Show HN: Eating Around, an iPhone app find restaurants nearby

by aarondf • 12 years ago

17 51 12 years ago

aarondf19• 12 years ago

Hey guys, this is my first consumer app in the App Store, would love to hear what y'all think. Please feel free to ask any questions.

shaunxcode2• 12 years ago

Is there a vegan category?

aarondf19• 12 years ago

Not yet, but I'll take this as a vote for it

aarondf19• 12 years ago

Ok, we'll be adding vegan in the next release! Your wish is my command

revx• 12 years ago

Nice, Tinder for Food.

aarondf19• 12 years ago

Bingo

mbesto• 12 years ago

Except Tinder is predicated on both parties having a decision whether to connect to each other or not. Restaurants will basically take anyone.

hashtag• 12 years ago

What does this do that Yelp doesn't currently. (On mobile so lazy to click through is the site explains it).

I ask because I use Yelp for this a lot

aarondf19• 12 years ago

Good question. I think if you click through you'll see the use case, but where Yelp is the Yellow Pages, Eating Around is a hotel concierge.

We give you two inputs: food type & distance. That's it. Then we show you pretty pictures.

In short: a better user experience.

oldstrangers• 12 years ago

Isn't finding a good restaurant the most important user experience here? And by that metric, Yelp seems better suited to my needs. Making a 'less Yelp, Yelp' doesn't automatically make it better.

fourstar2• 12 years ago

That's a pretty weak selling point. You probably have less data, and it's yet another application to sign up for and use.

mdaniel• 12 years ago

Is there some good reason why this is an iPhone app instead of using the seemingly widely supported Geolocation API in the browser?

http://caniuse.com/#feat=geolocation

I would think the redeployment time alone would make the browser a compelling platform (seconds versus whatever the current appstore lag is ... two weeks?)

This kind of thing always gets to me: apps that launch for iOS and then several years later realize there is this thing called "Android" and that it might catch on one day.

aarondf19• 12 years ago

There's not a insanely good reason, but "the App Store" is definitely a reason. It's possible that we'll do a mobile web version in the future. Android is planned before that though.

piyush_soni• 12 years ago

Nice app for iOS. On my Nexus 5(Android), I use it like this: "Ok Google, show me [type] restaurants near me".

aarondf19• 12 years ago

wats an android?

(kidding)

webwielder• 12 years ago

we believe, more than anything, that food is visual.

More than taste?

aarondf19• 12 years ago

Heh, probably not.

computerjunkie2• 12 years ago

I cringed when I read that phrase. What about smell? are you going to eat food that looks great but smells bad?

The visual aspect of food is highly overrated, it mostly stems from pretentious restaurants that emphasis the importance of presentation.

I agree that food is visual, but other senses such as smell, texture are equally, if not more important than the visual aspect.

The idea for this application is not new and it seems to be only available for iOS (I'm on Android) only so I don't have much to say about it. When I want to find a nice place to eat food, word of mouth from friends or colleagues is what I use.

fataliss• 12 years ago

Well until you find a way to give samples for taste and smell to your mobile users (good luck with that), I think that the visual side is what's left of it. Even tho I agree with lots of other folks here about the fact that choosing a restaurant might require more data than just a couple nice pictures... as far as food itself go, a picture is what describes it best (worth a thousand words they say).

computerjunkie2• 12 years ago

as far as food itself go, a picture is what describes it best (worth a thousand words they say).

Have you seen those food related adverts? And then you actually go buy the product and it never looks the same as the adverts?

A good photographer with low/mid range Photoshop skills can make a poor product into an appealing one.

jaredstenquist• 12 years ago

Congrats on shipping. I wanted to do something simple like this. I bought a domain for it, Radiyum.com (Radius + Food), but ended up shelving the idea for some of the reasons other folks have brought up. There's only so much time in the day!

Good luck with the app. Looks well designed.

aarondf19• 12 years ago

I'll let you in on a little secret, I didn't design it! I hired a very talented fellow[1] to do the design for me, because I suck so bad at it

[1] http://thomweerd.com/

etjossem2• 12 years ago

Feedback:

When sent a text message about the app, some Android phones (inc. S4) resolve the URL as 'http://www.eatingaround.com/download.' - with a period at the end. I 404d when I clicked it. Worth addressing before you release Android.

aarondf19• 12 years ago

Yeesh. Fixed! Thanks for the feedback.

etjossem2• 12 years ago

Of course. Love the concept - here's hoping for Android soon!

TheBiv3• 12 years ago

Gig 'Em! Awesome looking site!

aarondf19• 12 years ago

hey, Gig 'em back! See you in College Station this weekend?

TheBiv3• 12 years ago

I have a wedding that I am in the wedding party for (and they're an Aggie couple - terrible planning) :(

Are you?

Random: We actually graduated in the same class! I think we bumped into each other a few times in college...and now on HN! haha

jedanbik• 12 years ago

"Text me a download link", to me, to see that displayed prominently instead of a link to the App Store (on mobile) strikes me as a creepy way to collect phone numbers.

That probably isn't how you want to come across (and you probably don't even care about the phone numbers), so I would suggest having a different version of that page for user agent: iPhone. Please don't interpret this critique as me calling you a creep!

Mandatum• 12 years ago

Yeah, I wouldn't bother trying it for this reason.

aarondf19• 12 years ago

You know what, that's a good point. I might just hide the text-to-download if on iPhone and put the big App Store badge up there. That seems to make more sense anyway!

Thanks for the feedback, ya creep.

ijustwanttovote• 12 years ago

I have been thinking about building something similar for the past year. More so after I opened a dessert shop. Good job and good luck.

Show HN: Eating Around, an iPhone app find restaurants nearby

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