Ever wonder what you should order when looking at a menu? Now there’s an iPhone app to help you decide. Forkly is a new app that’s designed for foodies worldwide. With this app you can find food recommendations based upon other user reviews, rate a dish, find a restaurant near you, and follow other foodies in your area.

The premise behind Forkly is a great one, though this reviewer isn’t sure how well the app will work. Since Forkly hooks up with your Twitter account (you must have a Twitter account to use this app), it may be hard for some people to find friends through the app (more on this later). Then again, Forkly is a new app that’s bound to gain more followers as the word spreads.

How Forkly Works

After downloading the app, you will be faced with a number of options. Selecting the “Discover” button should provide you with a list of restaurants near you. Unfortunately, when I choose this option, I was presented with a list of all retail outlets near me – including clothing stores and other retail spots. Discovering a new restaurant will work if you know the area that you are currently in. If not, you might be tempted to try out the new “Nissan” restaurant only to discover that it’s actually a car dealership, but I digress.

If you do find a restaurant that looks appealing, Forkly will provide you with that restaurant’s address in addition to a handy map. Using your current location, the app will help you find that restaurant. If a Forkly user has visited the restaurant before you, menu suggestions may appear. If not, you can add your own suggestions. You can also select the “Want to Go Here” option.

Notifications

Forkly really shines thanks to the innovative notifications that are part of this app. When selecting the “Want to Go Here” option, your selection will be saved. Then, the next time that you are near a restaurant location, the Forkly app will let you know that a place you want to try is just around the corner. This feature is especially helpful if you live in a very large city.

The location feature would be even better if you could search for spots outside of your current location. For example, if I wanted to add a few restaurants in New York City that I want to try to the app, it would be nice if I could search for these places, and then choose the “Want to Go Here” option. This way, the next time I’m in New York City, I can find out when I’m near a desired dining spot. At the time of this writing, it’s not possible to search for a location outside of your current area.

You can, however, search for certain keywords. For instance, I can search for “fries” in my current city, and a list of places that include the word “fries” in the name of a restaurant will pop up. This is helpful, but maybe not as helpful as allowing users to search for restaurants in other areas. It is also possible to expand your current location radius to search for good eats outside of your immediate location.

The Twitter Connection

Forkly works by connecting to your Twitter account. After entering your Twitter name and password, this app will look for fellow Twitter followers that use Forkly. Since this app is new, you may not have a large number of people who you can connect with. If you do find that many of your followers use Forkly, you can read about recent restaurant reviews by looking at your Forkly stream. For all intensive purposes, Forkly is a cool app – though it is also an app that needs to expand a bit before it can be used regularly.