Waitr is a Louisiana-based food delivery service that promises to help you discover, order, and eat great local food. Read our Waitr review to find out if it’s the right service for you.
What is Waitr Food Delivery?
Waitr Food Delivery, found online at WaitrApp.com, is a food delivery company that offers a large menu of meals available for delivery or carryout. The company lets you browse local restaurants, customize your order, and track your food in real time.
Today, Waitr Food Delivery is available in a small number of cities across the United States. The company is headquartered in Lake Charles, Louisiana, so most of the company’s locations are across the South – although they recently expanded to Sacramento, California.
Waitr recently made headlines in March 2017 for receiving a $10 million investment from a group of investors – including New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees. Brees first discovered Waitr through one of his Crescent City restaurants. Many industry analysts were surprised to see an investment this large outside of Silicon Valley, and described the investment as “rare”.
In a press release, Brees stated that,
“Waitr’s commitment to growth from its Louisiana roots has added hundreds of quality tech jobs to the Gulf South economy. When we launch a new city, it brings jobs and a positive impact to our restaurant partners and the community.”
The company launched its service in 2015. It’s available today through an iOS or Android mobile app.
How Does Waitr Food Delivery Work?
Waitr makes it easy to order food through their Android or iOS mobile app. With the Waitr app, you can browse through a selection of local dishes from local restaurants. The app is very much a picture-based experience: each food comes with a high-resolution image of that food. The interface looks more like Instagram than a food delivery app. If you’re a visual person, and you like to look at pictures of food before you buy it (who doesn’t?) then that’s a good thing.
You tap on the food you want to order. From the next page, you’ll be able to read a description of the food. You’ll also be able to customize your food based on different options – if you choose a cheeseburger for $5.99, for example, then you can choose to make it a combo for $8.99, or add bacon and avocado for $1 each.
Then, you can choose whether you want to pick up the food at a local restaurant or have it delivered to your address. Delivery is based on a flat fee – or you can carryout your meal for free. There’s no minimum purchase amount required. The company claims to have partnered with 1,000 restaurants across its service area.
Some of the key advantages Waitr promises over other food delivery services include:
- Local food delivered from your favorite local restaurants
- More variety, including delivery from places that don’t normally deliver
- Pay a flat fee for a delivery, or pick it up from a restaurant for no extra charge
- More photos, so you know exactly what you’re ordering
- Schedule a food delivery for a later time
Let’s say there’s a great Lebanese food place in your town, but they don’t deliver. Waitr might partner with that restaurant, add them to the app, then allow users to order food through the app. Users can choose to have the food delivered to their address by a Waitr delivery person. Or, you can go to the restaurant yourself to pick it up.
Where is Waitr Food Delivery Available?
Waitr’s service area covers 18 cities across the United States as of March 2017. The recent $10 million investment from Drew Brees and others will be used to expand the service area to more than 40 cities. Today, the company has a particularly strong presence in New Orleans and Houston. Here’s the full list of service areas:
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- Houston, Texas
- Roseville, California
- Shreveport, Louisiana
- Beaumont, Texas
- Hoover, Alabama
- Cypress, Texas
- Sacramento, California
- Lake Charles, Louisiana
You can view a full list of locations online, including any recently-added cities, at https://waitrapp.com/
Waitr Food Delivery Reviews: What Do Users Have to Say?
Waitr currently has an average rating of 3.7 stars out of 5 on the Google Play Store. The vast majority of reviews are either 5 star reviews (418 reviews in total) or 1 star reviews (165 reviews in total). The app’s description page claims it’s used by over 100,000 people. Some of the pros and cons include:
Pros
- A great way to deliver affordably-priced food to your door, or to pick it up at a local restaurant
- Convenient way to order from local restaurants instead of using the phone
- It’s a food delivery service based in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, while most other food delivery services are based in California
- High-resolution photos of food before you buy
- Strong customer service; some customers have complained they had small problems with their order, but were personally contacted by the company to come up with a resolution
Cons
- Some customers report that the app doesn’t load on their devices
A large number of the 1 star reviews for Waitr are based on the fact that they installed the device, but it never loaded. Few people seem to be complaining about the actual service, food quality, or delivery. Once the company works out the kinks on its Android app, its rating should go up. As mentioned above, there are more 5 star reviews than anything else.
Should You Use Waitr Food Delivery?
Today, most food delivery services concentrate in major metro areas like New York, Los Angeles, or the Bay Area. Waitr is based in Lakes Charles, Louisiana, and it has a strong presence across the Gulf Coast – including in both New Orleans and Houston. Thecoma has partnered with over 1,000 local restaurants. Using Waitr, you can get delivery service from restaurants that wouldn’t normally deliver.
The app just received $10 million in funding from Drew Brees and other investors. The company plans to use that money to continue expanding across America. Right now, they’re located in about 20 cities, and they’re hoping to double that number in the near future.
