From big cities to small towns, finding the perfect restaurant that will satiate your appetite and provide a great dining experience is no easy task. With so many options, it’s difficult to know what is worth your time and money and what you should avoid. Fortunately, apps and websites are here to help you find the right restaurant for you and your family and friends.
Unlike generations past, we have access to all the best cafes, restaurants, and eateries at our fingertips. Modern day apps allow you to view photos of restaurants, read reviews from previous customers, and search for specific cuisines, locations, and atmosphere.
As one of the most popular restaurant databases, OpenTable is easy to use, has a sleek and attractive user interface, and utilizes special functions to help you narrow down your search and book a table. Users can leave reviews based on four factors including: food, service, ambience, and value. You can also view menus and photos, read about the restaurant’s mission and history, and search for available reservations.
Common tags help users to find a spot with the perfect vibe and offerings using the tag function. So if you’re searching for a brunch spot, a place like Rey Sol Coffee in New Jersey may pop up under tags for “Great Brunch Spot,” “Neighborhood Gem,” and “Charming.” Searches can be filtered by type of cuisine, seating options, region, and you can even search for minority-owned businesses.
If you’re struggling to find eateries that accommodate your vegan or vegetarian diet, HappyCow is the restaurant locator for you. Here you can locate eateries for every type of cuisine all over the world. Click on a breakfast spot and see it’s ranking out of 5 stars and read reviews from real customers. The app also provides a short history and summary of the location along with directions, business hours, photos of menu items, and links to socials. HappyCow also goes beyond food recommendations and has built a community of vegan and vegetarian users who use the platform to share thoughts, ideas, favorite products, and more. An online forum, blog and shop offer users an elevated experience.
Everyone knows that Yelp is a tried and true method to find reviews and recommendations for local businesses and restaurants. One of the go-to methods for finding good restaurants fast, Yelp offers the ability to leave reviews, look over restaurant menus, and view business hours. The platform also offers recommendations for new eateries based on your searches and high rated establishments. Beyond the world of cuisine, Yelp can also help users find dentists, plumbers, and other services.
Similar to most food finding applications, Foursquare allows users to search for eateries in a given location, peruse the top rated options, read reviews, view photos, and save locations so you can remember to visit them later. A useful function this app provides are brief tips that inform you of what other users rave about for each location. For example, restaurants in Italy might have a tip reading “most people that write tips here are raving about the tiramisu, good service, and burrata cheese” or “over 70 tips talk about the fresh pasta, pizza, and wine.” This function helps make selecting a restaurant a breeze.
For the millions of visitors to New York City, Beli turns the vast culinary scene into a social network. Its allows those visiting or living in NYC to compile a personal database of restaurants visited, desired destinations, and a network of users and friends doing the same. Add friends on the app and see where they’re eating, how they rated it, and where they’re going next. You can make wishlists, rate your favorite spots, and all restaurants are rated on a scale of 1-10 by users.