FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
What cities are supported?
- We support all cities within the US or Canada. If there aren't any restaurants from your city listed, you can be the first to add them!
What is this site? Who are you guys?
- Read the about section. You can also find out more about us at our company website.
Who is the orange character with the big belly?
- That's Foodha. He'll guide you on the path to Menuism. He enjoys all kinds of foods and meditating on picturesque waterfronts.
Do you allow restaurant sponsored listings?
- No, there are no sponsored listings in search results or any of the ranking lists. Restaurants are ordered by their merit based on user opinions. The only ads for restaurants you should see should be plainly visible as ads like the Google Ads.
How can I advertise on the site?
- Contact us at ads (at) menuism.com for an advertising quote.
What are favorites?
- Favorites track the restaurants you love. Add them by clicking on "Add to Favorites" on a restaurant's page. You can always view your list by clicking the "My Home" tab.
What's a Try List?
- The Try List keeps track of restaurants you want to try at some point. You can add to your Try List by clicking on the "Add to Try List" link on a restaurant's page. You can view that list by clicking the "My Home" tab.
Where can I see my favorites and try lists?
- Click on the "My Home" tab at the top, and choose the list to see. You can filter your lists by city with the dropdown at the top of the page.
How are the results sorted in the search results page?
- Restaurant results are ordered based on matching terms in the name, menu items and tags. For example, searching for "taco" would find all restaurants tagged with "taco", and those with "taco" in their name would appear higher in the list. A group of equally-matching restaurants are then sorted by distance from the center of the map.
How can Menuism help me find food?
- The most direct way is to enter your location (city and state, or zipcode) and what you're looking for in the header and hit "Go". You'll see the results listed next to a map of your area.
How do I find my friend who's already on Menuism?
- You can search for other users by their screenname or first name. Just click the "Find a user" at the bottom of any page. If they aren't on the site yet, invite them! Invite them from your home page or go here.
What are friends and what are fans? How are they different?
- Friends are other users that you respect and want to track. We use your friends to recommend new restaurants for you to try. Fans are other users that respect you and want to track your activity. Your activity will help recommend new restaurants for them to try.
I've got a question that's not answered here.
- If you have a question, click that feedback link on the bottom right or check out the Contact Page. You can also check out the Menuism Blog.
Where are all the menus?
- We're doing our best to collect menu data, but at its core, Menuism is a community-driven site that grows through its users. Think of it as a shared menu drawer - you just need to add the menus you're familiar with and everyone benefits.
Can I rate more than once?
- Certainly, but only your last review will count in the overall tally.
How do I rate a food item?
- Just click on the stars to the left of the item! If you want to say more, write a restaurant review and include menu item reviews.
How do I rate a restaurant?
- Just click on the stars, or you can write a restaurant review and include your rating there.
How come you don't have restaurants in my city?
- If a city doesn't have restaurant listings, let us know and we'll see what we can do about it. You also add them yourself.
How do I add a restaurant?
- Click here or at the link at the bottom of every page. Thanks!
Can I use HTML in my reviews?
- No, but you can use Textile, which is even easier! Textile is a lightweight markup language that gets converted into HTML. Here's a quick guide on the syntax. Here are some examples
- To bold something, put asterisks around your text. e.g. *I'll become bold* => I'll become bold
- To underline something, put underscores around your text. e.g. _I'm underlined_ => I'm underlined
Check the reference for more tips like making lists. We've also put a handy cheatsheet on each restaurant review form - just hover over "Textile" when you see it.
How do I write a review?
- Click on links that say "Write a Review!"
I made a typo. Can I edit my review?
- Yes you can! Just find your review and click on the text. An edit box will show up and allow you to change the text in place. Click on "Ok" when you're done.
What are "Quick Bites"?
- These are menu item reviews. They are shorter than restaurant reviews and only describe a user's feelings about the food.
What do I get for writing reviews?
- Besides the warm feeling of satisfaction for helping others dine better, each review you write allows you to receive compliments from other users for your helpfulness. The more helpful compliments your reviews collect, the more recognized you are recognized for your dining expertise.
How do I add tags to a restaurant?
- Go to a restaurant's page and click on the "Add Tags" link. If you add a tag that already exists, that tag's strength will increase - the next time someone searches for that tag, the restaurant will show higher in the results.
What are tags?
- Tags are keywords that describe a restaurant. They can describe any aspect of a restaurant, including the type of cuisine, ambience, location, etc. e.g. Chinese, Downtown, Happy hour, loud, pricey.
What does the site run on?
- We built the site using Ruby on Rails.
What if I don't have javascript?
- You can still use parts of the site, but you won't be able to get the full experience. The maps and searching require javascript.
Why does the site look funny in my browser?
- The site is known to work best in the latest versions of Firefox and Camino, please send feedback if you're experiencing odd issues.
How do I change my password?
- Click on "Edit Settings" at your home page then click on "Change Password".
How do I change my profile?
- You can change your tagline, personal website listing, and description by clicking on "Edit Settings".
How do I upload an image for my profile?
- Go to your user homepage and click on the "Change Pic" link to upload a photo. The photo will be automatically resized and cropped to be a square format.
