Comment by MattRogish | Hacker News Reader

Comment by MattRogish | Hacker News Reader

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If I want the most efficient dining experience I'll order in or go to a fast food place.

I go to a restaurant for the UX: a date night, the atmosphere, getting out of the apartment, people watching, hanging with friends, etc.

Downtime is the point! It is supposed to take time. It gives me a relaxed period of time to talk with the people I'm with while drinking beer/wine and waiting for the food to arrive. To enjoy the experience.

Converting restaurants to a twitter/facebook 30-second attention span experience seems like a net negative de-evolution to me. I don't play with my phone while I'm at the table with other people - I think it's rude as hell - but Dave does that all the time I suppose.

Giving me a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am experience is not what I want. I don't have children or am in a giant hurry, but it sounds like that's where he's coming from. Perhaps that's a bigger section of the population than I expect.

But, there's a reason why McDonald's has pictures of food as the menu and Ruth's Chris doesn't.

edit: That said, I do wish restaurants had a better idea of who their "best" customers are and all that jazz. I just don't think dropping iPads at every table is the right way to go.

so you really believe that keeping people waiting is what they want?

seriously? seriously? bueller?

ok fine, guess I'm the only customer in the world who hates waiting in fine restaurants.

yeah, right.

Generally at low-moderate restaurants (especially ethnic) the problem is "getting staff to pay attention", at slightly better restaurants my problem is "JFC leave me alone, we're trying to have a confidential conversation". At great restaurants (e.g. Alexander's Steakhouse in SF/Cupertino) they are good at figuring out exactly when to bug you.

Tech could certainly help the lower end restaurants up their game, even if not as relevant on the high end. And on the high end, I could see some kind of CRM making a lot of sense, if they don't do it already -- knowing my preferences on table/etc. is easy if there's only one maitre 'd and location, but if you've got a few locations, tech would help share information.

Waiting? Waiting for what? Food obviously takes time to prepare, so there's a necessary wait as component of the experience. Of course, the "unnecessary" waiting: for a table, for a waiter's attention, etc. are suboptimal. But, I'm not sure an iPad is the solution to that problem.

>>Of course, the "unnecessary" waiting: for a table, for a waiter's attention, etc. are suboptimal

yes, they're very suboptimal. and whether or not it's an iPad that's used to fix the problem, it's probably some type of basic tech. this is the opportunity that i'm talking about.

if you don't experience the frustration of the wait time, then congrats... guess you're not a customer then.

>> yes, they're very suboptimal. and whether or not it's an iPad that's used to fix the problem, it's probably some type of basic tech

Then I think we're in agreement. Restaurants absolutely should be improved

Maybe some way to anonymously rate them and/or tip analysis would help give the owner insight into how their staff is doing. Being able to pay immediately is nice - sometimes at "slow" places that we know we get the check much earlier than when we're ready to leave for just that reason.

Anyway, it's likely I mis-understand the potential solution, I'm visiting a different type of establishment, or I'm not the target audience.

Good luck!

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