Urbanspoon: Shake And Half Baked When It Comes To Anacostia/SE
Consider this a PSA (Public Southeast Announcement).
The Advoc8te advises you NOT to use the "Shake" feature on Urbanspoon if you are looking for dining options in a River East neighborhood. It seems that the highly popular app has made the highly popular mistake of assuming Anacostia = Southeast. I found out the hard way that the "Shake" feature was about as helpful as an empty saltshaker when looking for places to eat in my Congress Heights neighborhood.
Urbanspoon currently lumps all dining options East of the River under the massive (and incorrect) "Anacostia/Southeast" heading. For those of you still not in the know, Anacostia is a neighborhood in Ward 8. Anacostia does not include all lands East of the Anacostia River. Anacostia is awesome but at last check it hasn't risen to kingdom status yet.
According to Urbanspoon, the very popular and very yummy Ray's The Steaks is listed under the Anacostia/Southeast heading although the restaurant is NOT located in Anacostia. (sigh) To add insult to injury, Ray's isn't even located in Ward 8, or the Southeast quadrant. (double sigh) If you recall, this isn't the first time Ray's has been mistakenly attributed to Anacostia. (triple sigh)
To be fair, it's not the end of the world. No one's going to die in search of sweet potato fries and you can still use the "Nearby" function but it's more than a little frustrating (and frankly embarrassing) that in a city as visible and traveled as Washington, D.C., so little regard is paid to accurately identifying East of the River neighborhoods. Urbanspoon is not alone. At this very moment Congress Heights on the Rise is listed on a media directory as an "Anacostia" blog because there no "Congress Heights" option. We are making progress but sometimes it is measured in baby steps.
We have got to do better folks. Shortcuts are not cutting it anymore.
In case you are wondering, I counted 83 neighborhood/city/street designations for the Washington metro area. The only designation for East of the River was the "Anacostia/Southeast" category.
Now go out there and enjoy a meal in one of the many East of the River neighborhoods!
The Advoc8te advises you NOT to use the "Shake" feature on Urbanspoon if you are looking for dining options in a River East neighborhood. It seems that the highly popular app has made the highly popular mistake of assuming Anacostia = Southeast. I found out the hard way that the "Shake" feature was about as helpful as an empty saltshaker when looking for places to eat in my Congress Heights neighborhood.
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| You won't find Wahsing in Anacostia |
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| Not all social media is created equal |
According to Urbanspoon, the very popular and very yummy Ray's The Steaks is listed under the Anacostia/Southeast heading although the restaurant is NOT located in Anacostia. (sigh) To add insult to injury, Ray's isn't even located in Ward 8, or the Southeast quadrant. (double sigh) If you recall, this isn't the first time Ray's has been mistakenly attributed to Anacostia. (triple sigh)
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| NOT Anacostia and NOT Southeast |
To be fair, it's not the end of the world. No one's going to die in search of sweet potato fries and you can still use the "Nearby" function but it's more than a little frustrating (and frankly embarrassing) that in a city as visible and traveled as Washington, D.C., so little regard is paid to accurately identifying East of the River neighborhoods. Urbanspoon is not alone. At this very moment Congress Heights on the Rise is listed on a media directory as an "Anacostia" blog because there no "Congress Heights" option. We are making progress but sometimes it is measured in baby steps.
We have got to do better folks. Shortcuts are not cutting it anymore.
In case you are wondering, I counted 83 neighborhood/city/street designations for the Washington metro area. The only designation for East of the River was the "Anacostia/Southeast" category.
Now go out there and enjoy a meal in one of the many East of the River neighborhoods!
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