Tag: Restaurants »

Ness - Restaurant Recommendations, an app that recommends restaurants based on what you like, what you are in the mood for, and where you are located, has been updated with a redesigned interface. The app features recommendation cards that give an idea about restaurants you may wish to visit, including a photo and explanation of why you may like it.

“We’re dedicated to building a service that is deeply personal and intuitive. Different people have different tastes, so Ness makes unique recommendations for each customer – and each situation – rather than providing the same results for everyone in every situation,” said CEO and co-founder Corey Reese in a statement. “With Ness 2.0, we’ve built a product that anticipates what you’re looking for, then offers the fastest and easiest way to find restaurants tailored to your tastes. Instead of relying on reviews from strangers, Ness is all about you.”

LoSo, a location-based restaurant and bars app which bills itself as a combination of FourSquare and Yelp, has announced a complete redesign as part of the version 2.0 update. New features include user profiles, as well as a real-time news feed linked to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

The most significant new addition is the What's Up! feature, which allows users to take photos or videos of local bars and restaurants and instantly upload them to your Facebook page, the restaurant's Facebook page, and LoSo's listings. The app also allows users to check out menus, drink specials and happy hour deals of all participating businesses within 10 miles of their current location. Checking in at participating businesses grants QRewards Points, which can be redeemed for free food and drinks, as well as other prizes.

LoSo is currently testing in the Philadelphia and Boston markets, and will be expanding to Washington D.C, Chicago and Dallas soon.

It's excellent fun and frequently very tasty to eat out at different restaurants from time to time. The problem lies in figuring out exactly which restaurants are worth the time and which need avoiding at all costs. While the App Store loves to offer plenty of recommendation apps, Ness is the newest out there for restaurant recommendations and it's looking pretty good, indeed.

Unlike other apps, Ness learns about the user's tastes by getting them to rate their dining experiences at 10 restaurants they've visited. Using such data, Ness then determines what kind of things the user enjoys about dining out, then uses that information to recommend other establishments. The more places that the user rates, the more Ness learns and in turn the more accurate the predictions become.

There's a social element to the app too with recommendations all connected to similarities between people as well as the user's friends and their preferences. For those who admit that some friends haven't got the same taste as them, there's the option to filter them out so they don't affect the recommendations from within Ness. All this is conducted via Facebook and Foursquare friends so there's no need to sign up to yet another social network just for the purposes of this app.

A Likeness Engine gives each restaurant a Likeness score out of 100 with filtering options abound throughout. Users can choose to hide places they've already rated for instance, ensuring there's always a new experience around the corner. No big chains can be switched off too thus meaning the little guys get noticed more so.

Ness's developers, the appropriately named Ness Computing, don't plan to stop with food either with future releases promising recommendations for music, shopping, nightlife and entertainment. Eventually, Ness could arrange the ideal night out all from this one simple yet useful app.

It's out now and it's a free app. Give it a shot and do report back on how it goes!

The term healthy fast food sounds like a bit of an oxymoron but it is possible to an extent. Some types of fast food isn't as bad as other types. Knowledge is power, so the occassional treat is no bad thing if planned carefully. This is where an app like Healthy Fast Food could help a ton.

Tracking the likes of McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Subway, Taco Bell and more, the app cleanly and simply lays out the healthiest menu options available. It gives users that chance to know how they can enjoy their favorite food without consuming more calories, saturated fat, and other bad-for-them-stuff than they need to.

While obviously none of it is going to be quite as healthy as a home made salad with no dressing, Healthy Fast Food does allow users to take a calculated break from their diet, thus encouraging them to stick by their regime.

Healthy Fast Food is out now, priced at $0.99.

The problem with the iPhone today is that is has become the hub of all decision making. Starting with Urbanspoon and with Yelp, and even OpenTable, we rely on apps to guide us to where we want to go.

None of these apps have any sort of human touch though. Apps like Yelp and Urbanspoon just jumble up all the places in the area and then rank them based on user ratings. You might be looking for a really cool restaurant to kick back at after a long day, but nothing that these apps have will help you narrow down your options. There's just no differentiation between The Cheesecake Factory and the coolest place in town, and there's definitely something wrong with that.

To fix this issue, Thrillist has made an app that hand picks the very best in food, drinks, and shopping, all with descriptive editorial, to finally give you what you want... something great.

"Search, sort, share, and save thousands of hand-picked, local favorites -- from five-star steaks to two-dollar tacos, rooftop clubs to underground speakeasies, and bespoke shirts to kicks inspired by Jacques Cousteau."

Next time you are looking for somewhere to go, just do a quick Thrillist search and see what's awesome right around you. It's not available in every city yet, so check out the list of cities on the iTunes page before you pick it up.