This is the 3rd installment of the Sites I Love Series. First was RottenTomatoes, and then Kayak.
This post is a two-fer in that there are two sites that I love, OpenTable and MenuPages. Both have to do with food -- one of my passions. OpenTable lets you search for and make restaurant reservations, which sure beats having to keep calling restaurants up to see which place can take your party of 4 this Saturday night. MenuPages lets you search for restaurants and see their menus.
Why I Love Them: They just work.
OpenTable is the go-to site to see which restaurants have open slots. I also like that they list out the ones in their database that don't have open reservations for the search I've executed. I can make the reservation easily, have reminders emailed to me and even download the Outlook calendar invite. They also have a loyalty program consisting of a points system so that you can get a gift certificate to a restaurant once you amass enough points.
MenuPages has a simple design but I like the different browse options -- by neighborhood or by cuisine. The site also loads quickly because of the lack of images and other bling. Besides the menu, they list info like the restaurant's hours, whether they deliver and their address and phone number. You can save favorites to MyMenuPages (which I haven't done but should).
How They Can Improve:
OpenTable should incorporate geographical browse by superimposing restaurants on a map. They should also enable user comments/reviews and ingest more reviews from other sites.
MenuPages needs more reviews to make the listings more meaningful. Having a better geo-browse would also be good. Finally, they should consider syndicating out their menu data to other sites like Yelp, CitySearch and the newspaper/local sites that have user communities with such feedback.
One note in closing: MenuPages holds a special place in my heart because my friend Pierre and I had been brainstorming the idea of creating a database of takeout menus of NYC eateries in 1998, and I'm glad to have seen it done in such a useful manner. Goes to show you what an idea is worth vs. execution!
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Posted by: Ramudu | April 18, 2007 at 09:08 PM