A new website is now offering diners in Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Dubai, and other major cities a new way to decide on a restaurant. Called One Hundred Tables, it is touted as an “alternative to OpenTable and Yelp.”
In each city, One Hundred Tables will showcase, yes, one hundred restaurants, each of which must have at least 250 “likes” on Facebook. The Atlanta site currently features 32 restaurants, including Aria, Veni Vedi Vici, Common Quarter, Roux on Canton, and Cypress Street Pint & Plate.
“I’ve been traveling the world for twenty years looking for great food. Sometimes you want something high-end, and sometimes you just want a taco,” says One Hundred Tables founder Tony Akston. “Yelp and OpenTable are great sites, but they cover everything—the good, the bad, and the ugly. You don’t need 10,000 restaurants to go out for dinner; you just need one.”
By limiting the options to one hundred “qualified” restaurants and providing comprehensive profiles including large images, hours of operation, and food and beverage offerings, plus filtering capabilities, Akston says the site simplifies the ‘where to eat tonight’ process.
“We don’t need reviews because restaurants can’t be here unless people have approved them already,” he explains, with positive word-of-mouth reflected in social media.
The site does not allow consumers to make reservations, but Akston says this is on purpose. Instead, by providing restaurant websites and phone numbers, One Hundred Tables helps restaurants “reconnect with their customer base.”
The site costs $100 a year for restaurants and is free for consumers. Both iPhone and Android apps for the site are in the works and on track for an early 2014 release.
