Capital One Savor Review: Foodie-Focused Rewards, for No Fee

Whether your taste in food runs from Michelin-starred to Mickey D's to Meijer supermarkets, you can get plenty of value out of the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card. It has broad definitions of "dining" and "entertainment." Plus, unlike some of its competitors, it doesn't limit how much spending is eligible for its higher rewards rates, and it doesn't have a minimum amount for redeeming your rewards.

So what counts as a "restaurant" or a "tourist attraction"? It comes down to the merchant classification code assigned to the business where you use your card. If the merchant is using a code that Capital One defines as a dining or entertainment expense, you should get 3% cash back for it.

No annual fee

A lot of cards that offer bonus rewards for dining are also travel cards with steep annual fees. That’s a pain if you aren't spending thousands of dollars in the card’s bonus categories. The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card offers more breathing room with its annual fee of $0. There's no need to worry about spending a certain amount before breaking even on rewards (see rates and fees).

Solid offers for new cardholders

A sign-up bonus and an introductory 0% APR period are nearly table stakes for good cash-back credit cards nowadays, and the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card doesn't disappoint. For a break on interest, you get 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months; 19.24%-29.24% variable APR after that; balance transfer fee applies. And the bonus offer doesn't take a lot of work to claim: Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.

Ability to combine rewards with other Capital One cards

Foodies who prefer to keep one card in their wallet could get significant value out of the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card. But it's an equally excellent choice for travelers who hold the $395-annual-fee Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card or one of its lower-annual-fee siblings and wish to get as much value as possible out of their credit card rewards (see rates and fees).

Nerds who have these cards confirm that you can move rewards you earn on the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card to a card in the Venture family. Such transfers come at a rate of 1 Capital One mile for each 1 cent transferred. From there, you can redeem as usual on the Venture-branded card. According to NerdWallet's valuations of Capital One miles, they are worth 1 cent apiece when redeemed for statement credit against travel purchases or when used to book travel through Capital One. You can also transfer them to Capital One's airline and hotel partners; miles are worth an average of 1.2 cents when redeemed this way, according to our valuations.

It's important to note, though, that you can only transfer rewards from the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card to one of the Venture cards, not the other way around.

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If dining out is your biggest line item, you can do better

If you don't cook much at home, consider instead the U.S. Bank Altitude® Go Visa Signature® Card. It, too, has no annual fee, but it earns a whopping 4X back on dining purchases. Note, however, that this card is not as rewarding on groceries or streaming, and there's no bonus category for "entertainment" spending at all.

Or if drive-thru meals are a major expense for you, look into the no-annual-fee U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card. It earns 5% cash back in two categories of your choice (see the list below), on up to $2,000 spent per quarter on combined purchases. Possible 5% categories include fast food, not to mention TV, internet and streaming services. The card also offers an uncapped 2% back in an everyday category of your choice, including restaurants. All other non-bonus-category purchases earn 1% back.

If groceries are your biggest line item, you can do much better — for a fee

For a card with a $0 annual fee, the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card offers very good rewards at grocery stores (see rates and fees). Even so, it's possible to double that rate.

Consider the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, which offers 6% cash back* at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 in spending each year) and 1% after that. Terms apply (see rates and fees). The card charges a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95. Even with the fee, if you spend around $61 at grocery stores each week, it would be a better deal than the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card. Worth noting, also, is that this American Express card earns 6% on select streaming services — twice the rate on the Savor card. If you spend a fair amount on streaming, that makes the annual fee that much easier to earn back.

Costco shoppers can do better

When talking about no-annual-fee dining credit cards from major issuers, you pretty much have to include Costco's popular co-branded card, the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi. This card offers unlimited 3% cash back at restaurants, in addition to other bonus categories, making it a great option for dining enthusiasts. It's also a better choice if you do most of your shopping at Costco, since it offers an unlimited 2% back on Costco purchases. The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card, by contrast, is a Mastercard and isn’t accepted in-store at Costco.

The Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi has an annual fee of $0, but, of course, you must be a Costco member, which has its own fee. If you're going to pay that fee anyway, it's an excellent pick.

You can also visit NerdWallet's best credit cards page to see how these cards compare versus other cash-back alternatives.

To view rates and fees of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, see this page.

*Cash Back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout.