where to eat in Pretoria?

jacaranda city. indecision capital. Karen has opinions about both.

justpick in Pretoria Karen explains, reluctantly

Pretoria has a habit of eating in the same three places because nobody has the energy to suggest a fourth. justpick is the fourth suggestion. Tell it where you are in Tshwane, pick go out or stay in, and swipe through what Google knows is open around you.

It works just as well for a student lunch in Hatfield as for a birthday dinner in the east. Pick a budget, pick a cuisine or six, say what you will not eat, and the list narrows to things you can actually agree on.

pick for me in Pretoria

free. no sign-up. type your suburb on the next screen. Karen does the rest.

areas to type in real places. Karen checked.

justpick doesn’t keep its own list of Pretoria restaurants. Karen refuses to play favourites. It searches around whatever area you give it, so the more specific you are, the better the deck. A few you could start with, if you’re capable of starting:

Tip for Pretoria: if you are in Centurion, say so. It has its own page and its own restaurants, and Karen hates driving over the N1 for no reason.

you have eaten at the same place three Fridays running. Karen noticed.

how it works here five steps. you can manage five.

  1. Say where you are. Type a suburb or street in Pretoria, or tap “use my location” and let your phone snitch to Karen. Your location is only used for this search and isn’t stored. She’s nosy, not creepy.
  2. Go Out or Stay In. Go Out shows restaurants you can sit down in, on real chairs, in real shoes. Stay In looks at delivery and hands you over to Mr D Food or Uber Eats to order. Pyjamas optional.
  3. Set a budget. Chilled is under R150 a person, Lekker is R150 to R300 a person, Full Send is R300+ a person. Karen doesn’t judge. (She judges.)
  4. Pick cravings and dealbreakers. One cuisine or several, plus anything you flat-out refuse to eat. Karen respects a hard no.
  5. Swipe. Right to keep, left to skip. Each card shows the photo, Google rating, distance and whether it’s open. Tap for directions. Stop at the first one that makes your stomach growl.

Try this in Pretoria: Hatfield, Chilled, Burgers and Pizza. Then swipe until something makes you hungry, or until Karen loses patience. Whichever comes first. (It’s Karen.)

cuisines and dealbreakers she has a comment for every one

Thirteen cuisines to choose from. That’s thirteen more than you managed on your own:

And the dealbreakers, which take places out of the deck instead of adding them. Every group has one person who lives in this section:

Can’t face any of it? WTF Mode picks go out or stay in, the budget and the cuisine for you, then serves up restaurants. You just eat. Honestly, Karen’s favourite button.

Karen, unprompted nobody asked. she’s saying it anyway.

Bokke on the telly, braai going, the whole street in green and gold, and afterwards still nobody knows what’s for supper. Karen does. She’s been ready since kick-off.

In spring the jacarandas drop purple on everything, like someone at wizard school sneezed mid-spell. Very pretty. Still doesn’t pick dinner.

what Karen won’t pretend she has standards. a few.

Restaurants, photos, ratings and opening hours come live from Google Places when you search. justpick doesn’t rank Pretoria’s “best” restaurants, doesn’t take payment to show a place, and doesn’t run ads. Karen can’t be bought, and she’s offended you wondered. If a place is missing or out of date, it is missing or out of date on Google too. Take it up with them. Politely.

you’ve read enough. go eat.

let’s pick already

Karen is waiting. she’s not patient. she was never patient.

other cities she gets around. the whole country is her playground.