When Flavour sang, “Better food, na money kill am,” he knew what he was doing, and I’m sure he didn’t mean the song only in the confines of man and woman but on actual Foood! How do I know this? My father decided to bring us home again for another holiday, and being the adventurous person that I am, especially with food, I just knew that spending my Easter holiday in Nigeria couldn’t be spent indoors again, and I’m glad I made that decision. Now that I’m back in the US, I can look back and say this was the best decision I made, although it could have been better because of the unnecessary shege I experienced before finally discovering a dining reservation app ‘Reisty’ which could have been totally avoided.
Of course, as the Explorer that I am, I explored Lagos alone at first which I immediately regretted. For a home buddy, you would almost think you are self-sufficient, too much consumption of lifestyle Instagram content made me feel like one of those creators, and so I took my phone stand, airpods and decided to venture into Lagos, totally forgetting how Lagosians took advantage of IJGBs (I just got back from the diaspora, usually for the holidays) and generally people who are new in places and embarked on a Lagos adventure.
As if being mugged wasn’t enough, my meals didn’t taste like they looked. Great ambiance but terrible food! But if you know me by now, I don’t give up; visions of bustling markets, vibrant nightlife, and delicious food danced in my head. The best meal I had will only get 4/10 in my books. But the resilient person in me doesn’t give up, so, we movee.
I went on Google and did a bunch of searches on the best restaurants in Lagos and the best reservation apps similar to opentable in Lagos (Opentable is a reservation application I use to book tables in the US) to ensure I had more than enough options. Of course, I saw a couple but something about Reisty lulled me in. I’ve always been a sucker for good-looking stuff and Reisty stood out for me. Installing the app was a breeze, I set up an account and my Reisty login was simple. Guess who saw a whole 2000 naira in their wallet? Meee! Thumbs up to Reisty for whoever came up with that genius idea.
Perusing the restaurants was something I enjoyed doing because each restaurant profile had all the answers I needed, from menus to clear photos of the restaurant to the location and even genuine reviews from people who had visited the restaurant. The creativity of the Reisty app is one I love to experience over and over again. Lagosians, you really don’t know what this online dining reservation app has done for you until you try it.
I tried the first restaurant with about 50% enthusiasm, because once bitten twice shy, and I’ll give them 100/100. The first restaurant I decided to try out was Mantra Lagos. I have heard a lot about this restaurant especially since I had a hidden interest in Indian culture and it looked like the perfect spot. It was so good, the ambiance, the food, and just everything was top-notch!
By the second restaurant, my excitement level had risen to 70% because I didn’t want to serve myself breakfast before the real breakfast. The expectation was surpassed, and now, I have 100% confidence in any restaurant on the Reisty app.
One thing I particularly love about Reisty is, it has no bad restaurants. Reisty had the right restaurants with great ambiance and even more fantastic food. Because of the shege I had seen, my first intention was to drag Reisty and the restaurants they had on blogs for their inconsistency, but I couldn’t because of the excellence at which everything went. The seamless location of restaurants made identifying restaurants, viewing menus, booking seats, and ordering food a breeze.
Restaurants are segmented based on categories, making it easy to explore restaurants that suited my vibes, from rooftops to restaurants with ocean views to Indian and many other categories
The foodie in me has been upgraded because this adventure was top-notch. At this point, Reisty needs to employ me as their US-Nigerian ambassador because all my friends and family have downloaded the app.
To be very honest, whoever created the Reisty app had me in mind because my Lagos adventure went from potentially stressful to absolutely fantastic. I also got a free 2k in my Reisty wallet, so it was a win-win for me. I explored hidden corners of the city, experienced authentic Lagos culture, and, most importantly, had a blast doing it.
To my fellow IJGBs, listen up! If you’re planning a Lagos adventure, just download the Reisty app from your app store, or playstore. You’ll definitely thank me later. Lagosians, I would also advice that you don’t sleep on this because it takes your outside game from zero to 100. Take this from a US resident.
