Here’s how it works. You sign up for an account at rewardsnetwork.com, and place a credit card on record. Every time you eat at a restaurant that’s part of the network, you’ll get a certain percentage of your bill back as cash. That’s it. There is no coupon clipping or codes to remember. Rewards Network tracks credit card usage at each of its participating restaurants, and when it sees your card used, it credits your card with the reported amount of cash back.

You can search for participating restaurants on the Rewards Network website and see how much cash back each place is offering. The majority of eateries in my neighborhood are offering 10% back, but there are others offering 20% and even 40%! The list of restaurants on the site also comes complete with a description of each place and reviews by users, so you can decide on a great place to eat in addition to one that will also pay you a little cash.

Savvy savers will also realize that you can double or even triple up on the savings by using Rewards Network in combination with restaurant coupons (from Entertainment for instance) and after reserving a table at a place like OpenTable.

Very savvy savers will realize that you can even use these discounts to get a free meal or more if you dine in groups. If you and four friends went to a bar with a 20% Rewards Network discount and each of your friends paid cash for their share of the bill, you could put the entire bill on your credit card and collect the cash from them. You’d effectively be paying your 20% of the bill, but you’d get that money back! Some might find this deceitful, so another approach is to simply share the wealth and tell your friends that everyone gets 20% off. Not bad.

Rewards Network has mobile device applications too, so you can search for cash back restaurants on-the-go, on your iPhone or Blackberry. You can also register up to five credit or debit cards on your account, and the percentage of money that you get back includes tax and your tip!

Bottom line: If you dine out (ever), the Rewards Network program is the best around for receiving valuable cash back discounts. And it’s effortless to do so.