Diningverse is a new website, created in Erie, that helps you find great, local places to eat – not just in Erie but in cities around the world. You should definitely check it out if you’re looking for a good, not-a-chain local restaurant and a good meal. Here’s Oto.

Have you ever asked a friend if they know a good place to eat? Sure, we all have.

You are obviously a seasoned Internet user (you are here reading this blog post so you know your way around the Web). Why not look at one of those restaurant review/rating sites?

My guess is that we don’t put much value on the opinions of strangers. You have no way of knowing whether this stranger has any clue about what comprises a good meal, what in your opinion is a good dinner service or whether a negative review was sparked by a clumsy waiter spilling a glass of water in the stranger’s lap.

Now that we have established that traditional restaurant review sites in general are not very useful, let’s get back to the reason you’d rather ask your friend. You ask your friends because you likely have similar tastes. You value their opinions and let them know when you disagree.

So, let’s assume that you received a recommendation from your friend and now you have a restaurant name and vague idea of where it is located. Wouldn’t it be great to take a quick look at the menu? Wouldn’t it be nice to know a little bit about the history of the place and browse through a few pictures; maybe get an idea of what to expect when you get there?

Guess what, you’re in luck! This is pretty much what diningverse is all about.

Site visitors (a.k.a. diningverse patrons) can recommend local, independently owned restaurants (example). The recommendation is automatically distributed via a quick and short E-mail message to all their friends (a.k.a. diningverse buddies). The recommendations can also be accessed at any time through the profile of each diningverse patron so you can check out all the restaurants your friends like at any time. See, you don’t even need to ask anymore; just browse over any diningverse patron profile and you’ll see all the restaurants recommended by that patron!

But wait, there is more.

Most of the restaurant profiles on diningverse are actually maintained directly by the restaurant owners and restaurant mangers. This means up to date information about the restaurant including location (mapped out with driving directions), hours, full menus, specials, multiple photo albums and contact form.

No Clutter and advertising banners…just the restaurant information, presented in user friendly format. You can even check it out using your iPhone or BlackBerry. The restaurant profiles work great on mobile phones and handhelds.

So what are you waiting for? It’s a tasty world out there … discover it with diningverse. Go ahead and create your own diningverse patron profile and start recommending restaurants to your friends (you can easily invite your friends to come to diningverse and become your diningverse buddies). If you would like to recommend a restaurant to your diningverse buddies but can’t find it on diningverse, simply suggest it and diningverse will add a basic restaurant profile where you can post your recommendation.

We’d like to hear what you think about this new site so post your comments here or directly on our blog.