Staff Blog
Testing: Distrito delivery from Grub Hub
posted by Adam Erace
Wednesday night, facing a combination of raptor-like hunger, restaurant fatigue and an empty fridge, I ordered dinner in. Was feeling pumpkin curry from Circles, always a good look (see November’s review), so I popped onto online ordering service Grub Hub, which I’d never used before but knew the good folks at Circles were tied into. There, my hunger was quickly replaced by wide-eyed awe at the number of restaurants hooked into GH’s delivery network. I entered my address and got the following reply: “We have 120 matches that offer delivery to you.”
The possibilities! A Butcher and Singer burger … Giwa bibimbop … Peking duck from Sang Kee … and my lazy ass wouldn’t even have to put pants on.
In the mood for Mexican, I settled on Distrito, downloaded Grub Hub’s idiot-proof app to my iPhone, created an account and placed an order with a few quick clicks. Each merchant has a varying delivery charge and minimum (Distrito’s is $6.99 and $15), and you can customize each selection with special instructions, say, extra chips with the crab guac or hold the spice on the shrimp ceviche. You get a total at check-out and can choose to pay cash or credit, with the option to add gratuity instead of fumbling around in your pockets when the deliveryman arrives.
I ordered at 6:15, and the Grub Hub app estimated dinner would arrive by ugh-I’d-need-a-snack 7:30. But then I got an email confirmation (this doubles as your receipt) clocking the ETA at 7:15. The doorbell rang at ten after — early! — and I was greeted by a collegey kid hauling the kind of gigantic duffel bag golf clubs and dismembered bodies are transported in. He unzipped the duffel, removed two pink plaid Distrito bags and bounced.
I unpacked dinner: tortilla soup, chicken enchilada, huitlacoche quesadilla, a strawberry/Cabrales/baby greens salad, Jose’s slammin’ esquites and the dynamite District chicken, miles of fried skin still hot and crispy. Everything properly labeled. Salsas, dressings, mojos all packed separately in little plastic cups and paper pint containers. Napkins and plastic airplane cutlery included. Everything was fresh and flavorful, not a sprig of microcilantro out of place. But that’s hardly the point. I had eaten Distrito for dinner, without having to go to Distrito. Sure beats greasy pizza.
Adam, welcome to the wonderful lazy world of grubhub! My favorite part about them is that if you have like, A dollar on you you can put the entire transaction (tip included) onto your card.
your dinner sounds like it was a treat, though I have yet to order from any of the nicer-ish places offered on grub hub.
I live in south philly but not TOO south but also not close to center city… wonder if distrito would deliver to me?
Distrito would deliver to you as they use a delivery service, hence the $6.99 deliver fee. The places that do their own deliver have much more modest deliver fees, but limited delivery areas.
Late night tip: DP Dough in West Philly delivers until 2:30 during the week and 3:30 on the weekends, they deliver all over town. Like to deep South Philly and up in North Philly. Delivery fee varies by how far, but is reasonable.
I’m so glad that GrubHub’s getting some recognition. When I lived in Chicago (where, I’m pretty sure, it was founded) it was a dependable stand-by when I didn’t know what I wanted … only that I didn’t want to go there to get it.