Guide to the Amex Platinum $200 Dining Credit

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In 2023, American Express announced an overhaul to its signature Platinum Card. The changes included increasing the annual fee by $100, knocking down the dining bonus category earning rate from 3 Membership Rewards points to 2 points per dollar spent, and granting a brand new $200 annual credit that could be used at select high-end dining establishments across Canada.

How does this annual dining credit work? Is the Amex Platinum $200 dining credit a good value? Should you order extra oysters and martinis just to cash this credit out?

Today, I want to explore all these questions so you can see if you’ll want to make a reservation sometime soon to take advantage of this annual Amex platinum dining credit. Or, if you haven’t yet added the American Express Platinum card to your wallet, understanding the $200 dining credit in advance of adding the card to your wallet will ensure you don’t miss out on this benefit.

What is the Amex Platinum $200 Dining Credit?

The American Express Platinum card weighs in at an annual fee of a whopping $799 per year, which (as my dad would say) is a lot of money for a metal rectangle that lets you spend your own money. However, this fee is offset by a pile of valuable benefits including complimentary hotel statuses and the best airport lounge access offered by a credit card in Canada.

The American Express Platinum card also offers two annual credits: a $200 dining credit for use at select restaurants, and a $200 travel credit. These credits bring the effective cost of the American Express Platinum Card down to $399 a year.

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The American Express Platinum card earns Membership Rewards and offers cardholders a variety of benefits including an annual $200 travel credit, complimentary airport lounge access, an annual $200 dining credit, and instant elite status with Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors.

Check out our American Express Platinum card review for more details.

In 2024, we awarded this card as the Best Credit Card for Airport Lounge Access.

BONUS
100,000 Membership Rewards
MINSPEND
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ANNUAL FEE
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FOREX FEES
Yes
EXPIRY

While the annual $200 travel credit certainly plays its role in getting your money’s worth, today I want to focus on the annual $200 dining credit. Before we get into it, though, I do want to state that this credit is designed to appeal to more aspirational cardholders.

fine dining food plated

For reasons we’re going to see, the credit is aimed at fine dining at establishments whose menu prices range from eyebrow-raising to eye- (and mouth-) watering. So just know that while you may get $200 back through this benefit when dining at those establishments, you may wind up spending more than that on your meal!

How Does the Amex Platinum $200 Dining Credit Work?

Now let’s get to what we’ve all been waiting for: how the American Express Platinum $200 Dining Credit actually works in real life.

Before we get into the restaurants you can select, be aware that this credit is per calendar year, so you get it once every January 1st, and the ability to use it lasts until December 31st. It will then refresh and once again be available on January 1st of the following year.

Second, remember that you must spend at least $200 in a single transaction at a single restaurant to receive the credit. No Shop Small tiny transaction tricks here! More information can be found in the exact fine print:

amex plat 200 dining credit terms and conditions

With that in mind, you’ll need to go to American Express’ website to determine which restaurants meet their eligibility criteria for this benefit; the full list, filterable by city, can be found here

Fortunately, it also lets you filter by cuisine type making it easier to find your desired eligible restaurant. For example, if you want contemporary continental Canadian food in Vancouver, several restaurants fit that criteria:

restaurant selection for canadian cuisine in vancouver

Now that you have a restaurant in mind, don’t forget to register the $200 dining credit offer to your American Express Platinum card account! It can be found on your Amex account under the “Amex Offers” section on your Platinum Card. Make sure to register so that you aren’t left with a nasty $200 surprise after your meal.

how to register amex platinum dining credit to card

Once you’ve registered the offer to your card, congratulations, you can make plans to dine at the eligible restaurant of your choice. If you want to double-check that you added the offer correctly, you can click on “Registered to Card” and you should see the offer displayed:

dining credit registered to amex platinum card account

There isn’t much more to it outside of visiting the restaurant of your choice, spending the $200 on a single transaction, and enjoying the $200 credit rolling in soon thereafter. It will look something like this on your Amex account and Platinum Card statement once redeemed:

amex platinum dining credit redemption at paper lantern

My Experience Using the Amex Platinum $200 Dining Credit

As I mentioned, the restaurants that are available on Amex’s eligible list for the dining credit can range from being somewhat pricey to very expensive. Each diner will have their preferences, but I have used my dining credit in a couple of ways historically.

In one instance, I took a friend to a very expensive restaurant I wouldn’t normally have gone to. The $200 therefore was just a subsidy to offset the (frankly ludicrous) restaurant bill. Normally, I’d never eat at such an establishment.

table accoutrements

In the second case, I took my Frugal Flyer co-workers for a working holiday-type business meeting at an incredible underground speakeasy in Calgary’s Chinatown called Paper Lantern.

The tiki-inspired cocktails and Vietnamese tapas were next level, as was the ability to treat people who I’ve been happy to work with and call friends for years. Would I normally go to such a location on my own? Absolutely. 

Would it be hard to rack up a $200 bill, even with my prodigious taste for cocktails?  For me, yes, so going to Paper Lantern with my co-writers definitely made it easier to get my money’s worth out of the Amex Platinum dining credit.

Therefore, value will be up to your personal preferences. Do you enjoy getting a discount on a high-end restaurant you normally wouldn’t have gone to, or do you like going somewhere a bit more reasonably priced and getting a nice bonus back courtesy of American Express? It will depend on your taste and the circumstances; 20th wedding anniversaries preferably only come along once in a lifetime, after all.

menu on table with food

One thing to keep in mind is that you don’t have to value this $200 credit at its full face value, especially if you’re frugal as some folks who work here at Frugal Flyer and would never partake of any restaurant where the bill could run $200+ in a single sitting. In such a case, feel free to discount the value when you calculate whether to keep your American Express Platinum card for another year.

Conclusion

I hope I’ve been able to walk you through what the Amex Platinum $200 dining credit is, how you can enroll in it, and how to use it for a superlative dining experience.

Some of us will want to eat at luxury Michelin-starred locales, others will be satisfied to share drinks and appetizers with friends. In either case, make sure you register your card and spend $200 in one sitting if you want to make the best use of your Amex Platinum.

Until next time, bon appetit.

Kirin Tsang

Kirin Tsang

Contributor at Frugal Flyer
Kirin is a man of twists and turns, who enjoys learning every detail of a points program or credit card product and then using its own rules to his advantage. An avid student of the miles and points community since 2019, he loves meeting other enthusiasts because he views the hobby as a real way to enhance and better his life as much as a hobby in and of itself.

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1 comment on “Guide to the Amex Platinum $200 Dining Credit

  1. I think it’s a great perk of the card. I even reduce it from the annual cost of the card, plus it can be applied on calendar year rotation, so actually you get it twice during the card’s year of service. Hence the Platinum card actually costs you:

    $800 – 2×200 (dining credit) – 200 (travel credit) = 200 per year

    Most of restaurants in Toronto would result in a bill for 2 close to $200, so if it to be strategic about it – a couple can celebrate each other’s birthday once a year on this credit and it would have cost about 200 per going out any way.

    It’s just taking time to dig to find places and compare menus to come up with a good place where you wouldn’t go much above $200 bill, but still – possible.

    Reply