Use Google to beat the crowds to your favorite Baton Rouge restaurants

Diners inside the Velvet Cactus. Photo by Amy Shutt

It’s a question we always ask ourselves before heading out to a new restaurant or café: Is it going to be packed?

Much the way Google Maps uses phone location data to show traffic backups on roads, the same technology is making it easier to see when the crowds are packing into your favorite food joints, bars, venues and other businesses.

In late July, Google rolled out the feature, which works through Google Search. Open up the browser on your phone and search a local business—a favorite that always has you fretting over lines or crowds, like Magpie Café. At the top of the search, Google already defaults to a slide showing you the basics on the business, such as the address, when it’s open, the website and reviews. Hit the drop-down arrow for more, and now you can see a graph showing hour-by-hour the busiest times of each day.

For Magpie, it shows that 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. are its busiest times on Fridays. Get there right before lunch, though, and you’ll have your pick of the best table to enjoy a coffee and maybe even get first dibs on one of their tasty street bowls, crowds be damned.