Another Good Restaurant Resource
I was contacted the other day by the Los Angeles editor over at Menu Pages point me to their site as the originator of the model I mentioned with Menu Pix. One benefit Menu Pages has over Menu Pix is they scan the menus into searchable PDF documents, so I can do a search on a particular dish and it will list all the restaurants that have it. Not a bad service.
Menu Pages originated from New York and has a sleeker interface to Menu Pix's more spartan look. One detraction is Menu Pages utilizes popup ads. Big no-no. Popup ads immediately give me a red flag, and cheapen the feel of any website who use them. They are intrusive, and never advertise anything legitimate that I'd want to buy. To be fair, Menu Pix also had banner ads for "Smiley Face" add-ins that always turn out to be some sort of spyware. Still, popup ads lessen the legitimacy of a website and should never be used by people with a solid business model, it will drive people away.
In terms of the companies behind these sites, at least there was some information about the origins of Menupages. I could find no company or contact information for Menu Pix, which, again, begs me to ask "What do you have to hide?" I know this is all sounding rather conspiratorial, but when I research a company or try to get information, the ease or difficulty it takes to do that will reflect on how I form that opinion. When I do business with someone, a contact phone number or address is always reassuring. If the only method they give me is the same pre-made contact form (even obscuring an email address), then I wonder why they are keeping their identity and location a secret.
The editor of Menupages wanted to emphasize they were here first, but that's like saying I should buy a Ford because they were here first. I patronize a business or service based on how well they execute it. Both have an extensive selection of restaurants, some are one site that are missing on the other, but overall they are similar. The big difference is searchable menus, which I will give a nod to Menupages.
Even the popup ads which I bitched about earlier aren't even really a big deal with popup killer technology, it still makes me wonder why an advertiser would waste their time anymore, but hey, whatever works...or doesn't.
Menu Pages originated from New York and has a sleeker interface to Menu Pix's more spartan look. One detraction is Menu Pages utilizes popup ads. Big no-no. Popup ads immediately give me a red flag, and cheapen the feel of any website who use them. They are intrusive, and never advertise anything legitimate that I'd want to buy. To be fair, Menu Pix also had banner ads for "Smiley Face" add-ins that always turn out to be some sort of spyware. Still, popup ads lessen the legitimacy of a website and should never be used by people with a solid business model, it will drive people away.
In terms of the companies behind these sites, at least there was some information about the origins of Menupages. I could find no company or contact information for Menu Pix, which, again, begs me to ask "What do you have to hide?" I know this is all sounding rather conspiratorial, but when I research a company or try to get information, the ease or difficulty it takes to do that will reflect on how I form that opinion. When I do business with someone, a contact phone number or address is always reassuring. If the only method they give me is the same pre-made contact form (even obscuring an email address), then I wonder why they are keeping their identity and location a secret.
The editor of Menupages wanted to emphasize they were here first, but that's like saying I should buy a Ford because they were here first. I patronize a business or service based on how well they execute it. Both have an extensive selection of restaurants, some are one site that are missing on the other, but overall they are similar. The big difference is searchable menus, which I will give a nod to Menupages.
Even the popup ads which I bitched about earlier aren't even really a big deal with popup killer technology, it still makes me wonder why an advertiser would waste their time anymore, but hey, whatever works...or doesn't.
4 Comments:
I do think that Menu Pages, at least for now, seems very keen on feedback and audience response, which is nice.
I had posted something about it after they launched in L.A. and mentioned that a restaurant I looked up had the wrong menu attached to it. The editor replied to my post that she had had the menu fixed.
I don't know anything about Menu Pix, so I can't comment on one vs. the other (honestly, I think having competition in this area is good, because it's a resource that requires a lot of work on the part of the creators, and that takes motivation). But I do like that I've seen evidence that the Menu Pages people are paying attention to what people are saying about them and responding to feedback.
By
KT, at 7:17 PM
I'm gonna go read what you wrote about them right now.
What I've noticed is Menu Pix is a little more LA-centric, being based out of LA. There are some menus that showed up on Menu Pix that aren't on Menu Pages, but time will even that out. I think both services are comparable for now.
For the love of God, ALL legitimate websites should discontinue the use of popup ads. They are ineffective, and when one manages to sneak through, it is usually just a source of irritation. There are so many other in-line and rollover ways of advertising that are much more effective. Furthermore, advertise things that are relevent to the content of the site. I'm not just picking on Menu Pages/Pix, but this is a general bitch about any website. Like my Lord Google Ads, for instance :)
By
Steve Wasser, at 9:52 AM
Oh it's not on my blog ... it was here.
I hate pop-ups, but I really hate those "pop-unders" where you don't know they are there and then you close your browser window and have 13,000 little windows staring you in the face.
I make it a point never to click on ads that are annoying. Of course, I can probably count on one finger the times I have actually clicked on any ads ... but I might! You never know ...
By
KT, at 2:33 PM
I like http://www.restaurantplace.com. They are a newer site with scanned menus for NYC and other major cities. The also have pictures of the restaurant which is cool.
By
Anonymous, at 7:09 AM
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