Add Me On Beli?

Courtesy of Beli App

“The camera eats first,” we all say in unison, as we hover our phones above our steaming food, alternating between 0.5 for the entire spread, and 2x for the up-close detail picture. Only then when we capture the perfect photo for our food Instagram highlights, are we able to dig in.

We’ve mostly seen food photography like this on Instagram, but the visual-centric feed of the app doesn't allow for the same review features as other restaurant review apps like Yelp or OpenTable. This is where we can study the Google Maps to Beli pipeline.

Beli is an app that allows users to build restaurant lists organized by where they’ve been, where they want to go, cities, and categorized into cafes, bakeries, bars, etc. Similar to the app Letterboxd, a social review platform for film lovers, users review their experience and are able to share photos, add notes, and recommend their favorite restaurants. With each entry, Beli automatically ranks each restaurant, making the experience easier if you’re indecisive. If you disagree with the ranking, you have the ability to rearrange your lists to your liking.

Why do people love Beli so much, especially younger people? (Fun fact: NYU is first on the school leaderboard on Beli—meaning more NYU students use Beli than students at other colleges!)

Beli uniquely combines the features of reviewing with aspects of social media, where eating becomes a social activity that can be shared and exchanged with friends. As a result, the review comes to be more than just about the food and the place, but rather the experience itself that becomes personal to the user.

Courtesy of an Anonymous User on Beli

You can see just how creative users get with their reviews, turning them into mini diary entries, reflections, or afterthoughts. They connect it to their personal life and experiences, in ways that are often irrelevant to the critique of the food itself, but all adding to the social aspect of sharing humor.

Of course, in standard restaurant reviews, there’s always the connection between the experience and food, for example, the service, the decor, or the ambiance. But in Beli posts, there’s space to add even more details, through playful observations, inner musings, or inside jokes.

Courtesy of an Anonymous User on Beli

Because Beli has the feeling of posting on social media, there’s less of an expectation to be professional or formal about the review. But what separates Beli from other social media apps is the lack of advertisements and sponsored posts. You can only see your friends’ reviews on your feed and therefore your only audience are your own friends. There is no need to posture and the difference in attitude can be seen in the food photo you post on your Instagram story. Users can be more casual and unfiltered in their reviews, leading to reviews that feel more candid. Instead of curated and structured reviews, users write about their raw and honest impressions.

Courtesy of an Anonymous User on Beli

With the feature of tagging friends, liking, and commenting, users write and read reviews in relation to what’s going on in their personal lives. It becomes a way of updating friends because where they’re eating is indicative of what they’re doing in their day-to-day lives. The food becomes a backdrop for casual hangouts, solo dining experiences, travel stories, or important milestones.

Courtesy of an Anonymous User on Beli

Users have a space to write expressive and creative reviews that are both personal and constructive. Friends bond over shared food experiences, whether that’s through consensus or healthy debate. Beli reviews become an archive of the moment, capturing memories that are connected to culinary experiences. The reviews show more than recommendations, merging the reviewer’s personality and experiences with what they’re eating. Food reviews become a way of affirming relationships, memories, and storytelling. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, when you download the app and spend three hours cataloging every restaurant you’ve visited in the past few years by encyclopedically pinpointing the locations in your camera roll, you’ll understand.