Monday, February 4, 2008

A Useful Website


This is just a quick acknowledgment to a website that I discovered a few months back that has been pretty helpful to me. I found the Yelp! website by running a Google search of course, but ever since I have found it I have been using it occasionally to find restaurants, bars and other interesting places to go in and around central Phoenix. Of course Yelp is not the first or biggest social networking site that allows users to review local attractions but it certainly has helped me find some nice places downtown. Of course it may depend on the reviewers that are taking part, so some locations may vary, but for my neighborhood it seems to point out the interesting independent and trendy spots. It seems to do a much better job than Citysearch, the local Newtimes, or local newspaper and is much more locally focused as compared to Trip Advisor, which is obviously geared towards travelers from out of town.

The latest place that I have found through Yelp was a restaurant/bar called Switch. The place is in an old bagel shop next to the legendary Durant's steak house on Central Avenue. I walked over there tonight to try it out after having lunch there the other day. After eating at Switch twice I would give it a solid 7 out of 10. I'll go a few more times and we'll see if it can be consistent. There is a bit of pretense about the place but they seem to keep it in check. For example, they serve classic comfort food such as chicken pot pie, but serve it in a pastry not at all like what I was expecting. The accompanying picture shows the exact presentation. It was good thought so I will quit complaining.

Why is it that so many of my blog post are about food? Anyway, if you haven't used Yelp you might give it a try to see if it will make good suggestions in your neighborhood.

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