These 4 Apps Will Make Your Dining-Out Experience AwesomeYou can pair the perfect wine, pay for your meal and more -- right from your phone.

ByKim Lachance Shandrow

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

储备|Evernote | Hello Vino | Breathometer

Despite usual dining etiquette, sometimes it's OK to play with your phone at the table, even when you're at a restaurant. Especially if you're using one of the cool, new apps specifically designed to enhance your dining out experience.

Whether you're looking to score a reservation at a hot new restaurant, to pair the perfect wine with your entrée,orto pay your bill with your phone, there's no shortage of apps on the menu to make eating out even more awesome.

Related:From Chipotle to Starbucks: 6 Chains That Do Mobile Apps Right

We sampled a few for you. Here's a mini-buffet of our favorites. Dig in.

1. Reserve

This isn't your average restaurant reservation app. The elegantly designed储备-- billed as an upscale "digital concierge service" -- secures dining reservations from a curated list of high-end partnered restaurants in a unique, new way.

Here's how it works: You tell Reserve the date and time you'd like to dine out. Then the app -- which specializes in wrangling seats at popular spots, Michelin-starred locales included -- recommends restaurants to you. Next, you tell Reserve which recommendations you like and it scores a reservation for you.

Related:Need a Beer? These Ballpark Apps Are Changing How You Get One

Reservations that you make and keep using the app have a $5 per-dining experience fee that is charged at the end of the meal. If you cancel the reservation, you aren't charged the fee. Reserve's customized recommendations come complete with menus, maps, reservation status updates and more.

Like competitor OpenTable, you can also use Reserve to pay your dining bill. Available on iOS devices only for now, the app stores your credit or debit card numbers and tipping preferences, then uses them to automatically pay the tab for you -- tax, tip and Reserve's $5 dining experience fee included. At the end of your meal, you can use the app to provide feedback on your overall dining experience.

Related:Overexposure to Food Ads Can Make You Lose Your Appetite

储备is available in Boston, Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco, with restaurants in additional cities coming aboard soon.

Price:Free to download. $5 per completed dining experience.

2. Evernote Food

Sometimes a meal is so delicious, you wish you could savor it forever. WithEvernote Foodon your iOS or Android device you can, virtually. The freshly updated food discovery and documentation tool from the popular organizational app maker helps you find top-rated restaurants near you, then digitally scrapbook the memorable meals you eat at them, all in one place.

For example, you can forever capture the memory of the mouth-puckering whole leaf kimchi you devour in Koreatown using Evernote Food's "My Meals" feature. It lets you quickly catalog standout meals, complete with your own smartphone pics, captions, keyword tags, notes and the restaurant location. Once a meal is entered in a few quick finger swipes, you can share it with your foodie friends direct from the app on Facebook, Twitter and via email.

Related:Now Evernote Wants to Help Organize Your Physical Life, Too

It's too bad the app doesn't post to Instagram orPinterest, where forn (food porn) rules.

Evernote Food also lets you store recipes, notes and pictures from meals you cooked at home, or anywhere. It also dishes up a robust library of gourmet recipes from popular food blogs around the web -- paleo, vegan and vegetarian dishes included.

Price:Free

3. Hello Vino

Now considered a vintage app (it first launched in 2009 and has aged to a fine version 4.8),Hello Vinoserves as your own, personal pocket sommelier. The iOS and Android wine recommendation app "for the rest of us" -- phew, not wine snobs -- tells you which wines pair best with which foods.

If you're out at dinner and at a loss for which vino to order with your duck à l'orange or your porterhouse steak, it's no sweat. In two or three swipes of Hello Vino, you'll know that the former couples nicely with pinot noir or Gewürztraminer,and the latter with syrah or tempranillo. You'll pair like a pro in no time.

Related:Would You Buy a $39,700 Bottle of Wine? Someone Did.

Bonus:Should you indulge in the fermented stuff a little too much, Hello Vino can even hook you up with a ride home via Uber.

Price:Free

4. Breeze Bluetooth breathalyzer

Speaking of tipping back a few while dining out, it's best to be 100 percent sure you're sober enough to drive before you get behind the wheel. That's where aBreezeBluetooth breathalyzer comes in handy, and might even be a lifesaver. The latest clever gadget-appcombo fromShark TanksuccessBreathometerturns your iOS or Android device into a DIY breathalyzer.

To decipher your blood-alcohol (BAC) level, you plug Breathometer's OREO cookie-sized plastic Breeze breathalyzer unit into your smartphone or tablet and blow into it. The device measures your BAC level and communicates it to a Bluetooth-paired Breathometer companion app.

Related:Hold the Rocks: This Digital Stick Concept Chills Cocktails Without Ice

If you blow higher than .08 BAC, the app makes a "get home safe" screen appear on your mobile device. When you've had too much, the app gives you the option search local Yelp listings for a cab, reserve an Uber ride or contact a friend for a lift.

The Breathometer app also tells you approximately when you'll be back down to zero BAC. Until you are, it offers you a list of hotels and other places that are within walking distance to wait it out.

Price:$99 for the Breeze unit; free for the companion app.

Related:A 'Smart' Cup That Knows What You're Drinking -- And Counts The Calories

Correction:A previous version of this article misstated how Reserve's charges customers. The app collects a $5 dining experience fee.

Wavy Line
Kim Lachance Shandrow

Former West Coast Editor

金物山德罗是前西海岸editor at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was a commerce columnist atLos Angeles CityBeat,a news producer at MSNBC and KNBC in Los Angeles and a frequent contributor to theLos Angeles Times. She has also written forGovernment Technologymagazine,LA Yogamagazine, theLowell Sunnewspaper, HealthCentral.com, PsychCentral.com and the former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Coop. Follow her on Twitter at@Lashandrow. You can also follow her on Facebookhere.

Editor's Pick

Related Topics

Business News

What Is a 'Lazy Girl Job'? New TikTok Trend Empowers Women to Work However They Want

The trend began as a way for women to find more free time during their days.

Devices

This Versatile MacBook Is Only $299.97 During the Back-to-School Sale

Fid out how to get a MacBook Air that's sleek, portable, and reliable for a great price.

Science & Technology

5 Tech Tools To Make You the Envy of Coworkers and Neighbors All Summer

From a self-correcting selfie camera to an cooler that doesn't need ice.

Thought Leaders

I Pitched 300 People a Day For 1 Year — and Learned This Impactful Entrepreneurial Lesson

After working myself to the bone pitching 300 people each day for one year, I came out of that experience as a new man — but surprisingly, an unhappier one. Here's what I learned.

Business Ideas

The Top 10 Home Business Ideas for 2023

Can't figure out which enterprise you should launch in 2023? Check out 10 stellar home business ideas to get inspiration.