Menulizard is a Web App that lets you search for restaurants by name, by state, or by zipcode and displays the location, phone number, restaurant hours, and menu for each restaurant it returns. There are other apps that do some of this, but the menu feature just really hits it home for me.
It has a very simple, straightforward interface and works just like it should. The address links you to google maps, the phone number lets you dial it, etc.
But what I like most about it is that it let’s your average Joe send them menus. This will help them grow their database organically. Too many restaurant guides on the web rely on restaurant owners or their staff to keep their database current and they just don’t succeed. To upload a menu, simply mail it to them.
I live in Connecticut and currently there aren’t any restaurants loaded for my state, but I have a whole drawer full of local menus that just take up valuable kitchen drawer space so I think I am going to pack them up this weekend and send them to MenuLizard.
They also have a trends menu that lets you see some top lists and metrics about their database. Â You can look up 20 biggest menus, 20 newest menus, etc. Very interesting.
The only suggestion I have for them is to let people email them menus. They explain why faxes are really hard for them to read and I get that, but their are really good quality scanners out there today and an email attachment would work pretty well for them too. Snail mail is so last decade 🙂 It would also be great if they would let people upload pictures of food to associate with menu items.
For small changes to the menu, they request an email message.