Restaurant Ratings and Reviews have been popular for some time now, but the new TripAdvisor iPhone app, LocalPicks makes it easy for diners to post reviews and even include a photo before they even leave the restaurant.

Consumer-generated mobile restaurant reviews will become an important marketing tool for restauranteurs in 2010.  Are you ready?

To refresh your memory, I’ve written about handheld review apps with Goodrec back in February,  and the free LocalPicks app when it first appeared in the iTunes store in July 2008.  I rely on this handy app to find decent places to eat whenever I’m traveling.  The user-generated review community at TripAdvisor hasn’t steared me wrong yet (although I’m sure I’ve missed out on some good places that have gotten lousy reviews by Tripadvisor diners).

What’s New and Interesting in LocalPicks by TripAdvisor

The new version of TripAdvisor’s LocalPicks app provides a filter of nearby restaurant suggestions based on user reviews, cuisine style, distance and price so I can suss out the best options for me and my growling tummy.

And of course each restaurant listing features restaurant phone number, so with I click I can dial and make reservations.  I can even get directions and use the built-in gps to navigate my way to the maître d’.

The Little Button that Changes Everything

While some applications like Goodrec have given diners the opportunity to make restaurant reviews on their iPhone before now, these apps had little chance to make an impact without dropping the reviews into the well-known, well-populated  TripAdvisor database.   The “Write a Review” button on the latest version of TripAdvisor’s LocalPicks app feeds handheld user reviews directly into TripAdvisor’s already burgeoning ecosystem of Traveler-generated reviews.

Writing Reviews on LocalPicks is possible right in the Restaurant

Like the TripAdvisor Website, the app gives users a variety of categories to rate restaurants including overall, food, service, value, atmosphere and the opportunity to answer a simple yet vital Yes/No question: Would you recommend this restaurant to a friend?

App users can even upload a photo from the restaurant.

Can you feel the power shifting to the consumer?

Are you excited or anxious now that your restaurant guests have the ability to rate or review your restaurant in the power of their hand?

As a consumer, the new power excites me.  As a tourism operator, the new power excites me even more!  As a restauranteur, you can choose to be threatened by this new wrinkle in the power of social handheld media or you can rise to the challenge and benefit from it by encouraging reviews by your patrons while they are still in your restaurant.

How your restaurant can benefit from the emergence of handheld ratings and reviews:

• Provide great service, serve great food and deliver value for money.  Educate waitstaff and kitchen staff that their job security may truly be in the hands of your patrons.
• Listen to the reviews and stories told by patrons and adjust your products, services when they aren’t up to guest standards.
• Leave a note on your receipts encouraging folks to leave a review.  Have your servers be on the lookout for handheld toting guests and offer an invitation to review your restaurant.
• Encourage regulars to take a moment to tell others about your restaurant on TripAdvisor – even if they do it from home, the reviews will show up for others who rely on TripAdvisor for advice.
• Offer bonuses to wait staff who succeed in encouraging their dinner guests to leave reviews.
• Print business cards with links to TripAdvisor or other relevant review sites your clients use.
• Create a community of caring customers by becoming social on sites like Twitter and Facebook.
• Print your Twitter handle on your receipts – and provide special value to your fans.
• If you are a DMO, CVB or other agency that supports tourism in your region, help your restauranteurs to understand the new power of the handheld consumer to influence their business.  Get them excited about offering great service.

The opening of Apple’s app store for iPhone is only a little over a year old and it has taken a bit of time for applications to catch up to the promise of the “Here and Now Handheld Web” – now that it’s here, all marketing is social.

What do you think? Will mobile ratings and reviews be as big as I think they will be in 2010?