Here are the 8 best credit cards for restaurants and dining out

It's easy to see the appeal of dining out: good food, nice ambiance, and someone else has to do the dishes. But all that delicious convenience can be expensive.

In fact, the average American spends about $3,675 a year, or roughly $306 a month, on dining, according to a sample budget based on spending data from the location intelligence firm Esri.

There are some easy ways to offset these costs if you use the right credit card. CNBC Select analyzed over 30 popular rewards cards using an average American's annual budget and dug into each card's perks and drawbacks to find the best options based on your consumer habits. (See our methodology for more information on how we choose the best cards.)

Choose a card from our list and you could earn over $100 a year on restaurant spending. Some also offer excellent rewards on grocery shopping, too, in case you want to eat in from time to time.

Who's this for? The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a top pick for dining out, both in the U.S. and abroad. The card earns a competitive 3X points on dining and select streaming services and charges no foreign transaction fees, all for a modest $95 annual fee. Plus, the card earns 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs), 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases, and offers some useful partner benefits that can save you even more on your dining purchases.

Through Dec. 31, 2024, cardholders can enroll for a complimentary DoorDash DashPass membership, valid for a minimum of one year (activation required). With DashPass, you can get food deliveries with a $0 delivery fee and reduced service fees on eligible orders, as well as 5% back in DoorDash credit on pick-up orders. And if you like to get your groceries delivered, you can also get up to $15 back each quarter in statement credits for using Instacart, as well as six free months of complimentary delivery through Instacart+.

Points are worth 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Travel℠. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 toward travel.

Who's this for? The American Express® Gold Card is an ideal card for food lovers, offering a high 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year in purchases, then 1X). Based on CNBC Select's calculations, we found the average American using this card could earn an estimated $147 per year in rewards for dining purchases alone. Terms apply.

Membership Rewards® points value varies depending on how cardholders redeem them. You can use them in a variety of ways, from transferring them to airlines or hotels to redeeming them for gift cards or a statement credit. (See more on how the value of points is calculated.)

Beyond rewards points, this card offers a great additional perk that helps reduce the $250 annual fee (see rates and fees) to an effective $130. Cardholders can benefit from an annual $120 dining credit ($10 a month) at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar and select Shake Shack locations. Enrollment is required. Cardholders can also receive up to $120 in annual Uber Cash ($10 per month) that can be used for U.S. Uber Eats orders, effectively reducing the annual fee to just $10. Enrollment required.

Who's this for? The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is geared toward foodies and frequent travelers seeking luxurious perks. Cardholders earn 3X points on dining and travel worldwide. Based on CNBC Select's calculations, we found the average American using this card could earn an estimated $165 per year in rewards for dining purchases alone (assuming you redeem for travel via Chase Travel℠, receiving 50% more value).

Cardholders who enjoy dining at higher-end restaurants can earn 10X points with Chase Dining, which offers prepaid and exclusive reservations, takeout, delivery, unique dining experiences and more in partnership with Tock. Separately, Chase has a partnership with DoorDash, which offers cardholders a minimum of one year of complimentary DashPass membership when activated by Dec. 31, 2024, as well. as up to $5 in monthly DoorDash credits. Cardholders also get 12 free months of grocery deliveries via Instacart+, plus up to $15 in statement credits each month.

Chase points are worth 1 cent each when redeemed for cash or gift cards or 1.5 cents when redeemed for travel via Chase Travel℠. You can also get greater value from your rewards by transferring them to Chase's airline or hotel partners.

While this card has a $550 annual fee, it comes with many added credits and benefits that can help offset the cost, such as a $300 annual travel credit, a Priority Pass™ Select membership (valued at roughly $469 a year) and a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit of up to $100 every four years.

Who's this for? Food lovers who want to earn more rewards on dining purchases but don't want to pay an annual fee should consider the U.S. Bank Altitude® Go Visa Signature® Card, which provides one of the highest rewards rates on takeout, food delivery and dining at 4X points. Based on CNBC Select's calculations, we found the average American using this card could earn an estimated $147 per year in rewards for dining purchases alone.

If you prefer to order takeout or food delivery and watch a movie at home, you can benefit from this card's annual $15 statement credit on eligible streaming subscriptions, such as Netflix and Hulu. That's in addition to the 2X points you earn on streaming services, as well as on gas station and grocery purchases. You can then redeem these points for a statement credit, gift card, travel or merchandise.

Beyond rewards, the Altitude Go card comes with a special financing offer, as well as noteworthy travel perks, such as no foreign transaction fees, auto rental collision damage waiver and travel and emergency assistance services.

Who's this for? The *Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card is one of the few cash-back cards that offers unlimited 4% cash back on dining purchases. This card allows you to maximize rewards on fast food, restaurants, ice cream trips and more. Plus, you can enjoy foodie-centric perks, such as exclusive access to premium reservations with OpenTable.

This card is also a good choice for people who regularly attend entertainment events, such as concerts and movies, since those transactions earn unlimited 4% cash back. Additionally, you get exclusive access to premier culinary experiences, sports and music events, such as the NYC Wine and Food Festival and iHeartRadio Music Festival.

Who's this for? The Citi Custom Cash Card earns 5% cash back on purchases in the category you spend the most in each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent (then 1%). There are 10 different categories, and they include both restaurants and grocery stores. If you maximize the spending cap, you can earn up to $25 bonus cash back each month.

The beauty of this card is that you don't need to go through the hassle of activating any bonus categories — the bonus cash automatically applies to the category you spend the most in each month.

This card has no annual fee, and although billed as a cash-back card, if you have the Citi Premier® Card, you'll be able to transfer your Citi ThankYou® Points to any of Citi's 16 airline and hotel partners. (See rates and fees)

Who's this for? The U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card offers the highest rewards rate on fast food purchases: 5% cash back. Cardholders can choose to earn 5% cash back on two bonus categories you choose each quarter, on your first $2,000 in combined eligible net purchases, then 1%. Based on CNBC Select's calculations, we found the average American using this card could earn an estimated $84* per year in rewards for dining purchases alone.

Currently, over a dozen fast food restaurants, such as Chipotle, Subway and McDonald's, earn 5% cash back. You can choose fast food as a 5% category every quarter to maximize cash back. Other categories include department stores and select TV, internet and streaming services.

You also get 2% cash back on one everyday category, such as grocery stores or gas stations, and 1% cash back on all other purchases. Cardholders can update their preferences every quarter, so you can change categories based on your needs.

Best of all, this card comes with no annual fee, as well as a promotional financing offer.

*We assumed half of all dining purchases you make are at eligible fast food restaurants and that you choose fast food and department stores as 5% categories every quarter. We also assumed you made these selections for the bonus 2% cash back category: groceries for two quarters, gas for one quarter and dining for one quarter.

Who's this for? The American Express® Business Gold Card is ideal for small business owners who frequently take clients out for meals, order catering for the office or make other dining purchases. Cardholders earn 4X Membership Rewards® points on the 2 categories where your business spends the most each billing cycle from 6 eligible categories. While your top 2 categories may change, you will earn 4X points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these categories each calendar year (then 1X thereafter). Only the top 2 categories each billing cycle will count towards the $150,000 cap. Terms apply.

The American Express Business Gold's bonus categories include U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery, as well as other useful categories such as U.S. purchases at gas stations, for shipping, advertising and more.

American Express Membership Rewards® points can be transferred to 21 different airline and hotel partners. Cardholders can also redeem their points toward eligible airfare booked through the Amex Travel Portal and receive a 25% points rebate (up to 250,000 points per calendar year). The rebate applies to business and first class tickets on any airline, or any class on your selected qualifying airline.

There can be many benefits to having a dining credit card, namely earning bonus cashback or points for your spending. With the right dining credit card, you can earn over $100 in rewards each year for your restaurant purchases and unlock special perks like free food delivery and access to exclusive restaurant reservations.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every credit card review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of credit card products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics. See our methodology for more information on how we choose the best dining credit cards.

To determine which cards offer the best value for dining out, CNBC Select analyzed over 35 of the most popular credit cards offered by the biggest banks, financial companies and credit unions that allow anyone to join and offer bonus rewards on dining out. Bonus rewards means a cardholder earns more than 1% or 1 point per dollar in a given category. In this case, restaurants.

We compared each card on a range of features, including cash-back rewards, welcome bonus, introductory and standard APR, balance transfer fee and foreign transaction fees, as well as factors such as required credit score and customer reviews when available. We also considered additional perks, the application process and how easy it is for the consumer to redeem points.

CNBC Select teamed up with location intelligence firm Esri. The company's data development team provided the most up-to-date and comprehensive consumer spending data based on the 2019 Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can read more about their methodology here.

Esri's data team created a sample annual budget of approximately $22,126 in retail spending. The budget includes six main categories: groceries ($5,174), gas ($2,218), dining out ($3,675), travel ($2,244), utilities ($4,862) and general purchases ($3,953). General purchases include items such as housekeeping supplies, clothing, personal care products, prescription drugs and vitamins, and other vehicle expenses.

CNBC Select used this budget to estimate how much the average consumer would save over the course of a year, two years and five years, assuming they would attempt to maximize their rewards potential by earning all welcome bonuses offered and using the card for all applicable purchases. All rewards total estimations are net the annual fee.

It's important to note the value of a point or mile varies from card to card and based on how you redeem them. When we calculated the estimated returns, we assumed that cardholders are redeeming points/miles for a typical maximum value of 1 cent per point or mile. (Extreme optimizers might be able to achieve more value.)

Our final picks are weighted heavily toward the highest five-year returns, since it's generally wise to hold onto a credit card for years. This method also avoids giving an unfair advantage to cards with large welcome bonuses.

While the five-year estimates we've included are derived from a budget similar to the average American's spending, you may earn a higher or lower return depending on your shopping habits.

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For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, please click here.

For rates and fees of The American Express® Business Gold Card, click here.

*Information about the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.