Urbanspoon + iPhone = A Match Made in Foodie Heaven!

Doncha just love the iPhone commercial where “the hand” searches for a restaurant using the Urbanspoon restaurant “slot machine” on the phone?  Boy, I do!  I’ve held off on buying an iPhone for as long as I could, but once I saw this commercial I turned to my wife and said “I NEED that phone!”   I purchased it the next day and have been using the Urbanspoon application for about two weeks.  I can’t believe this remarkable app is free!

To tell you how it works would almost be insulting because it’s just so darn easy.   It’s so easy that I let my 4 yr old daughter select a place for us to eat last Tuesday using the Urbanspoon app (we had pulled pork sandwiches at Willie’s Grill & Icehouse in case you were wondering).

Here is a brief run through on how to use Urbanspoon for the iPhone (or iTouch).

1. Download it for FREE on iTunes or directly from the App Store on your iPhone.  Click here ->
2. Click the Urbanspoon icon on the iPhone and the it will triangulate your position based on the built in GPS.  It will ask if you want to use your current location or select another city.
3. Once you select your preferred city, the restaurant “slot machine” will pop up on the screen so you can narrow down your search by neighborhood, cuisine, and dollar amount.  You can lock in any of these parameters by pressing one of the 3 padlock icons on the bottom of the screen.  Then just hit the “Shake” button and let the Urbanspoon slot machine go to work!
4. Once you click on the restaurant that Urbanspoon selects you can read reviews by other users, leave your own reviews, view photos, read a menu, get directions (with maps!), and call the restaurant from the contact info page!   All that’s left to do is make the reservation - if one is required.   If the restaurant does require a reservation, you could also download the Open Table app on your iPhone!

What’s that you say?  You are not ready to rush out and buy an iPhone just to get an incredible mobile dining app?  Fret not…you can go to your bulky desktop computer or laptop and visit Urbanspoon.com to accomplish the same thing as the mobile app!

I would love to hear what you iPhone-ites or Urbanspoon.com visitors think about this terrific app.   Please leave me your comments.