iOS App of the Day: OpenTable
Have you ever been in the mood for fine dining, but don’t want to deal with the hassle of searching online for a good restaurant? What happens when you’re away on business and just want to see which restaurants serve the cuisine you’re looking for? If you’ve ever found yourself in one of these situations, then the OpenTable app for iOS can truly save the day. OpenTable uses your GPS location to either search for restaurants with open tables, make a reservation for free, or make future reservations. This app takes out most of the headache that comes along with planning a night out and does all the leg work for you. All you have to do is make your reservation on time.
Pros:
- Search by restaurant name
- Find restaurants nearest to your current location & see real-time table availability
- Map results with an interactive, location-based map
- Refine results by cuisine, price, reservation time, or points awarded
- See restaurant menus & OpenTable diner ratings and reviews
- Quickly see recently viewed restaurants
- Make and manage upcoming reservations
- Manage favorite restaurants
- Earn dining reward points
- Invite your friends to dine with you via email
- Reserve your table free
Cons:
- OpenTable doesn’t support restaurants that require a credit card when making a reservation
- App doesn’t display all restaurants registered with the OpenTable network, have to go back to desktop site
How it works:
Downloading the OpenTable app is simple and quick. After you open up the app you will be presented with three main options: find a restaurant near your location, select a location, or search for a restaurant by name. There are also two main functions at the bottom of the app which allow you to either find an open table or access your OpenTable profile. In order to optimize your OpenTable experience the app prompts you to create an account using your email address. Creating an account only takes a few moments and in the end is worth it to access additional free features with this service. Having an account is necessary to make and manage your reservations with OpenTable.
Current Location: Allows you to select the date and time of your reservation, the number of people, and how many restaurants you want to choose from. After you have entered in your criteria the app quickly provides you with a list of restaurants that meet your needs. To see additional details on the restaurant tap on the listing to view the address, menu, description, and parking information. The second tab provides customer reviews.
Select Location: Allows you to select from a list of metropolitan areas. From there you can select by a specific neighborhood or restaurant. You can also filter by cuisine.
Making a reservation: Once you’ve found the perfect restaurant with the app’s help making a reservation is fairly simple. At the top of each restaurant listing you will see times available in red. Tap on the time you want and the app will complete the reservation. You will have to log in to your OpenTable account to complete a reservation. You will be asked to confirm your reservation by reviewing the restaurant, date, time, party size, and any special requests. Once you hit confirm, you can send an email to yourself, modify the reservation, get directions, or cancel.
Conclusion:
Trying out new restaurants in my hometown or when I travel is one of my favorite pastimes, and as a longtime user of the OpenTable desktop site I couldn’t be happier with the iOS app. I have thousands of restaurants at my fingertips and the app provides useful tools to make dining discovery fun and stress free. The user interface is well designed with a quick response time. The OpenTable app is fantastic for planning ahead or finding exactly what I want to eat in a short amount of time without the hassle. If you live or spend time in any of the supported cities, OpenTable is an app not to miss out on.
OpenTable is available for free in the iTunes Store.Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 4.3 or later. iTunes Link
This is part of our iOS App of the Day series. We take our favorite app for iOS for each day and post it here for you to check out. Feel free to check out all of our App of the Day posts here.
