What counts as dining
Issuers define dining by merchant code. Full-service restaurants, fast-food chains, coffee shops and bars typically code as eating places and earn the bonus.
Bakeries and dessert shops are less consistent. Some code as restaurants, some as food stores, and the bonus follows the code.
Unlike many grocery bonuses, dining bonuses are often uncapped. That makes them easier to rely on all year.
Where dining stops being dining
A restaurant inside a hotel may bill through the hotel. If it does, the charge codes as lodging and earns the travel rate, not the dining rate.
Food courts in stadiums, airports and theme parks often bill through the venue operator. These can code as the venue rather than a restaurant.
A café counter inside a supermarket or a bookshop usually takes the host store's code.
Delivery apps and takeout
Ordering directly from a restaurant, by phone or on its own site, normally keeps the restaurant's code.
Delivery apps vary. Many issuers now count major delivery services as dining, but some code them as general services. A few cards name specific apps in their terms.
When the app is the merchant, the receipt name shows the app rather than the restaurant. That is the code your issuer sees.
