A short while ago, DoorDash added restaurant reservations to its meal delivery app. That’s right, the app that you use to have groceries and fast food delivered to your door is now giving you a fast pass to get into the hottest restaurants in town.
It’s DoorDash’s answer to the Dine Out feature launched by Uber Eats midway through last year. Both essentially do the same thing: get you into popular eateries.
Reservations is the simple name of the new DoorDash feature, and it comes with a few perks. First up, the app already has partnerships with some of the most popular restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne, some of which are nearly impossible to get a table in. DoorDash is using those partnerships to help users get it, with exclusive tables reserved only for DashPass members. This rollout comes after DoorDash acquired hospitality platform SevenRooms, and so it’s starting with the restaurants that were already a part of that app.
Aside from being able to get tables you wouldn’t usually have easy access to, you also earn rewards for dining out, with regular app users getting $10 credit, and DashPass users earning $12 for each booking they attend.
How to use DoorDash Reservations
The way it works is super simple:
- You open the app and select the Reservations tab.
- Search for the restaurant you want, or just browse around the map to see which tickles your fancy.
- Pick the time available.
- Head to the restaurant at the appropriate time, and then dine to your heart’s content!
The only downside is that the app doesn’t display menus for each restaurant, so you have to go off-platform to learn more about the menu.
I tested this out by visiting Orlo in Collingwood, and the process of booking for this very popular restaurant was so straightforward and stress-free. The food was also absolutely delicious (if a bit overpriced). I particularly liked the Wagyu beef skewer, which was so perfectly cooked and seasoned. But really, we didn’t have a bad dish the whole time.
This is a smart move on behalf of DoorDash, trying to position it as the only app you need to use for food, whether you want to cook, get delivery, or dine in. It’ll be interesting to see how the Australian market responds to this play, and how it compares to Uber’s rival feature.
Reservations are available now in the DoorDash app.
