Trolling Dianping 2: Who Let the Deals Out?

If you can get past the fact that coupons bring unpleasant flashbacks of clipping with your mom and aunts, Dianping.com's SMS coupons are a convenient way to save while eating out.

Though it's best known as a review site, Dianping extends beyond restaurant discovery and can likely save you money at the restaurants you're already eating out at. Let's take a look at the site's coupon section, which is easy enough for even newly landed expats to use.

From the homepage, click on the "Coupon" tab (优惠券). As always, make sure you have the proper city selected in the top left corner. The first page you'll see is a list of popular districts and categories that you can click through to find deals. Alternatively, you can use the search bar at the top to query specific restaurants.

Let's use the current Fatburger coupon as an example. There are two ways to redeem Dianping coupons: print or text message. Above the coupon, you'll see two buttons: "Print" (打印) and "Free SMS download" (免费短信下载). Those of you who enjoy the old-fashioned printing method can simply click the "Print" button, but I find the text message option to be much more convenient.

Click on the "Free SMS download" button and you'll be shown a copy of the text message. Input your cell phone number in the top box (请输入手机号码) and then fill in the Captcha verification code below. If you're having trouble reading the code, you can click to the right to load a new one. Once you're ready, hit the "Send" (发送) button. Within seconds, you'll receive one or two texts with the code and information needed to redeem the deal. Simply show the message to the staff at the restaurant or and they'll know what to do, though you'll probably want to do so before ordering to avoid any mix-ups.

Fatburger's deal, which expires at the end of April, is a free order of their new sweet potato fries with the purchase of a hamburger or sandwich. Other noteworthy coupons include: 15% off your bill at Ssam with the purchase of a bottle of Makkoli through the end of the month, and an RMB 20 credit for every RMB 100 spent at Modo, valid Monday-Thursday between 3pm and 10pm from March 22 to April 19. Also, if you haven't yet tried Nanjing Impressions, the winner of "Best New Restaurant (Chinese)" in our 2012 Reader Restaurant Awards, you can use a coupon this month to get discounts on the per-jin price of several types of fish.

Keep in mind that if you don't have an account, you'll be limited to receiving one SMS coupon a day. Registered users can receive up to five texts per day. Conveniently enough, if you have a Sina Weibo account, you can actually log into Dianping using those credentials.

I learned from a young age that coupon selection and discount offers can be hit or miss. However, if you're diligent about checking Dianping before you head to a restaurant (or even when you get there if you have a smartphone), you're bound to find a few offers that work out in your favor.

Feel free to leave a comment below if you discover any coupons you think others should know about. And, for those of you just tuning in, take a look at the first installment of our Expat's Guide to Trolling Dianping and our shootout between Dianping's best restaurants and our Reader Restaurant awards.

Photos: Free Gas Coupon USA, Dianping.com