What’s a techie to do when he’s running errands and suddenly feels hunger pangs? Find food with these top restaurant locating apps, of course!
Urban Spoon
There is perhaps no food finding app more ubiquitous than UrbanSpoon, a website powered buy user reviews that is also available as an iPhone app. This app uses a randomizer to help users find food within specific cuisines, locales and even price points. When the user isn’t in the mood for a surprise, a standard search feature offers a more straight-forward approach to finding some tasty grub.
Open Table
OpenTable is a free app that is available to hungry mobile users on a variety of operating systems. Windows, BlackBerry, Apple and Android owners are all in luck with this one, which allows them to not only locate nearby restaurants but to find those that are accepting reservations and make those reservations directly from their phones. Reservation service is not available during BlackBerry outages, but this is a good app nonetheless. Only restaurants that are enrolled into the app’s program allow people to make reservations; however, many of them offer complete menus.
Zagat
Another app that allows mobile users to make reservations it Zagat. However, it’s the review feature that gives this app a leg up, at least when it comes to restaurants in populated areas. Zagat’s app offers a wealth of information about restaurants in the area, and it even recommends eateries based on occasions. It’s never been easier to find a place to host a birthday dinner or to have a first date. This app by Handmark Inc. does have a steep price tag of $9.99, however.
Yelp
Wit so many new apps, it can be easy to forget that Yelp was among the first to help smartphone users find all sorts of local businesses. The website and app are populated with reviews from real people, giving the down-low on all sorts of restaurants and cafes. The ability to write reviews directly from the app adds to this app’s universal appeal, and users can even interact with other friends via Yelp. Unfortunately, some businesses have been suspected of padding their pages with false positive reviews, so users should take overly optimistic restaurant reviews with a grain of salt.
FastFood
Finally, this app shows reviews, menus, locations and even deals for local restaurants all in once place. FastFood even offers recipes, drinks and nutritional information for over 100,000 grocery items. When making a fancy dinner at home or wanting to grab a quick dinner before a night on the town, FastFood is the app to use. There’s even an HD version for iPad users that makes better use of the large screen.
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