We all love to go out and enjoy food from different establishments. It’s nice to try out new food, plus there’s the added joy of not having to deal with clean up duties afterwards. We’ve taken a look at the many dining apps out there and rounded up ten of the best for making your culinary experience a cut above the rest.
1. Yelp (Free)
Yelp is one of those essential apps that everyone should have on their phone. The app makes it easy to discover new local businesses. Not just restaurants, but shops, and services too. You can filter search results according to your budget, plus there are millions of reviews to consult so you know exactly what to expect.
2. OpenTable (Free)
OpenTable lets you discover and explore new restaurant ideas near you. You can easily view restaurant reviews, photos, and even menus so you know exactly what to expect. You can filter places by price, cuisine, distance, and party size. The real standout feature? You can use the app to book reservations without having to call the place and do it the old fashioned way.
3. Foodspotting (Free)
Foodspotting isn’t quite as great as it once was, but with its focus on getting users to contribute their own images to demonstrate what’s on offer, it’s still useful. You can easily gain some insight into what to expect from a new place, and how the food will be presented. Options for recommending dishes are there, ensuring you shouldn’t suffer from picking the worst dish on the menu.
4. Urbanspoon (Free)
Urbanspoon offers reviews of over a million restaurants. Catering for a variety of different price ranges, you can use the app to view restaurants by popularity or distance, easily booking a table through the service. Menus are available along with online restaurant guides by critics so you gain a professional opinion on a place before you visit.
5. TripAdvisor (Free)
TripAdvisor works a lot like Yelp with the addition of hotel reviews and airfare comparisons too. For that reason, it’s particularly helpful if you’re a frequent traveller trying to find a good place to dine out. With offline options plus Apple Watch support, it’s an ideal all-rounder for when you’re in a new area.
6. Tasteful (Free)
Tasteful is a healthy restaurant finder. It allows you to filter results according to your dietary needs, such as if you’re avoiding gluten or dairy, as well as if you’re a vegetarian or vegan. Once you find the perfect result, you can either visit the place, or —in many cases— get the meal delivered straight to your door. It’s perfect for those with specific needs to work around.
7. Resy (Free)
Currently catering for New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington DC, Charleston and San Francisco, Resy has the potential to grow rapidly. The app is part online reservation tool, part restaurant discovery service. Rather than offering information on all local establishments, it provides a hand picked selection of the best eateries, so you know every one is an ideal place to try. You can use it to pay for your meal via Apple Pay, too.
8. UberEATS (Free)
Working alongside your Uber account, you can use UberEATS to have quality food from the best restaurants in the area, delivered to your door. Working in multiple cities within the US, Canada, Australia and the UK, the app will give you restaurant quality food without having to leave your home. It’s a classier form of takeout food.
9. Velocity (Free)
With a focus on high quality restaurants, Velocity provides a classy layout of everything from Michelin-starred places to hot new high end dining establishments. Its intuitive interface ensures that you can snap up last minute reservations, getting the chance to dine at more exclusive venues than other apps offer. Currently, it works in London, New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with Toronto and Montreal to follow.
10. Nowait (Free)
Waiting for a free table is a tedious process. Nowait takes out all the effort. You can check out your current wait time for a restaurant, ensuring you can go do something else and come back later. That means a calmer experience for you and plenty of saved time. It works at many popular restaurants including Chili’s, Buffalo Wild Wings and The Original Pancake House.