Among the assortment of dining apps out there, there is a new one quickly rising to take on the best competitors, while taking tech-savvy restaurant patrons down a different road in finding just the right place to eat.
Hoppit is a restaurant and bar search engine powered by the mysterious sounding Ambience Genome, helping give diners tailored recommendations by the kind of ambient atmosphere sought after.
“Love Where You Eat”
That is Hoppit’s slogan.
No one can argue that food is best enjoyed in a pleasant atmosphere. Yet, the definition of pleasant can be different things to many people on different days, and from the looks of it, Hoppit developers have gleaned just that.
On the app, the search starts with looking for a place with a chosen “vibe.” Once you choose, below the swiping vibe bar, is a swiping photo carousel of various restaurants and bars chosen as “Best of Hoppit.” There are striking interior photos, which also help in selecting the right vibe.
The Vibes
If you need to narrow things down by more than just city, there is a filtered search where you can enter a zip code, and select one or more “vibes” on a swiping bar, such as chill, classy, hipster, romantic, cozy, mad men, swanky, trendy, and vintage.
Below that swiping bar is another section that asks, “Who are you with?” Is it family, a good book, a date, colleagues, my 2-year-old, or friends? You can also choose more than one of these.
And lastly, there is the price bar. Choose one to three piggy banks for price range.
These are also criteria selections that can be found on the website. However, the website has more search filters than the app. It’s probably to keep things simple on small screens.
Generally, Hoppit is a unique and trendy app. It looks like search results only bring up choice selections, so there shouldn’t be worry of finding quality eats.
There are no user reviews, and that can be a real downer in terms of keeping an app on users’ “favorites” list. However, Hoppit developers will be integrating some kind of aggregate star rating in the next major version.
Based in New York City, Hoppit has other cities to choose from, such as Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
New Yorkers have a Brooklyn-specific search as well. And, the founder says there is a lot more expansion on the way, in the United States and internationally.
Hoppit’s Website-Based Search
While searching on Hoppits’s website—rather than looking for an eatery based on Hoppit’s established categories, like Hipster, Romantic, Chill, Vintage, and so on—I based my choices on finding a place in the Flatiron District, reasonably priced, with a relatively low noise level; suitable for a business lunch.
Two choices popped up: Boqueria and Hill Country Kitchen.
These are two pretty dissimilar places with differing cuisine, but yet fit the same search conditions Hoppit’s site.
Both are very good choices for a business lunch based on the criteria: Reasonably priced, nearby, and low noise levels.
If I were indeed having a business lunch, I would probably go with Boqueria because of the tapas served, keeping it a light meal with many tasty options for my business co-diner.
BoqueriaCost: Reasonable | Hill Country KitchenCost: Reasonable |
Continued on Next Page: Q & A with Hoppit’s founder Steven Dziedzic
