Are you hungry? There’s an app for that!
April 7, 2020Are you hungry? Truly a rhetorical question, as we all get hungry. The question I should have asked is, can you cook or, better yet, are you a good cook? The COVID-19 pandemic has taught me a lot of things about myself, among them, I am not a good cook. Okay, that is a lie, I am a terrible cook; overcooked chicken, undercooked pork, you name it, I have probably ruined it! I like cooking, I am just not very good at it. So to save my family from an unnecessary trip to the E.R. for food poisoning, I have turned to online food delivery.
You see, before COIVD-19, I could simply load the family up in the car and be dining on delicious food, at our favorite restaurants, within a matter of minutes. Thankfully, a lot of our local restaurants are still open for delivery or pick-up service, and that is where online food delivery comes in.
Fortunately, there are several apps on the market: Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub; the list goes on and on. However, you should check what is available in your area. Basically, they all work the same, with a few exceptions: you select the restaurant, place your order, pay, wait for your food to be delivered, and finally enjoy eating a delicious meal. Of course, if you are the adventurous type, you can pick up your order, as most apps offer a pick-up option.
Let’s take a quick look at three of the more popular apps
DoorDash
The interface in DoorDash is probably my favorite. It has a convenient food selection slider, at the top, that makes fit easy to select the type of food you want to order. As you scroll down, you will see sections for restaurants with $0 delivery fees, national partners, and restaurants that are fast.
My favorite feature of the DoorDash app are the photos, and there are plenty of them! It appears that every item at every restaurant has an image of exactly what you are ordering; I love being able to see what I am getting before I order!
Restaurant availability, on DoorDash, is pretty respectable; as of this writing, there are around three hundred restaurants available, in over fifteen food categories.
One of my complaints with DoorDash, is the delivery map. It is not as accurate as the other two apps. In fact, a couple times the driver was at my door, when the map showed he was still a few miles away.
Grubhub
The interface on Grubhub is my least favorite, as it just feels basic, especially when compared to the other two apps. There is a search field and Cuisines button, located at the top of the screen, or you can scroll down to select a restaurant.
My favorite feature of the Grubhub app is how they store your past orders. It makes it super easy to come back and order exactly what you did before. The other apps also have a similar feature, however Grubhub, in my opinion, does it better.
Restaurant availability, on Grubhub, is really strong; as of this writing, there are upwards of five hundred restaurants available, in over fifty food categories.
Aside from the interface, I really do not have any major complaints with Grubhub. I hope they will update their interface in the future, however it is not a deal-breaker.
Uber Eats
I want to be honest you, Uber Eats is my preferred food delivery app. Now just because it is my preferred, does not mean I like everything about it. The reason it is my preferred app has more to do with the restaurants my family and I like to order from and the availability of drivers in my area.
The interface on Uber Eats is better than Grubhub, but not as good as DoorDash. You basically just have to scroll to see what is available or push the search button located at the bottom of the screen.
My favorite feature of the Uber Eats app, is the share a driver option, This is where you share a driver with a recent order for a $0 delivery fee. I like this option because it allows me to order from restaurants I would otherwise not have tried.
Uber Eats, by far, has the most restaurants available, in my area; as of this writing, there are several hundred restaurants available, in over eighty food categories. Several restaurants only use Uber Eats, hence what it is my preferred app.
As small annoyance, in all three apps, is when you are selecting your food and options. Not all of the options are available, as they may be when dining in. However, I believe this to be more of an issue with the individual restaurants, than with any of the apps. Of course, this is easily remedied by using the special instructions section, that is available within all of the apps.
Let’s wrap this up
If you are a not-so-good chef or maybe you are getting tired of the same old food, I would like to recommend giving one of these apps a try. Not only will you get a good meal out of the deal, you will be supporting your local restaurants during a time that they really need it.
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