American Express® Gold Card Review: The Card I Use to Turn Food Into Free Flights

I plan my life around two things: travel and food.

So when I found out there was a card that could turn my (semi-outrageous) food spending into free flights, I jumped on it.

I’ve had the American Express® Gold Card for two years now, and it’s hands down the best card in my wallet and one I plan to keep forever. Since it earns 4x points at U.S. supermarkets and restaurants, my love of food basically funds my next getaway.

If you look at your spending and realize that groceries and dining are your biggest categories, this card could seriously work in your favor.

In this review, I’ll walk you through exactly how I use the Amex Gold, the perks I actually take advantage of, and how to decide if it’s the right fit for you.

Curious how the Amex Gold compares to my other favorites?
👉 Here’s a quick look at all the cards I personally use and recommend

American Express® Gold Card Review: At a Glance

• Welcome offer: Earn up to 1000,000 Membership Rewards^® Points after spending $6,000 on eligible purchases within the first 6 months of getting the card
• Annual fee: $325 (I break this down in detail later)
• Key categories the card earns points on: 4x on dining on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year then 1x points for the rest of the year, 4x on groceries at U.S. Supermarkets on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year and then 1x points for the rest of the year
• Best For: those who spend the most on restaurants and groceries and want to earn transferrable points
• You can choose between Gold or Rose Gold when you apply for the card. Yes, I think the fact that you can choose the color of your card is a fun perk that makes it deserve a spot in this section

You Can Earn Up to 100,000 Points When You Open the American Express® Gold

When you go to apply for the card you will see a targeted welcome offer usually between 60,000 and 100,000 points for a spend of $6,000 in 6 months. You won’t know how many points until you apply and are approved. Then you can decide if you are going to accept the card and the offer.

Let’s break down this welcome offer. When I evaluate whether or not an offer is a good offer I think about two things: how many points I can earn and how much I have to spend to get them. You don’t want the minimum spend requirement to be a strain on your finances. You should be able to hit it easily with your normal spend.

At the lower end of a potential offer, 60,000 Membership Rewards^® Points is a solid amount of points. It’s comparable to a lot of other cards on the market. If used correctly, you can get a one-way business class ticket to Europe.

Now let’s look at the spend. $6,000 in 6 months is extremely reasonable. That breaks down to only $1,000 a month. Of course, if you spend more, you can easily hit this requirement early on and get your points quicker.

Want to see how the American Express® Gold card’s welcome offer compares to my other favorite cards? 👉 Compare all my fav cards in one place

The 4x Earning Rate on Groceries and Restaurants is Incredibly Valuable

If your biggest spend is restaurant and groceries, the American Express^® Gold Card is going to be a no brainer for you.

I personally use this card to justify expensive tasting menus to my husband. “I know it’s a lot but at least we’re getting sooo many points from eating here”. Not sure if I actually manage to convince him. Good thing he’s a foodie too.

With the card you can get 4X points at restaurants on up to $50K in purchases annually and 4x points at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25K in purchases per year. It’s the only card on the market that offers you a 4x rewards rate for these categories.

There are cards out there that offer you 3x on dining but no card offers you 4x on the combined category. And most foodies are spending just as much money on groceries as they are on eating out so a card that earns you on both is so valuable.

Between my husband and I we usually spend about $600 on groceries and $900 on restaurants a month so that equals out to 72,000 points a year. That’s enough for a one way business class ticket to Europe (maybe even Asia if you’re lucky and find a good deal).

Let’s compare that to the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve which both allow you to earn 3x on restaurants. You don’t earn extra for buying groceries in person. So if I used one of these two cards instead, I would earn 32,400 points for the restaurants ($900*3*12) and 7,200 points on the groceries which is 39,600 points in a year.

Now if you used the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Capital One Venture Rewards or Capital One Venture X card that would be the same 32,400 for the restaurants because you’d put that on either of the Chase cards and then 14,200 points for the groceries (2x per dollar spend with either Capital One card) which equals 46,600 points.

Monthly Spend	Amex Gold (4x Dining & Groceries)	Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve Only	Chase Sapphire + Capital One Venture/Venture X
Restaurants: $900/month	900 × 4 × 12 = 43,200 points	900 × 3 × 12 = 32,400 points	900 × 3 × 12 = 32,400 points
Groceries: $600/month	600 × 4 × 12 = 28,800 points	600 × 1 × 12 = 7,200 points	600 × 2 × 12 = 14,400 points
Total Annual Points	72,000 points	39,600 points	46,800 points

That’s 32,400 more points per year with the Amex Gold vs Chase Sapphire alone and 25,200 more points than the Chase + Capital One combo just from your everyday food spending.

Compare the 4x earning rate on groceries and dining with other top travel rewards cards
👉 See how the Amex Gold stacks up

How This Card Pays You to Eat Out

Let’s break down this $325 annual fee and what else you get. I personally think the annual fee is more than justified with the 4x earning rate on groceries and restaurants alone but you do get more than just that.

These are some of the main perks you get (this is not, every single benefit the card includes but the easiest ones to monetarily calculate. If you’d like to see everything, check out the American Express^® Gold Card page for more details.)

$120 Uber Cash

You get $120 in Uber Cash annually by adding the card to your Uber account. This means $10 a month in Uber Cash.

$84 Dunkin’ Credit

You can earn up to $7 in monthly statement credits after you enroll and pay with the card at U.S. Dunkin’ locations. I’ll be honest, I don’t use this perk because I don’t go to Dunkin’.

$100 Resy Credit

Get up to $100 in statement credits each year after you pay with your American Express^® Gold Card at U.S. Resy restaurants. That breaks down to $50 in statement credits from January through June and up to $50 in statement credits from July through December.

I love this credit because I am already using my card at restaurants so this just gets applied automatically without me having to do anything.

$120 Dining Credit

Earn up to a total of $10 in statement credits monthly when you use your card at participating partners. Participating partners are Grubhub (including Seamless), The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com and Five Guys.

Is the annual fee worth it?

If you use all of these benefits, that adds up to $424 which makes the annual fee more than worth it.

Even without using the Dunkin’ credit, I still get about $340 in benefits which personally makes this annual fee a no brainer, especially given the 4x earning potential on restaurants and groceries which you can’t find anywhere else.

See the Amex Gold benefits and my other favorite travel credit cards (scroll down and click on card details)
👉 Compare in one place

How to Earn Even More Rewards

So in the first year you could earn 100,000 Membership Rewards^® Points from your welcome offer + the points you will get from whatever you spend on groceries and restaurants.

But wait, there’s even more ways to earn more Membership Rewards^® Points which is another reason I love this card.

Combine with Rakuten

One of my favorite ways to earn even more Membership Rewards^® Points is to use Rakuten. If you don’t have an account yet, here’s my link to get 5,000 bonus points.

Here’s the twist most people don’t know: if you link your Amex Membership Rewards account, you can earn Amex points instead of cash back on all your Rakuten purchases.

That means you’re not just earning 4x on dining with your Amex Gold, you can also earn extra points when you shop online through Rakuten at places like Sephora, Apple, Walmart, and even travel sites like Expedia or Booking.com.

Here’s how it works:

1. Sign up for a free Rakuten account (or log in)
2. Under Account Settings, switch your cashback option to American Express Membership Rewards
3. Before you make an online purchase, go to Rakuten and click through to the retailer’s site or use their chrome extension
4. You don’t have to pay with your American Express card to earn the Membership Rewards^® Points. Because your account is now linked, you can use any credit card you want and still earn the Membership Rewards^® Points.

Check your American Express portal for credit card offers

If you scroll down in your credit card portal, you’ll see a section with offers that you can click to add to your card. Some of them get you cash back and some of them give you additional Membership Rewards^® Points.

Use your referral link

One thing I love about the American Express^® Gold Card is that I have seen dynamic referral bonuses. For example, right now when I log into the card it says my referral bonus is 15,000 points. However, I’ve gotten 40,000 points in the past from a single referral.

I’m not sure the rhyme or reason as to how American Express decides what your referral bonus is as the moment but either way, I love to refer people to this card for the extra points. You can get up to an additional 100,000 points a year just by referring friends and family.

Are there any drawbacks?

Not huge drawbacks but perhaps things to consider:

1. There is no lounge access included with this card. If you want lounge access, my favorite premium card is the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit
2. American Express isn’t always accepted worldwide so it would be important to have a back up card in your wallet
3. Credits can be annoying to track to make sure you get the most out of your annual fee

Is the Amex Gold Worth It? Final Verdict

If you spend a significant amount of your money at restaurants or grocery stores then you need this card in your wallet.

I don’t think this should be your only credit card as it only offers one point for most other spend. However, if you combine it with something like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit and you’ll have a powerful point earning engine.

Check out my curated list of my favorite travel rewards credit cards so you can pick one to pair with the Amex Gold
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