American Express® Gold Card
Premium Dining & Grocery Rewards Card
Practical Recommendation
The Amex Gold is for people who spend serious money on food and can stomach tracking monthly credits. It's still $325 per year—the May 2026 refresh left the fee alone—so it only makes sense if you consistently hit the earning bonuses and actually use the credits. The math works if you spend big on dining and groceries—4x points on restaurants (up to $50k/year, then 1x) and 4x at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25k/year, then 1x)—plus you can redeem the $424 in potential annual credits.
Day-to-day: Use it as your primary card for all dining and grocery shopping to maximize the 4x earning. The 2026 refresh also bumped prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel from 2x to 5x, which is genuinely useful if you ever prepay a hotel. Enroll in the benefit hub for all credits immediately—set phone reminders for monthly credits like Uber Cash ($10) and dining credits ($10), plus semi-annual Resy credits ($50 twice a year). Pay attention to the annual caps: after $50k dining or $25k grocery spending, you drop to 1x points.
Caveats: The monthly credits require active management—miss a month and that $10 is gone forever. The dining credit only works at specific partners (Grubhub/Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Five Guys, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Wonder—Goldbelly and Wine.com dropped off the list June 30, 2026), so if you don't use these brands, you're leaving money on the table. The welcome offer also got harder: the spend requirement moved to $8,000 in six months.
Best pairing: Use an Amex Blue Business Plus for everything else at 2x points (no personal spending caps), keeping all your points in the same Membership Rewards ecosystem. This combo covers food at 4x and everything else at 2x, while letting you pool points for transfer partners or Amex Travel redemptions.
Credits
Practical Advice
This is what makes or breaks a card for you. If you can use these credits in your normal spend, the perks and protections are all bonus for you. We have a calculator at the bottom of this section to help you calculate that. Below we break down exactly what every credit is to show you if it's easy or if they're going to make you jump through 17 hoops to redeem it.
- $120 Uber Cash – Up to $10 in Uber Cash each month for rides or Uber Eats orders in the United States. Add the card to your Uber account, keep it selected as the payment method, and you'll see $10 in Uber Cash load monthly. Enrollment required. Credits don't roll over. Since late 2024, an American Express card must be selected at checkout to redeem the Uber Cash. Uber Cash is app-wallet money, not a statement credit; you must keep the card active in the Uber wallet and selected at checkout. One Uber account gets the benefit per card. Great if you already use Uber or Uber Eats monthly; worth $0 if you never do.
- $120 Dining Credit – Up to $10 per month in statement credits at select merchants: Grubhub (including Seamless), The Cheesecake Factory, Five Guys, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Wonder. Goldbelly and Wine.com were dropped from the list on June 30, 2026. Enrollment required. Enroll, pay with the card at an eligible merchant, and up to $10 posts back as a statement credit each calendar month. No rollover—use it or lose it each month. Eligible merchants are limited; check the list. Easy money if you already order from these brands; not worth forcing just to "use the credit."
- $100 Resy Credit – Up to $100 per year for purchases at restaurants on Resy in the United States, delivered in two chunks (up to $50 January–June and up to $50 July–December). Enrollment required. Enroll, pay with the card at a U.S. Resy restaurant or for an eligible Resy purchase, and the credit posts. Semi-annual windows; if you miss one half of the year, that $50 is gone. U.S. Resy restaurants only. Great if you dine out a couple of times a year at Resy spots; skip the mental gymnastics if you don't. Check out restaurants on Resy to see if you already go to one of these.
- $84 Dunkin' Credit – Up to $7 per month in statement credits at U.S. Dunkin' locations. Enrollment required. Enroll, pay with the card at Dunkin', get up to $7 back each month. Monthly use-it-or-lose-it; only at Dunkin' in the United States. Perfect for regular Dunkin' people; everyone else will forget and forfeit it.
| What It Is: | $10 in Uber Cash each month for U.S. Uber rides or Uber Eats orders (up to $120 per year). |
| How It Works: | Add the card to Uber, keep it selected at checkout, and $10 loads monthly into your Uber Wallet; unused amounts do not roll over. Enrollment required. |
| Gotchas: | Uber Cash is app wallet money (not a statement credit); only one Uber account gets the benefit per card; an American Express card must be selected at checkout to use the Uber Cash. |
| Who Actually Benefits: | Anyone who already orders Uber Eats or takes a ride at least once a month. |
| Practical Value: | Easy, near-automatic $120 if you touch Uber monthly; $0 if you never open the app. |
| What It Is: | Up to $10 in statement credits each calendar month at Grubhub (including Seamless), The Cheesecake Factory, Five Guys, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Wonder (up to $120 per year). |
| How It Works: | Enroll, pay with the card at eligible merchants, and up to $10 credits back each month. |
| Gotchas: | No carryover; eligible merchants are limited to the list. |
| Who Actually Benefits: | People who already order from at least one listed merchant monthly. |
| Practical Value: | Real $120 if it fits your routine; not worth engineered spend. |
| What It Is: | Up to $100 per year for U.S. Resy restaurant purchases, split into two up to $50 periods (Jan–Jun and Jul–Dec). Check out restaurants on Resy to see if you already go to one of these. |
| How It Works: | Enroll via your benefits dashboard, dine at eligible U.S. Resy restaurants or make another eligible Resy purchase, pay with the card, and the credit posts. |
| Gotchas: | Semi-annual windows; if you miss a half, it does not roll. U.S. Resy only. |
| Who Actually Benefits: | Diners who hit at least one Resy restaurant each half of the year. |
| Practical Value: | Easy $100 for casual diners; skip the stress if you never use Resy. |
| What It Is: | Up to $7 in statement credits each month at U.S. Dunkin' (up to $84 per year). |
| How It Works: | Enroll, pay with the card at Dunkin', and up to $7 credits back monthly. |
| Gotchas: | Monthly expiration; U.S. locations only. |
| Who Actually Benefits: | People who already make a monthly Dunkin' run. |
| Practical Value: | Great coffee money if you're a regular; otherwise easy to forget. |
This is effectively what you are paying for this card. It is now up to you if the perks, protections, and earning rates are worth this fee to you over other cards.
Perks
- Strong earning on food and flights – Earn 4 points per dollar at restaurants worldwide (on up to $50,000 per year, then 1 point), 4 points per dollar at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year, then 1 point), and 3 points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel; everything else earns 1 point per dollar. If you spend heavily on food, this is where the card pays.
- 5x on prepaid hotels via Amex Travel – The May 2026 refresh raised this from 2x. Worth using when the Amex Travel prepaid rate is competitive; check the price against booking direct first, because the extra points rarely cover a worse rate.
- Hertz Five Star status – Added in the 2026 refresh. Gets you counter bypass, space-available upgrades, and bonus points in Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. Nice if you rent cars; nothing if you don't.
- The Hotel Collection – When you book a prepaid, two-night minimum stay through American Express Travel, you can get a property credit (often $100 toward dining, spa, or similar) and a room upgrade when available. Good for occasional splurge weekends; not a rebate, but the perks can be nice.
- No foreign transaction fees – Take the card abroad without an extra fee tacked onto each purchase. Simple, useful, and the way it should be.
- Amex Offers – Targeted rebates and extra point promos that can stack with normal earning; worth checking before big purchases. (Think of it as surprise coupons in your account.)
Protections
- Trip Delay Insurance – Reimburses reasonable expenses like meals and a hotel if your round-trip flight is delayed a long time (coverage and trigger time are defined in the benefits; Gold's plan shows up to $300 per trip with longer delays required than premium cards). Helpful when weather or operational messes strand you.
- Baggage Insurance Plan – Coverage for lost, damaged, or stolen baggage when you pay the entire fare with the card; typical limits on Gold show up to $1,250 for carry-on and up to $500 for checked baggage, in excess of the carrier's coverage. Handy if your bag vanishes or arrives broken.
- Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance – Secondary coverage for theft or damage to the rental car when you pay with the card and decline the rental company's collision damage waiver. Good for standard rentals; not a substitute for liability coverage.
- Purchase Protection – Covers eligible new purchases against accidental damage or theft for a limited time after purchase, with per-claim and yearly caps (Gold's current terms show up to $10,000 per covered purchase, up to $50,000 per account per calendar year). Great for gadgets and gifts that might break right after the return window.
- Extended Warranty – Adds one extra year to the manufacturer's warranty for eligible items with original warranties of five years or less (benefit limits apply). Can save you from buying extra coverage at checkout.