Restaurant Ratings and Reviews in Atlanta, Chicago, Boston and Seattle Launched

BooRah today announced the expansion of coverage for restaurant ratings and reviews to four additional markets. Search for categories like top italian restaurants in Boston or best pizza places in Chicago

You can also access other valuable features such as restaurants that offer discounts, online reservations and gift certificates. Also, restaurant owners can claim their restaurants and upload pictures, menus and also write a descriptive message for their patrons.

Restaurant Ratings: What beats Zagat?

Read my comparison of Zagat Vs. BooRah ratings on http://smartwebblog.typepad.com

Kudos to Jimmy's Diner in Brooklyn, NY

BooRah launched a new feature to enable restaurateurs to update their information and also engage with the community they serve. It's a win-win for both. I blogged about it here.

Jimmy's Diner in Brooklyn, NY was our first real restaurateur to upload menus, pictures and a brief message as well. Way to go folks at Jimmy's!! We look forward to enabling a lot of other local restaurants get online and provide good information for the consumers so they can dine with good information.

Tag Cloud View for SF Bay Area

Ever wondered, what would be the most popular cuisines, entrees or menu items in your city or neighborhood or metro area. Here's a tag cloud representation of all the food items, comments and relevant phrases extracted from various restaurant reviews for Bay Area restaurants.

Each of these tags are clickable and searchable, so explore San Francisco bay area's best dining choices. Here's a quick link to BooRah Cloud

Restaurant Search Via SMS

Here's a great example of how you can get great restaurant recommendations on SMS. It's really quick and simple. The service is powered by 4Info and BooRah

To try out send a text message to 44636 with a such query such as

"boorah wine list San Francisco"
"boorah mexican mountain view"
etc....

It's real fun

Search for your favorite dishes

BooRah launched a version of "phrase search" for food related terms. As people review different restaurants, they talk about their favorite appetizers, entrees, desserts and everything else they liked or disliked. BooRah aggregates all such user reviews and identifies what people like there and don't like. Menus can give you every item that can be served at the restaurant but only BooRah can tell you what is the one item you can't miss at that restaurant. Here's a few searches that you can check out...

- best falafel in palo alto
- polenta in palo alto
- creme brulee in san francisco

New Restaurant Openings - SF Bay Area

Here's a few new restaurants that have recently opened.

1) La Trappe - 800 Greenwich Ct, San Francisco
http://www.latrappesf.com

A new Belgian beer joint opens on the edge of North Beach, fashioned on the Belgo model so popular in London. Located in a building form the late 1800's that once housed Buca Giovanni. Upstairs will be a café featuring beer and snacks, downstairs the candle-lit cavernous space seats 80 will be bistro offering a variety of Belgian and Italian specialties. Menu features 120+ beers and a menu of Belgian specialties such as Waffles, Mussels and Frites, and stews.

2) Brenda's French Soul Food - 652 Polk St, San Francisco
http://www.frenchsoulfood.com/

Open for breakfast, lunch and brunch on Saturdays Brenda’s French Soul Food is a Creole Diner in the Civic Center serving rich, flavorful food with French style and New Orleans soul. Chef-Owner and New Orleans native Brenda Buenviaje shows diners her take on French Soul Food – cooking rooted in French technique and made soulful through Creole and Southern influence.


2) Horizon Restaurant - 498 Broadway, San Francisco
http://www.horizonsf.com
North Beach nightclub lounge meets restaurant Horizon offers the classic American favorite – the Burger. You may create your own first selecting the meat: lamb, kobe beef, tofu, chicken or even fish and build it with the type of bun---brioche, whole wheat, or sesame. Their menu also draws from other American favorites such as Mac and Cheese, Ribs, Fish and Chips as well the fresh fish of the day. Several offerings are for sharing including French style charcuterie and cheese plates and entrees include roast chicken, grilled salmon and braised lamb shank.