Back in December, Chase leveled up the very meager list of restaurants eligible for the twice annual $150 dining credits available on the refreshed Sapphire Reserve card. For me, that was very exciting and will probably make the difference between keeping and cancelling the card, as 3 local restaurants were added. Within a week, I used the credit for the first time to take advantage of it in 2025 and as I recently wrote, it was easier than expected to use.
So, what’s the problem?
Don’t assume your booked restaurant is still on the list!
If the restaurant you dine at is no longer on the list at the time you pay for your meal, you are out of luck. Several reports have emerged of customers who dined expecting the credit, only to find out the restaurant left the program. Chase will not help you if you find yourself in that situation.
With the addition of many new cities and restaurants in late December, a few from the original list also fell off. Worse yet, just a few weeks later, some that were just added are already gone! Here are a few examples:
Local for me in St Louis: 3 restaurants added (was 0) in December, 1 is already gone.
Raleigh, NC: 5 in December, 1 is already gone.
The key takeaway is that you can no longer assume you are safe to get the credit once you make the reservation, particularly if you make the reservation far into the future.
What should you do about it?
One obvious solution is to check the list on OpenTable, found here, and make sure your restaurant is still on the list the day of your reservation.
The other is to consider buying a gift card ahead of time. This should work as long as it is processed through the restaurant payment system. However, it is possible to buy a smaller denomination, make sure the credit posts (should happen within a few days) and then buy the remainder up to $150.
These aren’t ideal solutions. Anything that adds mental load and risk to the usage of a credit makes it less attractive. While it is nice to see the list of cities expanding, the list of restaurants still lags the Amex-Resy list (credits available on Amex Platinum and Gold cards) by a massive amount.
TL;DR: Chase and OpenTable have expanded the list of restaurants available to use the twice per year $150 dining credits with the Sapphire Reserve card. That’s good news, but is is very concerning that they are also losing restaurants with no notice. If your selected restaurant leaves the program, you won’t earn the $150 credit.
