The Good and Bad of Tablet Menus in Restaurants

New Trend Uses iPads And Similar Devices to Order But It’s Still Beneficial To Have a Waiter or Waitress When Dining Out in a Restaurant

Before you get your tab, you get a tablet.

For those who are fed up, so to speak, with waiters and waitresses, there’s a way to avoid them completely. A new trend in the restaurant industry is to bring high-tech to the dinner table by installing iPads and tablets to let customers order and pay their bills.

People can flip through menu items, send orders directly to the kitchen and, when finished, swipe a credit card through a slot in the machine.

But do you really want to eliminate the personal interaction you get with a server? Is it really better than an actual menu, which is just an entry point to a restaurant’s offerings? Sightseeing Sam likes to ask the waiter or waitress what they would recommend, what the restaurant’s signature dish(es) might be, what the chef is saying is particularly good that day.

Perhaps he got in supply of fresh fish that he’s highlighting. Oftentimes, I also enjoy chatting with the server; to me it’s part of the dining out experience.

Granted, some of this technology has a place. Being able to see more detailed photos or information on a menu and in particular wines, spirits or beers than a standard menu can provide is beneficial. And the ability to pay without having to wait on the bill to be delivered is a time saver.

It would be especially beneficial to get some management action on a slow, rude or inattentive server. Sending a message to the kitchen (or manager) asking why the food has yet to arrive after a while could really improve a restaurant’s customer service. Having an option to rate the server during or after service would be another good use of a tablet.

But to actually replace a server? Restaurant customers would be better served to be offered a combination of both electronic and human devices.