Dining out is no longer a treat; it’s a way of life. Americans spend half of every food dollar at restaurants, and most of that money goes to waiter-service establishments.

In our latest Restaurant Customer Satisfaction Survey, 66,000 Consumer Reports readers told us about 149,000 meals they ate at 103 full-service restaurant chains between April 2004 and April 2005. The chains served up a range of cuisine, accommodating seemingly every taste. They fit palatably into three general price levels:

¢ At white-tablecloth chains – places such as Morton’s, The Steakhouse; Ruth’s Chris Steak House; and The Capital Grille – the bill is often $40 or more per person, including drinks. Not surprisingly, readers said those fancy establishments typically serve the best food, and they tended to earn top scores for service and ambience.

¢ Casual-dinner houses are a notch less pricey and usually offer the best bang for the buck. Our readers said they found especially good value – $15 to $19 for a very good meal – at seven casual-dinner chains: Claim Jumper, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, Johnny Carino’s, Abuelo’s Mexican Food Embassy, Texas Roadhouse and Famous Dave’s. Like white-tablecloth restaurants, casual-dinner establishments tend to be open for lunch and dinner and most serve alcohol.

¢ Least expensive are family restaurants (Denny’s, Friendly’s, IHOP and the like), which add breakfast to the menu but rarely serve alcohol. Most readers paid less than $10 for dinner. Service and aesthetics aren’t noteworthy at family restaurants, and the food is unlikely to win awards. Even so, the fare at three of the 20 chains we rated – Le Peep, The Original Pancake House and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store – was better than most.

Clearly, you can save money eating out by dining at a family restaurant instead of a fancy one. Our survey respondents had a decent meal at most family restaurants for a fraction of what they’d pay at white-tablecloth joints. Family restaurants are particularly generous to children (usually under age 12) and seniors (typically 60 and up), offering frequent discounts.

Whatever the restaurant chain, you may be able to knock a substantial amount off the price of a meal by following one or more of these tips:

¢ Eat at off hours. By surfing the Web, we discovered that Chart House, a pricey chain serving traditional American fare, has early-evening discounts Sunday through Thursday, and that Hoss’ Steak and Sea House, also traditional American but for far less, extends a 20 percent discount to seniors six days a week from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.

¢ Eat at the bar. McCormick & Schmick’s, a seafood chain where dinner and drinks average $30 to $39 per person, has a $1.95 bar menu at some locations. And some Saltgrass Steak Houses ($20 to $24 per person, on average) feature half-price appetizers at the bar, weekdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

¢ Order dinner from the lunch menu. Not every place lets you do this. Claim Jumper (featuring traditional American fare) lets seniors order from the lunch and children’s menus anytime. An alternative: Order family-style meals and share.

¢ Sign (up) and dine. By registering with your favorite chains’ Web sites, you can learn about discounts, enter a drawing for a free dinner or trip, or earn a free appetizer. At Red Lobster ($15 to $19 per person, on average) you can receive a free dessert for filling out a survey.

Meanwhile, don’t fall for online pop-up ads offering restaurant coupons and spam e-mails promising free meals if you pass the message along. They’re fraudulent, the chains say, and won’t be honored.