making a $25 purchase, I had to give my report to the manager immediately and have him sign it. He was a bit disappointed by some of the stuff, but the merchandise was mostly in the right place. The cool thing about this shop is that they reimburse the purchase I made, which I can later return, basically making that as a profit!

Wednesday, I did an Auntie Annes in a different location, and in the evening I did a Z Pizza shop. This pizza tasted great, it was the Tuscan Mushroom one. I spent close to $25, which would all be reimbursed. You can really tell the difference between the ingredients when they are fresh, organic, and healthy.

Thursday, I did a Carl's Jr drive thru shop, which turned out to not be a drive thru. There was none as this was a on a school campus, so I just did a dine in, which is fine. This was an instant reward shop, where all they had to do was offer to give me a combo when I ordered a breakfast sandwich. They passed and it was fun to see them happy about that. On the way home I stopped to do a quick ID check shop at a gas station, paid $8 fee for buying a drink.

Weekly update

Have not had time or energy to update my blog but here is a summary of last week. Got some usual free Del Taco and El Pollo loco burritos (back of their receipts), and did two Spencer's gift shops; they are these weird/erotic/funny type stores with odd gifts. These two paid $8 each and I spent $5 at each one. I also did another Wahoo's, which was really delicious, try the Wahoo's salad with grilled fish, dang! Never had a grilled fish salad that tasted so good with salsa, awesome guacamole, good lettuce, etc. (never had a fish salad for that). This paid $8 and I got to spend $10. We also did a Norm's shop (old time/dungy diner), only because the wife somehow asked and received a $10 bonus fee, for a total of a $17 fee for a shop where we could spend $20 on breakfast, not bad, considering it's a few blocks away from our house. The food was not half bad this time.

At the end of the week, did another El Pollo Loco shop, which had a bonus (someone probably cancelled) so I got paid $12 for it, and spent $8. I basically got 2 meals since I used a 2-for-1 coupon there as well. And of course got another receipt, with a $1 off anything coupon on the back (store those free receipt coupons!). So it was a good week of mystery shopping all in all, but next week looks to be even better...

I have already done today (Monday) an oil change shop ($30), a pet store shop ($30 plus $10 fee), and a Togo's shop ($8 plus $8 fee). The pet store shop is great because I bought some random tick removal product and will get reimbursed $30 for it, and get a $10 fee for the report. The great thing is I can return the product this week, so basically make $40 off a short shop I did on the way home!

Later this week, I have two more Auntie Annes follow up shops, a breakfast buffet, Virgin megastore, Z pizza, A touch of Romance, and Yard house, not to mention the weekend (another hotel!). Stay tuned!

Tip: On mystery shops, ask for bonuses, especially if you see a shop has not been taken for awhile. You can get what you want often if you just ask. Also, take shops where you have a high spending limit but can also return the item to basically make a large chunk of cash when you get reimbursed.