Dish Freely helps gluten-free eaters find places to dine

Gluten-free dining is becoming a popular choice amongst dieters, but for some people it’s an absolute necessity. For the 3% of people with a known gluten intolerance and others who avoid gluten for different reasons, finding restaurants with gluten-free dishes is difficult if not impossible. A new niche iOS app from Grande Labs is designed to help with that — and it’s the first app that uses foursquare’s new menu data in unique ways.

Dish Freely (free) helps users to search for nearby restaurants where gluten-free dishes have been identified, either from the developers or the community. There are two ways to search: either by restaurants with gluten-free dishes, or by the dishes themselves. Filters let you see the most popular dishes, the newest or the closest.

When users find a gluten-free dish that’s not already listed, they can add it to the app (with an optional photo) and rate it, making it easy for other users to find. For restaurants that have their menus on foursquare, marking the gluten-free dishes is as simple as tapping a button next to them on the menu. Other dishes can be added manually, but the foursquare menu data makes the process much faster.

Once you rate a dish within the app, you have the option to check in on foursquare.

For non gluten-free eaters, a sister app, Eat Freely, is coming soon. It will allow users to search for and share reviews of specific dishes, again using foursquare’s menu data as a base.

While Dish Freely is built for a very niche audience, Dish Freely is a beautifully designed app. The developers have paid great attention to the details and made it easy to use. The unique way they’re using foursquare’s menu data is just one of those helpful details.

If you’re a gluten-free eater, give Dish Freely a try and let us know what you think in the comments.