Sapporo Grill Japanese Steakhouse

Review: Purchased a Groupon. Restaurant would not honor the Groupon because it was happy hour, even though the item was not on the happy hour menu.

Two of us went to eat here at 5:30 PM. Person I was with ordered an item not on the happy hour (valued at $24) and planned to use a Groupon (for $20). I had order 2 items and a drink off of the happy hour menu, which ran until 6 PM. Manager refused to accept the Groupon from the person I was with. Groupon said not valid for "happy hour specials" even though this item was not. The restaurant had no problem splitting the total bill, but would not split the check to honor the Groupon. After looking at the Yelp reviews, many customer have had this problem, even with gift certificates (will not accept if anything is ordered as a deal, even with a gift certificate). Sapporo holds a happy hour every day from 2-6 PM and will not accept Groupons during this time, even if items are ordered off of the happy hour menu, as was explained to me by the manager, [redacted] This is not what is stated under the terms of the Groupon. It is obvious they offer Groupon deals to pull people in an charge them full price, claiming that this is what is stated on the Groupon, which it is not. Contacted restaurant and they told me they have an internal policy of not splitting checks for under three people, even though they split the check for the total bill, but would not separate the checks based on the items ordered, which would have given us the Groupon deal. I feel that this restaurant is purposely trying to scam the customers based on some internal interpretation of the terms of the Groupon, which comes across much differently than the written terms to the customers. I am personally out $20 for this incident. Desired Settlement: I would like the restaurant to honor the Groupon under the terms from which it is written - not valid for "happy hour specials" but is valid for anything that does not fall under the happy hour menu as this is not stated in the terms. For all future Groupon offers, the restaurant should make the terms very clear that Groupons will not be accepted during happy hour times if a happy hour item is purchased at the same table, as they are enforcing. This is not what is written on the terms, and I'm sure many individuals would not have purchased this Groupon if that were the case, including us.