Every call at seven on a Friday costs you somebody on the floor
A restaurant phone rings hardest at exactly the moment nobody can answer it, and each time somebody does, a table waits. Most of those calls are three questions: are you open, do you have a table, and are you doing anything about a nut allergy. All three are answerable without pulling a host off the pass.
From $99 a month · Robocalls are never billed
Incoming callIsabel Ferrante“Table for six tonight, and one of us is coeliac.”
Booked 8:15 · Allergy noted on the ticket · Confirmed by text
- Party size and time
- Matched against the real book, so a six top is not promised a two top slot
- Allergies on the ticket
- Captured on the call and attached to the booking, not remembered by a host
- $0
- billed for robocalls and sales calls, on every plan
The call that separates a restaurant agent from a voice
Every AI receptionist on this results page books appointments and speaks well. This is the restaurants call where that stops being enough.
The caller says
“Have you got a table for eight tonight, and can you do a nut free menu?”
What a generic AI receptionist does
A generic AI receptionist checks for availability at the time requested and says yes, because it is matching a time rather than a table configuration. An eight top is not eight covers of two top availability, and the room cannot be reconfigured at 7:50. The allergy is mentioned pleasantly, recorded nowhere, and reaches the kitchen when the party arrives.
What this one does
Party size is matched against your actual table configuration and your pacing rules, so a large party is offered a time the room can genuinely take. The allergy is captured as a field on the booking, arrives on the ticket, and is confirmed back to the caller so nobody is relying on somebody having remembered it.
AI receptionist for restaurants: what is actually configurable
Each of these is something the product does on a real call. Where it refuses to act, the refusal is the design rather than a limitation.
It answers the three questions that are most of the calls
Are you open and until when, do you have a table at that time, and where do we park. Those repeat all day, they are all facts you set, and each one currently costs somebody a walk from the floor to the phone.
It records allergies as data, not as a remark
Nut, gluten, shellfish, dairy. Captured on the booking, on the ticket, and confirmed back. A restaurant that handles allergies by having a host remember them is one bad Friday from a very serious problem.
It takes large party and private hire enquiries properly
Those are the enquiries worth real money and the ones most likely to arrive during service. Party size, date, occasion, budget, dietary requirements and whether they want the private room, captured and routed rather than promised a callback.
It never guarantees a table it cannot see
It reads the real book. Where the room is genuinely full, it says so and offers what actually exists, including the bar or a different night. A booking that does not exist when the party arrives is worse than a refusal on the phone.
What it asks on a restaurants call
Not a name and a preferred time. Each of these has an operational reason behind it, and every one of them is yours to change.
“How many, and what time?”
The two facts that decide whether a booking is possible at all. A party of nine at eight on a Saturday is a different conversation from a two-top at five, and the agent finds out before it starts offering anything.
“Any allergies or dietary requirements?”
Asked at the point of booking rather than discovered at the table. It reaches the kitchen before service, which is the only time it is useful.
“Is this a celebration?”
A birthday, an anniversary or a proposal changes the table, the timing and whether somebody should be told. It is also the single cheapest thing a restaurant can do to be remembered, and nobody asks.
“Any accessibility needs, or a highchair?”
Both are seating decisions, and both are miserable to resolve when the party is already standing at the door.
“A mobile number for the booking?”
Confirmations and the no-show text go somewhere. A large party held without a contactable number is the booking that evaporates on a Saturday night.
“First time with us?”
It routes a regular differently from a stranger, and it is the question that lets a host greet someone by name.
What it will never do on a restaurants call
You are handing your phone to software that talks to your customers when you cannot. These are the lines it does not cross, and the exact words it uses instead.
It won't promise a table it cannot see
Availability comes from your book, not from optimism. Where the slot is not there the agent says so and offers what is: an earlier sitting, the bar, the following night. It does not take a booking somebody has to ring back and cancel.
What it actually says
“Seven's gone on Saturday, but I've got eight-fifteen or six. Would either of those work?”
It won't guarantee an allergy is safe
It records the allergy, flags it to the kitchen and tells the guest to remind their server. What it does not do is confirm that a dish is free of anything, because that is a statement only the kitchen can make on the night, about that night's prep.
What it actually says
“I've put the nut allergy on the booking so the kitchen sees it. Do mention it to your server too, they'll go through the dishes with you.”
It won't handle a complaint on the phone
A guest ringing about a bad meal or a charge is escalated to a manager, not managed by an agent. The one thing a complaint needs is somebody with the authority to fix it, and offering sympathy without that is how a complaint becomes a review.
What it actually says
“I want the manager to hear this one directly rather than me taking it second-hand. Can I get them to call you back this evening?”
The four things it answers from
Configuration rather than something a model has been asked to remember. Change one at eight in the evening and the next call uses the new value.
Large party
8+ takes a card hold
Last seating
9:15pm
Corkage
$25 per bottle
Private room
Min. 12, set menu
What restaurants say before they say yes
In the words they are usually put in. Where the objection is right, it says so.
“We take bookings online.”
And the calls you still get are the ones the widget could not handle: a party of nine, an allergy, a same night request, an occasion, somebody who wants to talk to a person. Those are the highest value calls in the day and they are the ones currently reaching a busy signal.
“Hospitality is about warmth.”
It is, and warmth is not what is happening when the phone rings out at seven twenty. It never claims to be a person. What it does is get the party, the time and the allergy right, and leave your host on the floor where the warmth actually happens.
“Our availability changes minute to minute.”
Which is why it reads the book rather than a schedule. Where there is nothing, it says there is nothing, which is more honest than the outcome where somebody writes a party of eight into a full room to be helpful.
It books into the calendar you already keep
Google, Outlook, Apple, Exchange, CalDAV. An AI receptionist that emails you a summary has built a nicer voicemail; this one creates the appointment and texts the caller.
…and a lot more besides
- Warm transfersWarm transfersAnnounced — who is calling and why, before you take the line.
- Spam never billedSpam never billedRobocalls are spotted, zero-rated, and never become a customer.
- A number per sourceA number per sourceVan, yard sign, Google listing — see which line brings the work.
- Team & on-callTeam & on-callTries you, then a second number, then whoever is on call.
- Run it by textRun it by textReply to a text to move a job, block a morning, clear a day.
- Clear a day, everyone toldClear a day, everyone toldCall off a wet Tuesday; every customer is told and re-offered.
- Never invents an answerNever invents an answerNo price or slot it was not given. It takes a message instead.
- Any trade, no codeAny trade, no codeGoal, questions and guardrails are settings, not a rebuild.
Does it book against our real availability?
It reads the live book and your pacing and table configuration, so a large party is offered a time the room can take rather than a time that looks free.
How does it handle allergies?
As a field on the booking that reaches the ticket, confirmed back to the caller on the phone. Not as a note somebody has to remember.
Can it take private hire enquiries?
Party size, date, occasion, budget and dietary requirements captured and routed to whoever handles events, rather than left as a message during service.
Does it speak Spanish?
English and Spanish on the same number, switching mid call, with the confirmation text sent in the language the caller used.
What does it cost?
From $99 a month, flat, with unlimited call flows and a monthly talk time allowance. Robocalls are never billed, and there is a free tier for testing the agent first.
Comparing against a human answering service instead?
That is a different question with a different answer, and it has its own page: the restaurant answering service, with a full restaurants call played second by second.
Trades that answer the phone the same way
The same archetype, which is what the product actually branches on. Every trade has one of these pages.