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Comment by ryandrake | Hacker News Reader

> On the other hand, the fancy waiter will make recommendations. Will tell you about other things, and is generally part of the ambiance and experience of eating out.

I don't see the distinction. With all due respect to waitstaff (it's a tough job), the function is just begging for automation. An order-and-payment-taking tablet embedded into the table would be so much more efficient:

1. No need to wait for staff to come by, and then do the whole "drinks then wait, then food then wait" dance. Instead, just present a full page description of the food plus a picture, and an "order" button that you tap. You can even order more later if you'd like, without having to summon a waiter. Done.

2. No need to wait for staff to notice you're done eating and need the check. The total is right on the tablet, and it has a card reader.

That would be great. Would probably cut the entire time suck that is restaurant dining by at least 1/2.

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You're basically talking about the "fast casual" dining craze. Like a panera, where you can order and take payment online, or from a tablet there, and they drop the food off when it's ready. Drinks and everything else until you leave are self service.

Pei-wei is another example. These are all the rage because of the efficiency (less wait staff) but still good food and a sit down environment.

The distinction is in expectation. Certain places you expect a waiter, to be seated, brought everything ("fine dining"). The difference between casual dining is mostly the atmosphere (usually better furniture, tablecloth, cutlery, etc) and a waiter (who may or may not be formally dressed).

The fancy waiter is adding value in the second case, because you're looking for that fine dining atmosphere. If it wasn't, they'd probably be going toward iPads too. Instead they have dress codes.

The difference is the waiter doesn't add much to an everyday meal. The waiter could be terrible though. So in terms of a business cost, that's something casual places can skimp on. For a more "fine dining" feel, you need great waitstaff, so that's harder to automate.

Excuse, did you just say Pei-wei has good food?

What you are describing would be great for chain restaurants like Chile's or Olive Garden, but for something sufficiently high end the people involved really matter. If you shift your view up a few notches there are many places where real intelligence and dynamicness is required that we can't yet automated.

Having a wine expert or a unique expert chef as part of the experience is part of high end dining. Consider one of those mid to high end Japanese steak houses where there they throw shrimp across the room into someone's mouth. Or a more midwestern steakhouse where you can talk with a person who butchered the steak. Or one of the new microbreweries where can can talk with the brewer about some new experiment has has and look at the brewing equipment right there. None of these make sense to automate, until we get strong AI.

Figuring out suggestions based on preferences and given choices with so constrained options is an easy problem.

The "expert" is there to sell you a story. Not that there's anything wrong with that - the story is a part of the experience that many people like - but let's not pretend it's a technical problem that's difficult to solve.

I know a bunch of people who work in that buisines (my brother is a chef, gradeschool friend as well, ex. is a restaurant waiter, met a bunch of their co-workers, all worked in Michelin star restaurants etc.) what actually goes on vs what the customer hears ...

> Figuring out suggestions based on preferences and given choices with so constrained options is an easy problem.

Then why do Spotify and Netflix et al persist in identifying artists and songs I've heard of (because of obvious similarities to stuff I like) but have actively ignored (because of any of a number of reasons that don't boil down well into an algorithm), over and over and over again?

I still don't want to watch The Office, Netflix. I won't in another six months, either.

But I could tell a person why not, and they could factor that into their recommendations. It's like the difference between trusting Waze and trusting a local that says "even though the app says go another half mile then turn right, turning right here is way easier, since if you wait you'll have to then quickly make your way across three lanes of traffic in a hundred yards to make your left, and making the right here gives you more time to get over."

Different scale/complexity. You could hand-code waiters decision tree for recommendations and the possible choices end in ~hundreds. Personalized music suggestion has to pick from millions of choices and there's no straightforward algorithm behind it.

Chili's is already starting down this path. At the location near me you can order drinks and pay through a device at the table. They haven't jumped in all the way as food orders are still through a server.

Though, as someone who has had a credit card stolen via gas pump several times, I'm really hesitant to use a card at one of these devices. They're probably not very secure to begin with and then you couple that with the fact that anyone can sit with one of them for an hour or so with no scrutiny, it's just ripe for exploit.

What you described seemed pretty common when I visited Japan. For those in the Bay Area a Japanese chain Yayoi opened in Cupertino and Palo Alto.

You order entirely on the iPad. You do have to pay at the desk on your way out, but they just type in your table number you pay with Square. No tipping allowed so it feels so smooth and simple.

And then with out any human interaction, the tablet asks politely for a 20% tip... I wonder if the tablet makes less than minimum wage too.

In my experience with these tablet ordering restaurants I suspect that they will also make the restaurant more money.

Often it is too hard to get a waiters attention to make multiple small additions after they have been around to take orders. With the tablet there is no barrier to you adding an extra drink or side.

More accessible to the hard of hearing, too. I hope this model takes off.

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