How to save restaurant recommendations from friends
Someone at dinner says you have to try a place. A week later you remember there was a place, and nothing else. Here is how to keep it.
Why the usual ways fall apart
Most of us keep restaurant recs in a notes app, a screenshot, a starred map pin or the bottom of a group chat. Each one loses the part that made the rec worth having: who told you and what to order. A pin says where. It does not say that Jess, who never oversells, said to get the calzone and go early because it is cash only.
They also scatter. Three friends mention the same spot over a year, and you never notice it is the most recommended place you know.
Save it in the moment, in your own words
The best time to save a rec is while the person is still talking. With Passa you text it to 855-94-PASSA, the way you would text a friend: “Lucali in Carroll Gardens, from Jess, get the calzone.” Or tap Save a rec on your list and type the same thing. No app to download, no form to fill in.
Three details make a rec useful later: the name, who told you, and one tip. Add the neighborhood or city if you know it, so the map looks in the right place.
Let it sort itself
Passa puts the restaurant on your Restaurants shelf with the friend’s name and your note. When another friend mentions the same place, it joins the same rec, and the places more than one friend loves come first when you pick where to go.
Find it the night you need it
When it is time to pick, text “restaurants” and the list comes back, or open Tonight on your list. It puts what your friends recommended most first, will pick one for you, and gives you a map and a way to book a table.
Pass it on
When someone asks you for a good place, send it from your list. They get the name, the note and the map, and can keep it on a list of their own. That is how good recs keep moving.
It works the same for shows, barbers, books and bars. See what you can text for more examples.