If you frequently dine out at restaurants, you can turn that spending into rewards redeemable for cash back, travel, gift cards, and much more.
Here are our top picks credit card picks for earning rewards on dining in Canada:
- American Express Cobalt™ Card: Best for flexible travel rewards.
- Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa: Best for high cash back.
- Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card: Best for unlimited 2% back at no annual fee.
- Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card: Best for no foreign transaction fees.
American Express Cobalt™ Card
- Earning Rate: Earn 5X Membership Rewards points on restaurant and grocery purchases in Canada, 3X on streaming subscriptions, 2X on gas and transit in Canada and on travel, and 1X on everything else.
- Main Highlights: High earning rates combined with the ability to transfer points to 8 partners including Air Canada, Delta Airlines, British Airways, and Marriott Bonvoy.
- Annual Fee: $12.99 per month ($155.88 annually)
- Summary: The AMEX Cobalt is one of the best (if not the best) travel rewards credit cards in Canada. This is due to the high multipliers combined with the fact that Membership Rewards points can be redeemed for high value through American Express Online and be transferred to several airline and hotel partners.
- Calculate Card Value & AMEX Points per dollar spent for the American Express Cobalt Card.
Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa
- Earning Rate: Earn 4% cash back on restaurant, bar, and coffee shop purchases (on up to $5,000 per year), 1.5% back on gas, grocery, drugstore, and pre-authorized payment purchases (on up to $15,000 per year), and 0.5% back on everything else.
- Main Highlights: High earnings on restaurant/dining at no annual fee.
- Annual Fee: $0.
- Summary: No card comes close to being able to offer such a high amount of cash back on dining at no annual fee. On top of that, the card features several other solid categories.
- Calculate Card Value & Cash Back per dollar spent for the Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa.
Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card
- Earning Rate: Earn 2% Money-Back on up to two select categories of your choice and 0.5% on all other purchases. Choose a 3rd 2% Money-Back category if you deposit rewards into a Tangerine Savings account.
- Main Highlights: Unlimited 2% Money-Back, rewards paid out monthly, and low income requirement.
- Intro Bonus: Get 10% back, up to $100, when you spend up to $1,000 in your first 2 months.
- Annual Fee: $0.
- Summary: If you're looking for uncapped cash back on dining, the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card is the best option. You can choose dining as a 2% Money-Back category as well as another of your choice. Rewards are paid out monthly which is a big plus if you want to be rewarded quickly for your spending.
- Learn More about the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card.
- Calculate Card Value & Cash Back per dollar spent for the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card.
Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card
- Earning Rate: Earn 6X Scene+ points at participating grocers, 5X in Canada on dining, food delivery, entertainment, and other eligible grocery stores, 3X in Canada on gas, daily transit, and select streaming services, and 1X on everything else.
- Main Highlights: Airport Lounge access via Priority Pass, No Foreign Transaction Fees on international purchases, and top-notch travel insurance.
- Annual Fee: $120
- Summary: If you want a rewards credit card that earns a high return on purchases in Canada that you can also use when traveling internationally, the Scotiabank Gold AMEX is hands-down the best option. The lounge access and travel insurance is the cherry on top.
- Calculate Card Value & Scene+ Points per dollar spent for the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card.
Dining Rewards Calculator: Which Card Is Best For You?
Input your dining spend into your rewards calculator to find out which credit cards will earn you the most points, miles, or cash back. You can also add additional spending categories if you wish.
Results will consist of all available credit cards in our database. They will be sorted by net return which is the average value of rewards earned, plus annual credits, and minus annual fees.
No Results. This is usually due to:
- There's no good card options based on the spend entered.
- The calculator is having a brain-fart and is not calculating rewards properly.
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Results
These estimates are to help guide you towards making the best decision when it comes to picking up a rewards credit card. They should be used for illustrative purposes only.