The key selling point of the Bookatable service is that it takes the hassle out of restaurant booking. It allows you to check availability and make a booking at any of the restaurants within its network via a simple online service. It covers more than 6,000 restaurants in 19 countries. Its underlying technology is powered by Livebookings, a service which helps restaurants manage their tables and take bookings online.
There are a number of competitors operating in the this space, including OpenTable, who recently launched their own mobile application for Nokia devices. However as a Euorpean based company Bookatable has better coverage than openTable in a number of European countries.
The Ovi Maps integration follow the familiar listing and action format seen in other services that have been integrated into Ovi Maps. The initial listings are location aware, so that, when you first open Bookatable, you'll see a list of restaurants closest to your current location. However, if you wish, you can specify a search parameter (place, restaurant name and cuisine).
Each restaurant has its own listing, which includes an illustrative image and description of the restaurant, along with address, cuisine, style and pricing details. Activating the 'glass of wine' (book) button on the screen takes you to the booking pages. The familiar 'maps' button shows the location of the restaurant in Ovi Maps.
On the booking screen you enter the number of people, type (lunch / dinner) and date to check availability. The service then returns the available times. To make a booking you choose one of the available time slots, enter some personal details (name, contact details) and hit the 'book this table' button.
Using the Bookatable service through Ovi Maps is a straight forward process and, for many, will be more convenient that trying to find a local restaurant and then ringing round to check availability and make a booking. Clearly its usefulness is directly proportional to the coverage in your local area; as you might expect, coverage is better in large metropolitan centres.
In terms of the implementation there is room for improvement though; we would like to see reviews integrated into the service, perhaps from one of Ovi Maps other partners, and clearer labelling used on the initial 'book button. The overall look and feels of the Bookatable integration is slightly clunky (e.g. poor spacing of UI elements and over-sized images), especially when compared to some of Ovi Maps other integrations (e.g. TripAdvisor).
In common with other Ovi Maps Extras services Bookatable is only available in select countries (presumably those supported by the service). You'll also need to be using version 3.03 or higher of Ovi Maps in order to access the service.