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Uber Eats review: offerings on new app prove to be mediocre

Food delivery service expands into Charlottesville area

<p>Uber Eats is available through an app on your phone.</p>

Uber Eats is available through an app on your phone.

Uber Eats now makes it easier and more convenient to have food from local restaurants delivered right to your front door. Its recent expansion includes the addition of the Charlottesville area.

The popularity of Uber as a method of transportation has now been extended to food delivery services. This latest addition to Uber was very exciting to hear as a first year because of the lack of appetizing choices I am left with at the dining halls. Riding the bus to Barracks or the Corner can be quite time consuming and not many restaurants offer delivery service, so Uber Eats is a good option.

The app itself is straightforward and easy to use. It automatically connects your Uber account so there is no need to set up credit card information or account settings twice. The app lays out the food in different categories depending on the type of cuisine that you’re in the mood for. Categories include burgers, pizza, salad, Mexican food, juices/smoothies, dessert, etc. There is something for everyone.

However, while it does offer a wide variety of different cuisine choices, the number of restaurants in each category was rather disappointing. I thought maybe Zinburger, Brixx or Zoës Kitchen would be available, but they were not. There are only a few restaurants under each label so the selection was limiting when making a decision on where to order from. This lack of options is most likely due to the recent addition of Uber Eats and hopefully more restaurants will be included as popularity for the service increases. 

I decided to order a small pizza from Fabio’s NY Pizza to test the Uber Eats service out. The price of the pizza was $10.49, with an added $5 service fee for delivery. I think this was a bit high for delivery considering the fee for similar delivery services such as Papa John’s is only $3. There is a discount code offered through the app, but in order for it to work it must be shared with friends. However, discount codes are available online that help bring down the delivery fee cost.

After submitting my order at 6:43 p.m., I was given an estimated delivery time of 7:24 p.m. Throughout my wait time I was able to track the progress of my order from its reception, completion and delivery. Similar to the Uber app, it told me who the driver was and his rating. The delivery time of 7:24 p.m. was extended to 7:32 p.m. due to my driver having to deliver other orders as well. 

Ordering directly from a pizza store would probably have offered faster results. Also, due to the extended delivery time, my pizza was more lukewarm than hot. But overall, it tasted very good.

Uber Eats is definitely a good choice if you’re looking for restaurants that don’t offer delivery on their own. However, I’m not sure if the selection currently available is worth getting too excited over. Unless you’re studying hard for a test or the weather outside is gross, it may actually be worth going to the restaurants instead in order to have quicker service and warmer food.

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