Visitors to Palo Alto Online, the Palo Alto Weekly's community Web site, can now rate local restaurants and access reviews written by both professional and amateur reviewers from across the Internet.

The new feature, which can be found here, has been developed by a Palo Alto start-up company called BooRah, which plans to eventually roll out the system nationally.

According to Palo Alto Online director Lisa Van Dusen, the popularity of the Weekly's existing restaurant reviews, which will continue, and the Weekly's commitment to greater reader engagement led to choosing restaurants for a collaborative partnership with BooRah.

"This is cutting-edge stuff," Van Dusen said of the new system. "We're the test bed for this service, which will greatly enhance the usefulness of our extensive online restaurant information."

The name says it all, according to Eric Moyer, co-founder and CEO of BooRah. Boo means thumbs down; Rah means thumbs up, he said.

But the simplicity stops there, he said, as the system behind BooRah is a highly sophisticated "natural language processing" (NLP) technology. NLP automatically compiles evaluations of restaurants (or about anything else, such as hotels, local shops, movies or professional services) from the Internet. NLP is a specific area of the artificial intelligence field of research and development.

The official launch of the system today (Wednesday, March 21) on Palo Alto Online will be followed by roll-outs on the Web sites operated by the Weekly's five sister papers, and then in New York and Los Angeles, according to Moyer.

The system quietly went online March 7 to allow for testing, and some of the more than 40,000 visitors to the Palo Alto Online site each week discovered it on their own, Van Dusen said.

While many Web sites offer restaurant information, online reservations and reviews, the unique feature of the BooRah system is how it searches the Web and compiles all reviews that have been written about each restaurant, creates a summary review and rating, and allows users to easily access the reviews, according to Moyer.

It also encourages users to write their own review, rate restaurants and submit updated information about local restaurants. In this way, local restaurant patrons help to keep the information current and can post their opinions about their dining experiences, Van Dusen said.

Moyer said the idea for the startup emanated from conversations with a longtime associate, Nagaraju Bandaru, who is now BooRah's chief technology officer. Bandaru formerly was vice president of engineering at MetroFi and has 16 years of experience in management, technology and new-market development, including holding management positions at Covad Communications, Lockheed Martin and Exodus Communications. He has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a master's degree in computer science from the University of Hyderabad, India.

Moyer handles overall strategy, marketing and business development. He formerly was vice president of marketing for MetroFi, where he led the service launch of residential broadband wireless service. He has 18 years of experience in the field and met Bandaru when he was with Covad Communictions. He has an MBA from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Johns Hopkins University.

What users can find

Those using Palo Alto Online's new restaurant review feature get instant access to reviews and basic information on more than 800 restaurants in the Midpeninsula area, including:

• A summary assessment based on all the reviews that have been written about a restaurant.

• Links to both professional and user reviews available from other Web sites.

• Ratings on food, service, ambience and overall quality.

• Address, hours, driving directions, maps, etc. for all local restaurants.

• An easy way for users to post their own reviews of local restaurants.

• A search feature allowing users to search by name, cuisine or location.

• Online reservations.