Urbanspoon displays reviews from a number of sources, not just other users.
There are plenty of gimmicky free apps in the App Store, but Urbanspoon’s gimmick actually comes in quite handy when you just don’t know what you feel like eating. Using the iPhone 3G’s GPS unit, it first locates you, then it brings up the Shake view, which lets you tap Shake or shake the phone to select a nearby restaurant randomly, using a slot machine-style view and sound effects. We had great luck pulling up appealing choices in our home neighborhood—but, of course, we’re lucky to live where the restaurants are plentiful and tasty, so as soon as you hit an area where the grub ain’t so good, you’ll know it with Urbanspoon.
More fun than Yelp for the iPhone, Urbanspoon has the potential to overtake Yelp’s iPhone app, as long as users keep submitting reviews.
Free is good!
Needs more cuisine-filtering options.
emmby
February 24, 2009 at 3:30pm
Urbanspoon was one of the pioneers when it came out for the iPhone, but I think that the newer GoodFood (by Goodrec) is a better alternative to finding local restaurants. GoodFood has a fully interactive map view like Google Maps, as well as fun and useful ways to filter content and an easy way to make your own short recs. It's a bit like the twitter of restaurant reviews. It's much easier to find and make recs on GoodFood than it is on Urbanspoon.You can get it in the iTunes store at http://goodrec.com/downloads/goodfood/iphone/
