When I was five years old, my parents took me to a fast food restaurant in Paris (Who knew this existed? Also, why did we go there when we were in Paris?), which had a keypad for entering the menu numbers of items one wished to order and featured a big sign that said, “Errors must be paid for. No exceptions” I merrily ordered seventeen serves of croque monsieur and sat back to enjoy the show.

Flash forward a few (ahem) years, and today E la Carte has come up with an interactive restaurant tablet which allows restaurant guests not only to make their order but also shows the entire restaurant menu with colour pictures and makes food suggestions based on how many diners are eating. The tablets allow orders to be printed in the kitchen for dispatch and will even facilitate special notes like, “no mushrooms, puh-lease.”

While they’re waiting for their meal, diners can use the tablet to play games with discounts on menu items as prizes. The tablet also includes a credit card reader and tip calculator so payment can be made more efficiently. This will totally bother people who like saying, “L’addition s’il vous plaît,” and let’s be honest, who doesn’t?

Before leaving, patrons can use the tablet to leave feedback about the meal (although there’s no hint how they can get their cute waiter’s/waitress’ number this way. For shame!). Any complaints submitted via the tablet trigger an automatic text to the restaurant manager who can take drastic action in real-time, for example, attending table to offer glass of wine or providing the number of cute waiter etc.

I think my take-out message from this technological advancement is get the cute waiter’s/waitress’ number now because soon he or she may be replaced by a tablet. You have been warned.

What do you think about a tablet replacing a waiter? And worse—playing computer games at the dinner table? Please leave your comments below.

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