If you dine out often—or ever—you must have OpenTable on your iPhone or iPod Touch. For those not familiar with it, OpenTable.com is a free restaurant reservation service and now the site’s functionality is available as a pretty delicious app.
First, select the city you want to dine in or have the iPhone’s GPS search your current location. Using current location, the app will display a number of nearby restaurants. Unless I’m looking to eat immediately, I prefer to select my own location.
After you’ve selected your metro area (there’s a ton to choose from) you’ll be able narrow your search, such as by borough in New York City, and you’ll then have the option to search via neighborhood or by restaurant.
On a recent Saturday afternoon, I searched all neighborhoods in Chicago for a 7 p.m. reservation for a party of two. Within seconds I had a list of restaurants on screen, displaying three times for each: my requested time (dashes indicate nothing is available), the closest earlier availability and the first later availability. From this screen you can narrow the results by cuisine, price or availability.
Choose a restaurant; tap the time you wish to dine, login to your OpenTable account (if you don’t have one, hit skip and just enter your personal information), make any special requests and tap “confirm.” It’s that easy.
If you’re a traveler, one of the app’s best features is the ability to make upcoming reservations in other cities. Although OpenTable.com has full support for international reservations, the iPhone can currently only make reservations in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.
If you’re logged in to the system, you’ll be able to use the “My Profile” button to view, modify or cancel upcoming reservations.
Bon appétit!
