AbraResto, one of the startups which provide restaurant review and recommendation services, launched its applications on Android and BlackBerry 10 platforms at the end of May. Recently the apps were updated to make it even more convenient for the users. The company, which received a $1.5 million-investment in January, is looking to boost its user numbers especially in the mobile world.

The Android version of the app, which I tested feels quite complete.  There are three menus on the main display; “Explore”, “Nearest”, and “Latest”. All of them provide information about the restaurants based on their categories. Furthermore, AbraResto also features a real-time map. All you have to do is scroll through the selected restaurant’s locations, and the map will be automatically updated. Unfortunately, I often encountered “null” when trying to explore the list of restaurants it recommends, which I believe should be fixed in the next update.

The app doesn’t require registration for anyone who wish to search for restaurant recommendations. For those who want to share the recommendation with their friends on social media, AbraResto provides an alternative log in method via Facebook account. If it is not enough, it also has a feature which enables the users to write their own restaurant reviews as well as post their own ratings and photographs of the moment they visit the restaurant.

It is quite simple as well to look for a restaurant in AbraResto. The users only have to type in their preferences of the restaurant, such as the food’s prices, restaurant type, type of food it serves, and the distance to their own location, and they will get the recommendations in no time, even though some of the recommendations might be similar from one to another and might confuse the users.

On Google Play, this application is rated 4.8 and received positive reviews. The app, which was developed by Singapore’s AbraTable is now also available for Bandung, after being launched in Jakarta first. In last May, AbraResto claimed that it had had more than 40.000 entries of restaurant recommendations in Bandung and Jakarta, along with 8.000 reviews. Being visited by up to 1,2 million visitors per month, Abraresto keeps developing to catch up with the pace of earlier similar applications.

[header image from Shutterstock]

[translation by Rifki Aria Nugraha]