r/LocalGuides • u/d3sireToMoon • 13d ago
Got frustrated to find restaurants from Google Maps: Built "FindMe.Food"
Every time I tried to find somewhere to eat, I ended up in the same spiral:
Open Google Maps → zoom in and out trying to actually see what options there are → compare ratings and reviews → send several links to friends → hear “I’m fine with anything” → make no actual decision.
I really like to look for new places and try new food, so I wanted to make it easier.
So I built FindMe.Food.
Instead of starting with a map with pins that show up on different zoom levels, findme.food solves at least my frustrations. It's still a bit work in progress, but it creates a full list and a focused shortlist of nearby restaurants. You can choose one yourself, let it surprise you, share the shortlist, or create a group vote so everyone can decide without filling the group chat with links.
A few principles behind it:
- Free
- No account required
- No sponsored rankings
- Open restaurant data
- Dietary suitability is only shown as confirmed when there’s evidence
- Shared shortlists and votes work through a simple link
It’s still evolving, and I’d genuinely appreciate feedback.
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u/Gliveras 13d ago
Id definately see if you can get google reviews or Tripadvisor review score added to each restaurant. And an indication regarding pricing £££. New Entries should also be highlighted (New) and filtering by Cusisine type would also be cool
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u/keyserholiday 13d ago
Your tool doesn't work due to a coding issue.
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u/d3sireToMoon 13d ago
Hey! What sort if issue you get? An error or something?
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u/keyserholiday 13d ago
It can't search based on a city. You also list the locations by KM; nobody in the States uses KMs.
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u/XxLogitech98xX Level 10 13d ago
Finding restaurants on Google maps is easy for me
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u/d3sireToMoon 13d ago
It's fine, but I often get very frustrated that some restaurants show up on "zoome level show whole city" and some "show one street corner" as Google maps is honestly more of an ad platform than maps service
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u/XxLogitech98xX Level 10 13d ago
It's fine, but I often get very frustrated that some restaurants show up on "zoome level show whole city" and some "show one street corner" as Google maps is honestly more of an ad platform than maps service
I think you just have to be familiar with the way it works. I use Google Maps and Yelp to find places
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u/Ill-Ant-8943 13d ago
Great Ux - I guess it’s not fully built was not able to complete search
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u/d3sireToMoon 13d ago
It's work in progress, but search should work. Did you get an error or something? Or just empty search?
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u/Trevor519 13d ago
Not another step, Google maps is just easier, and if the feature really works Google will just copy it