Blackbird: VIP Dining Rewards

• Free

Last verified 30 Aug 2026

4.8 12547 ratings · App Store

1. 5/5One of the Best Restaurant Reward Apps Out There

   Blackbird has been super easy to use and actually makes dining out more fun. I love that there are so many restaurant options to choose from, especially great local spots. The app is simple, smooth, and rewarding — literally. It’s an easy way to earn money/rewards just for supporting restaurants you’d already want to visit anyway. Everything feels quick and user-friendly, from checking in to earning rewards. Definitely one of the better restaurant apps I’ve used, and I love discovering new places through it. Highly recommend for both foodies and anyone who enjoys getting perks while dining

   Rodespi · 30 Aug 2026

2. 2/5Not for my tax bracket

   It’s a cool idea, but Blackbird charges a $100 check-in fee that they refund later, about 3-5 business days, according to customer care. The actual bill is charged separately. I used this at a restaurant in NYC and my bill came out to $85. So now my account is out for $185 and it will probably take longer to get the check-in fee back since it’s the weekend. If you’re a money savvy diner and you are paying with Blackbird, make sure to budget out at least $200+ for your dining experience. I’m sure that’s not a problem for a lot of people in NYC, but it’s stressful to me to be out that much money for an $85 meal. Wasn’t really worth it for the free “secret menu” $30 cheese plate we got for participating. I’ll just pay the restaurant directly next time. UPDATE: They responded saying that the pre-authorization does not actually post to an account; this is true, it was stuck in “pending” in my bank account. However, my bank does take pending charges into consideration when I make purchases. So if I have $125 in my account but the pre-authorization hold is $100, my bank will not let me make any purchases over $25. I’m sure this is different with different banks; but once again, if you are a money savvy diner, make sure you have more than enough in your account to continue your daily purchases while factoring in the fee until the pre-auth charge is cleared.

   RosieDG · 30 Aug 2026

3. 3/5Great concept / horrible to try to pay

   We are big fans of InKind which is incredibly easy to use (for both the customer and restaurant) as just enter a check number at end of meal and pay (picking tip at that time) so were excited to see BlackBird pop up at a lot of our local restaurants as thought it would be easy to use. The first 3 times we gave up as despite the restaurants trying to find our name it is literally a 5 step process so each time either our name didn’t show or even though we paid it would say pending for 30 minutes. At a busy restaurant bar and they can’t wait that long. Worse is there is no option to get to pick a tip when checking out as you again have to go through multi steps and go into settings and set in your default payment. This would be okay if Blackbird was only at restaurants as usually you tip 20% (although hate it’s hard to tip more if you want) but issue is that I get to go beer from a brewery by me and it’s self serve just just give a $1 or $2 but I had to stop using Blackbird as forget to change from 20% so twice now gave a $5 tip on a 4 pack of beer. They really need to redo the whole system

   MleeMjones · 30 Aug 2026

4. 1/5Good idea, bad execution

   User from SC, I’m consistently disappointed with most things about this platform. It’s a great idea for rewards but due to repeated technical difficulties, and poor user experience I’ll be deleting it. Restaurant staff don’t receive the necessary training and information to use this effectively. today I sat at a restaurant for 30 minutes while half the staff and management tried to figure out how to allow me to use points to pay. I don’t blame the staff I blame whoever was in charge of training them (blackbird). I offered them my credit card but they wanted to figure it out for the sake of guest satisfaction. The experience using it was so bad that I don’t even want to bother using my other 80$ in points. I also worked at a restaurant when they first got blackbird and even from the business side it’s extremely annoying to use and very inefficient. If you like free stuff and a headache then this is definitely for you. Hope they figure out how to make it better

   Nk0080847 · 30 Aug 2026

5. 1/5Free access to your CC info!!

   I urge you not to give this app your credit card info. I dined at a restaurant and checked into Blackbird, but we paid outside of Blackbird. Hours later, I get a charge double my tab. I assume what happened was another party dining shared my very common first name and they put her tab under my name. I called the restaurant as soon as it happened and they assured me the charge was void. However, it posted to my account anyway. The restaurant now says they have no record of the charge. Blackbird is gaslighting me that a friend or family member is using my card without my knowledge - it is so clear what happened here - and they won’t take responsibility for the charge. I had to call my bank and they’re cancelling my card because this app has way too easy access to your payment info. I’ll be deleting the app. Thankfully Blackbird loses access when my card is cancelled because they won’t let you remove your payment info!!!

   ZomBie_RocKer · 30 Aug 2026

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