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Urbanspoon’s Restaurant Finder Leaves Bruni Rattled

Shake, rattle, and roll to your favorite spot.
Shake, rattle, and roll to your favorite spot.

Frank Bruni isn’t impressed with Urbanspoon, the iPhone application we told you about yesterday. The program allows you to literally shake your iPhone (we hope it doesn’t fly out of your hands, if you’ve already had a few) in order to come up with popular restaurants nearby. As you can imagine, many of the suggestions turn out to be twenty blocks away or closed, or they have long waits or unaccommodating reservation policies — and they’re dictated by Urbanspoon’s sometimes less-than-savvy users. At one point, Bruni looks for a good restaurant in Williamsburg, and the program sends him to the East Village. Yeesh! With all the iPhone users in the ’burg, you’d think this thing would show some neighborhood pride.

Where to Eat? Ask Your iPhone [NYT]
Related: New iPhone Makes It Easier to Be a Mobile Gourmand

Urbanspoon’s Restaurant Finder Leaves Bruni Rattled