Solera Restaurant $30 Discount Coupon

Site: Solera Restaurant

Location: 900 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis (check out the map here)

Deal: $50 gift certificate for $20

Details: Groupon is making a huge impact here in Minneapolis, and in just a few hours, people have snapped up more than 1,200 coupons for Solera. Should the next one be you? The Spanish restaurant's small but sharable tapas make for a fun evening for a big group, since you'll have the opportunity to try a little bit of everything. Since it's right in the heart of downtown, you can plan for a meal before or after the show. Grab apps, dessert, and a couple of glasses of wine and you'll round out your $50 experience in no time at all.

Don't Take My Word For It: Yeah, it's a 6-year-old Star Tribune review, but it still stands.

Expiration: Buy the coupon until January 31; you must use it by August 1, 2010

Source: Groupon.com

Disclosure: The links are connected to my personal Groupon account, so I think I get some sort of kickback. Feel free to use it, or just type in the website.

Duplex Restaurant $10 Coupon

Site: Duplex restaurant and wine bar

Location: 2516 Hennepin Ave. S. (A map is here)

Deal: $10 off a $40 purchase, and buy one lunch entree, get one free

Details: Duplex! How I love thee. The restaurant and wine bar, which is named after the former duplex in which it's housed, offers some of the most amazing food in Uptown. From the bread they put out at your table with the slightly sweet dill butter, to the unbelievable squash turnover, to the homemade desserts like apple cobbler—well, it's the whole package. The service is smart and sassy, the atmosphere is cozy and comfortable. Print out the coupons, and it'll make much less of a dent in your wallet, too.

Don't Take My Word For It: Here's a Star Tribune review that hits the high points of the restaurant.

Expiration: January 31, 2010

Source: CouponBoxOffice.com

Block E Movies for $5

Site: Kerasotes Block E Stadium 15 Theaters

Location: 600 Hennepin Ave. (check out a map here)

Deal: Use the Kerasotes Five Buck Club card and go to movies that have been out for a couple weeks for just $5

Details: This requires just a tiny bit of advance legwork, but it pays off over time. The theaters Block E are part of the Kerasotes network, and they've got a nice deal for movies that have been out for awhile. In this case, the discount is $3.50 off their regular prices and $1 off matinee prices. How do you do it? Head to the Five Buck Club site and give them your address. They'll send you a card via snail mail, and you just present the card to get the discount. It's reusable, so you can reap rewards week after week.

This Week's Movies: Qualifying movies this week include Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Book of Eli, Daybreakers, It's Complicated, Lovely Bones, Precious, Sherlock Holmes, Spy Next Door, and Up in the Air. Check the Kerasotes website for times and other details.

Expiration: These prices and movies are valid from Friday, January 29 through Thursday, February 4.

Source: Five Buck Club

Aveda Institute Gift Certificate

Site: Aveda Institute

Location: 400 Central Ave SE (check it out here)

Deal: $50 gift certificate for $25 (visit this link)

Details: The chances of getting a good haircut at a reasonable price seem vanishingly small these days, but there's an exception at the Aveda Institute. You may feel a smidgen like a guinea pig as you get your hair cut, or colored (the stylists are in the finishing stages of their training, so a pro will help guide their efforts), but you can't beat the price. And now you can chop the price even more than your hair by grabbing this deal. There are a few details to note: you've got to use the cert in a single visit, and you've got to use it on a service, not products. That said, when you leave feeling like a million bucks, you'll realize that this one was worth every penny.

Expiration: Sale starts Thursday, 1/27/10. When the 100 gift certificates are gone, they're gone.

Source: The Valentine Store at Half Off Deals

Peninsula Malaysian Cuisine for $2

Site: Peninsula Malaysian Cuisine

Location: 2608 Nicollet Ave. S. (map here)

Deal: $25 gift certificate for $2

Details: If you follow the deals on Restaurant.com, you know they've got a pretty slick setup: You buy a $25 restaurant gift certificate for $10. Usually you've got to spend $35 at the meal, but with the restaurants they feature, this isn't a tough hurdle to clear. As the month goes on, the deals get sweeter—50 percent, 70 percent, and 80 percent off the discounted prices. Right now, you can go to Restaurant.com and get $25 certificates for $2 just by entering the code BONUS at the checkout (Here's a link directly to the Peninsula offering.) Peninsula is one of their newest featured restaurants, and the food is smashing, from roti canai—crispy, addictive pancake appetizers—to the delightful mango chicken. Though the service can be haphazard at times, the food is unforgettable.

Don't Take My Word For It: Click here to read a tiny City Pages review that highlights some of the restaurant's tastiest dishes.

Expiration: The end of January—or till they're gone, whichever comes first.

Source: Restaurant.com

Il Gatto's $3 Happy Hour Deals

Site: Il Gatto

Location: 3000 Hennepin Ave. S (map here)

Deal: $3 happy hour specials, including a glass-and-a-half of red and white house wine, two mini burgers and fries, a mini pizza, warm chips with cheese, and cod sliders.

Details: When Figlio departed from the corner of Lake and Hennepin last year, no one was too heartbroken—the Uptown fixture had grown a bit stale. Still, its happy hour specials were a thing to be reckoned with—great deals on burgers and wine till 7. When the new Italian restaurant, Il Gatto, roared in to take its place in late November, it decided not to mess too much with the happy hour formula. While the bar area is smaller than its predecessor's, and the happy hour ends at 6:30, the restaurant still serves the same great burgers and fries and mini pizzas for $3. They also improved the wine deal—for $3, you get a full glass of wine plus a tiny carafe with another half glass. A nice buzz and a full belly for $6 is a tough deal to beat.

Expiration: Ongoing

Don't Take My Word For It: Get the details on Il Gatto's full lineup by Minnesota's favorite food reviewer, Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl here.

Source: Il Gatto menu

Free Walker Art Center Admission

Site: Walker Art Center

Location: 1750 Hennepin Ave. S. (directions here)

Deal: 2 free passes ($20 total value)

Details: If you're a resident of Hennepin County and you've got a library card, you're in luck. Macy's has once again sponsored the Museum Adventure Pass, where you can check out two free passes to one of 18 area museums. The Walker deal is especially sweet, since tickets will normally set you back $10 apiece, unless you go on the super-crowded free nights. To get the deal, head to one of your local libraries and either look for the museum pass station or ask one of the librarians. These passes go quickly, so it's worth calling the library ahead of time to make sure they're still available. (Find your local library's hours, phone number, and location here.)

Expiration: September 9, 2010

Source: Museum Adventure Pass