Community Corner

App Tells You Peninsula's 'Happiest', 'Top Coffee' Places Based on Instagram

Want to know where dog lovers go in your area? Best restaurants? This app has it all.

By Vanessa Castaneda

Who needs Disneyland? There's a new app that tells users where the happiest places are in many cities on the Peninsula, sans the mouse ears of course. And for a jolt of java, there's information for you as well.

The free Jetpac City Guides app offers "snapiness" ratings using Instagram to determine a city's top views, coffee houses, restaurants, bars, entertainment venues and more.

"We've analyzed every pixel of the world's Instgram photos to give you the real picture of fun places. We can spot hipster moustaches, lipstick, and the biggest smiles," says Jetpac in its app description.

In the app's work, the highest rated locations are places where image processing shows there are a lot of smiles in photos.

For instance, according to Jetpac, the six happiest places in Burlingame are:

1. Barrelhouse
2. Sahara Mediterranean Restaurant and Hookah
3. Kincaid's
4. El Torito
5. Steelhead Brewing Company
6. Yinyl Room

In South San Francisco, the five happiest places are:

1. Holiday Inn
2. Brentwood Bowl
3. Embassy Suites
4. San Francisco Basque Cultural Center
5. Bintang Badminton

In Foster City, the app doesn't mention the happiest places (no smiles in Foster City?) and instead gives us the six most Instagramed restaurants:

1. Chevy's Fresh Mex
2. Waterfront Pizza
3. Sweet Basil Thai
4. ABC Seafood
5. Soon's Tofu and Korean BBQ
6. Tokie's Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar

In Millbrae, the same thing happens, no mention of the happiest places. But though the smiles may be lacking in this northern Peninsula town, the sweets are not. Seven Best Sweet Tooth Spots in town?

1. Sweet Indulgences
2. Eggettes
3. Panera Bread
4. Nubi Youghurt
5. 100 Percent Healthy Dessert Cafe Inc.
6. Yumi Yogurt
7. Baskin-Robbins

In San Carlos, the top 5 Bars and Nightlife:

1. The Office Bar and Grill
2. Ale Arsenal
3. The Cask
4. Clooney's Pub
5. Orchid Room

And in Menlo Park, the three happiest places in town that people are snapping photos and uploading to Instagram?

1. Menlo Park Presbyterian Church
2. The Oasis Beer Garden
3. Tech Shop


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