As someone living with a chronic illness in a big city in 2017, I’ve used almost every food delivery service that’s available to me. Living in West Seattle, which is apparently no-mans-land, I’m somewhat limited to what restaurants deliver to my house because I live soooooo far away (seriously it’s like 10 miles but everyone hates West Seattle). Tonight, I tried Caviar food delivery for the first time to order from one of Seattle’s most popular fusion Japanese restaurants, Japonessa.
So far, the food delivery app UberEats (use code eats-rebeccas1576 for $10 off your first order) is the only delivery service that has satisfied my apparently high standards.
What I Want In A Food Delivery App
1. Healthy food options: i.e. not all fast food
2. A good user experience when I order
3. Updates to know when my food will arrive
4. For my food to be exactly how I wanted it when it does arrive
The ordering process was easy and efficient–I put my address in and searched for the kind of food I wanted (sushiiii). Like most ecommerce and food delivery sites, the product images display each menu item as they’re prepared, but this is where Caviar really shines—this is the best food photography I’ve seen on a food delivery site.
Each item is beautifully plated and photographed with a short description and price. when you hover over a menu item, the box displays “Add to Cart” which is an excellent user experience–it doesn’t distract me or busy the page with buttons or extra details.
A pop-up window appears confirm your dish and add a side of rice or miso soup. This page on my desktop makes you scroll allllll the way down to add the item to your cart, which is a little annoying cuz I just want my damn sushi, but that’s okay, my fingers need the exercise.
Once I ordered my food, they show an approximate map of my house and the status of my food delivery, somewhat like tracking a package.
I received four emails from Caviar from the time I ordered to the time my food arrived: 6:10pm: Order confirmation
6:33pm: Caviar emails me to me know my food was “taking a bit longer than anticipated”. Nice touch.
6:56pm: Caviar emails me to let me know my food is on its way.
7:17pm: Caviar emails me to say that my food was delivered (it was!).
Okay, Enough About Tech… Let’s Talk Food
My food was delivered by a gentleman who was carrying a GIANT ORANGE INSULATED BAG. Seriously, the largest bag I’ve ever seen. He walked up to the door, right by my husband who was working outside–I assume he figured my husbands name wasn’t “Rebecca”. He put his giant orange bag down and unzipped his treasure chest to reveal my sushi out of a paper bag. Not quite a “restaurant experience,” but I’ve eaten bugs on the side of a road in Thailand so who needs a restaurant?
Look how good this looks:
I ordered Japonessa’s Spicy Redhead Roll and Chef’s Choice 14-Piece Nigiri. The nigiri had that sitting-at-the-sushi-bar melt-in-your-mouth freshness and I was pleasantly surprised that they included my favorite, Salmon Roe (Ikura). The roll had a heaping supply of fish roe on top, and was the best delivery sushi roll I’ve had. The rice was dense but moist, the fish was tender but firm. Sooo… all in all, Japonessa delivery was delicious.
Bottom line: Caviar food delivery doesn’t just deliver—they exceeded my expectations. I will definitely order from Caviar again, especially if it’s for sushi.
And, cuz referral programs are awesome:
Becca Risa Luna 