The best feature of the Yelp service is the detailed user reviews and ratings for restaurants and businesses. If you find that the “Where” app on your Pre appears crowded, Yelp offers a cleaner and seemingly faster app for a similar purpose. However, Where offers much more than simple Yelp integration. The Where wall is an excellent feature that offers a messaging component over and above user reviews. If you’re currently happy with Where, you’ll find that Yelp only offers a cleaner interface. “Where” does offer everything that Yelp does and some more. Overall, this app is an excellent location-aware directory application and stands well on its own, but it only offers a subset of Where‘s functionality and the latter will be a better option for most Palm Pre users.

You can sort the results list based on distance, ratings, and even alphabetically. The default sort method is by distance. The app also pulls up ratings and reviews for each restaurant. You can see the address and telephone number and initiate a call from within the app. Restaurants are also classified based on the type of cuisine served and a link to the restaurant’s website is offered if one exists. “$” symbols are used to indicate how pricey a restaurant is. You cannot write your own reviews or rate restaurants with this application, and there’s no way to see a map with your current location and the restaurant’s location visible – you’ll have to pull up Google Maps separately to see that. This is one of the more specialized Palm Pre Apps and does one thing very well – find the nearest Kosher restaurants.

Other features are similar to what GoodFood offers: user reviews, ratings, location-aware mapping, directions to the establishment from your current location, etc. The OpenTable app also lets you send a quick email from within the app with restaurant and reservation details. The app integrates well with your Pre calendar, so reservations can be scheduled appropriately with your other appointments. This is one of the more comprehensive and interactive Palm Pre Apps and will be useful for almost every Pre owner and, for now, makes other restaurant and food review apps redundant on your Palm Pre.

There is a search function available from all screens. I find the icons and interface to be slightly more polished than the “Where” application, but the latter definitely has more categories (Gas prices, traffic, etc.). And again, for restaurants and cafes I would recommend the Goodfood application, which is really well done and polished. I have no doubt we’ll continue to see some more location-aware directory application sprout up in the Palm Pre apps catalog. This particular app is straightforward, easy-to-use, and polished. But lacks in breadth of categories.

The default functionality immediately pulls up eateries nearby to your current location. You can then drill down based on rating, price, and distance. You can also see photographs taken by other diners in specific restaurants. This really helps in understanding portion sizes, presentation, and the quality of the establishment. Most diners also leave comments and reviews which are all available through the application. Mapping is built right in. The interface is very clean and elegant – this is a very polished and useful Palm Pre application.