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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not want to order via an app in a restaurant!

232 replies

TeaAndBrie · 25/10/2023 22:21

Visited a restaurant for brunch today, it wasn’t super fancy but £12 for eggs Benedict to give an idea of price.
we were told to sit anywhere that’s free and then use the QR code on the table to see the menu and order. I must’ve pulled a face as she said she would get a paper menu and that we could order at the counter.
surely part of eating out if the experience and the service and this is all part of what you pay for?

OP posts:
InWalksBarberalla · 26/10/2023 07:40

Given the aging population I'd expect more of this over time. It's already difficult for businesses to get staff, so it makes sense that places use technology where they can as the workforce decreases. Top end restaurants will have human wait staff but you'll pay for it.

CesareBorgia · 26/10/2023 07:42

I don't usually take a phone if going out specifically to eat, so if they couldn't accommodate a manual order, I'd have to go elsewhere.

RedRiverShore4 · 26/10/2023 07:43

I have enough apps on my phone without adding useless restaurant ones to clutter it up even more, likewise parking apps.

rookiemere · 26/10/2023 07:44

The only thing it's good for is not getting stiffed on a communal bill. DS and his teen pals go to Nandos a lot and I think it's because everyone puts in their own order and pays for it themselves.
Ditto when away as a big family group BIL has some issues around eating out and bills and invariably we end up subsidising somehow, but Spoons with an app means everyone is as happy as they can be.

But normally no. On holiday at the minute and left a restaurant at lunchtime when they only had an app. Our hotel has an app rather than a menu, but then they - very slowly- take your order and bring it much later if you are lucky, so it's the worst of all worlds.

Oblomov23 · 26/10/2023 07:47

Oh I hate this too. Especially a restaurant I'm only going to once, say in a city I'm visiting, that I know I'll never use again. I hate it. I ask to order and tell them I don't want an app.

RedRiverShore4 · 26/10/2023 07:49

Apps should be reserved for those dreadful cheap chain places like Nando's which charge a lot for cheap food, mainly aimed at young people and to be avoided at all costs

Janieforever · 26/10/2023 07:50

I don’t mind it to be fair, and if for you it’s part of the experience they did have the option of a paper menu and order at the bar.

I don’t really feel someone has to be literally at my table taking the order to make my experience. My experience is more about the company I am with, the food, the venue, the vibe. Wait staff taking the order at the table I can’t say is a big part of it for me like it is to you. You still have staff deliver your food to the table, so you get to interact with them then if it’s big for you.

for me ordering is just ordering. And more chance it’s right if I do it online.

InWalksBarberalla · 26/10/2023 07:54

I think it is great, makes it easy for groups, love being able to get another drink without either going to queue at the bar or get someone's attention.
I don't think it's laziness- it's innovation in response to market conditions. Recently went to a Vietnamese place with a robot taking food out, and a Korean place with a robot doing the fried chicken.
Much better than the situation last summer when some places we went to were closed due to lack of staff!

BashfulClam · 26/10/2023 08:02

I love it. Just put in what you want and food and drink appears at your table, magic!

Scautish · 26/10/2023 08:05

I’m autistic and love it.

can order exactly when I want
no painful eye contact
pay when I want

I know it’s not the preference for many of you but at least acknowledge or respect it’s actually very helpful for many of us. Takes a lot of stress away.

its not a right or wrong - it’s just a different way that actually benefits many of us. Surely there’s room for both approaches?

Runninghappy · 26/10/2023 08:07

I hate it because I don’t like seeing phones at the table.

andyourpointiswhat · 26/10/2023 08:10

Depends where. At a very busy bar recently it was great to be able to order at the table and we weren’t waiting any longer for our drinks than we would if we had joined the long queue. At a fancy and expensive hotel last year the more casual restaurant by the pool had this system, I want a nice friendly wait person in that setting thanks. I absolutely refuse to tip though, I tip for “good service” not for someone to just deliver my order to the table.

ACGTHelix · 26/10/2023 08:16

theleafandnotthetree · 26/10/2023 06:10

You say that 'some diners like the human touch' ss if it's some quaint quirk rather than, I don't know, pretty much the way humans have lived for all of human civilisation 🙄. I also fail to see how an app could 'add to the overall dining experience' - it might for some people be more convenient etc but I don't think even the most fervent technophile could claim it's an enriching experience. And finally, tech may want to be the future but citizens and consumers surely should have a bloody say in it.

for me, i was thinking of the sheldon coopers, the Leonard hofstedars,etc from the show the big bang theory, type people that love to use tech to do different activates

OddBoots · 26/10/2023 08:29

On balance I prefer it, especially for places where you order at the bar. The app will tell us what is out of stock and the interaction I want is with the people I am sat with. I also walk with a significant limp (foot drop) so carrying drinks from the bar has always always proved a challenge I am happy to do without.

I do still prefer someone coming to the table to take the order but not everywhere did that in the first place.

MintJulia · 26/10/2023 08:34

I'll happily cope with going to a web address and using a web site to order my food, but I draw the line at downloading an app onto my phone. I travel for work and I don't want my phone full of random apps for restaurants I'll never visit again.

That's a definite negative experience and would make me go elsewhere.

RedRiverShore4 · 26/10/2023 08:42

I don't tend to use apps as they clutter up the phone and a website you can just use and forget is much better, also the autofill doesn't often work on apps so I have to type in stuff.

dentydown · 26/10/2023 08:49

I hate it. My phone broke during Covid and I had to have one of those £20 call and text ones for a month.

During help out to eat out, subway said I couldn’t take part because I didn’t have a smart phone. And some places that required registration wouldn’t let me in because I didn’t have a smart phone.

It just feels like a poor war thing.

IHateWasps · 26/10/2023 08:50

its not a right or wrong - it’s just a different way that actually benefits many of us. Surely there’s room for both approaches?

That's the point though. It shouldn't be the only option.

I'm also autistic and bloody hate it. Now I love online booking but if I'm there in person I want to interact with an actual person. Also apps just clutter up my phone.

I took a relative with dementia to a deli/cafe the other day. The staff were so lovely and kind to her, talking away. It really made her day. I can't imagine what she'd get out of going to somewhere akin to what the OP describes. These little interactions can really make a difference to many people.

TigerQueenie · 26/10/2023 08:54

I prefer it as I generally prefer to be left alone. I wouldn't especially say the types of restaurants offering app or web ordering are those which tend to require overly involved service for the majority of people either, and nor are they particularly known for great service so I don't feel anything is removed from my overall experience, rather it is more efficient as I don't need to wait for a member of staff to remember I exist should I want to order something or pay.

ImCamembertTheBigCheese · 26/10/2023 08:58

I love it. You can get food and drinks whenever you want, no trying to get a waiter's attention, pay for what you have etc.

£12 for eggs benedict is not expensive.

InWalksBarberalla · 26/10/2023 09:01

Do people not realise you can delete apps from your phone when you no longer need them??

Eminybob · 26/10/2023 09:03

I regularly say to DH that this was the best thing to come out of covid! For me it's great, I have anxiety and spend restaurant visits worrying the waiter/ress will forget us, get our order wrong, disappear leaving us waiting forever for the bill (all have happened). Apps are the ideal solution for the control freak in me.

However.... there should be a choice. My parents and PIL would really struggle with using apps to order, especially my MIL who is getting more and more frustrated and distressed recently with the move to everything being on line.

Wetherspoons is the model for this. They have the app which is convenient and quick for those who choose to use it, but those who don't can still order at the bar.

Maverickess · 26/10/2023 09:07

Many people want the experience of wait staff at the table taking an order, but also don't want to pay for it.
Everything has increased in price that's involved in having a meal out, the food, the fuel, the cost of the people cooking and delivering it to the table, but although people know this because they are living it, there's some sort of disconnect where it applying to restaurants, pubs or hotels are concerned.
Then add that there's a shortage of people available to work in hospitality and so those jobs are needing to increase wages to attract and keep people and your 'experience' costs money - is it something you're willing to pay for? Or are you going to complain about higher prices? More staff means higher prices.

Personally from the other side apps have pro's and cons, one of the big pro's though is that people get what they order, they've made the order themselves, and there's less margin for errors. Though there's also less margin for blaming someone else when you've cocked up your own order because you did it yourself - some people don't like that bit though. Half the 'experience' is being able to talk down to and attempt to humiliate the service staff for some.

There's less people walking out without paying as well, and less people challenging the bill for non existent reasons just to try and get it cheaper.

The cons are no control over how the orders come in, you can get 20 orders hit you at the same time, where good waiting staff will space the orders to allow a flow of orders and quicker service rather than one big hit. And if you have a large table ordering individually then there can be a load of orders accepted between that tables first and last order meaning some people at the same table have their meals and others are waiting because other orders came through in between.
And as it's been ordered on an app, service is expected faster ime - but no matter how your order is taken, the food still takes the same amount of time to make and goes in a queue.

Where I work we don't use one, but I have in the past, we get asked fairly regularly why we don't have one, about the same frequency as being told people like the fact we don't have one. So from my experience and this thread and others where people say that they do like them, it would seem it's a fairly even split between those who like and those who don't.
The ideal would be businesses using both, but then paying for both staff and an app might not be feasible for all businesses.

IHateWasps · 26/10/2023 09:11

Do people not realise you can delete apps from your phone when you no longer need them

Obviously but I don't want to have to regularly delete and download apps. What's wrong with websites? Why does everything need an app now?

Ozgirl75 · 26/10/2023 09:17

I generally hate it too. I’ll put up with it if I have to but I would actively avoid places that only had this option. I often work from home, on my own, and the short contact I might have if often the only person I speak to between 8-4!

Also, my PIL are in their 80s and although very tech savvy (my FIL worked for IBM), he has Parkinson’s and MIL is partially sighted. When we suggested going out for a coffee recently FIL said, we would but we don’t want to risk it being another place with an app because we feel so embarrassed and old that we can’t use it well.

I personally do like the scan and pay in the supermarket as it does feel very efficient, but it baffles me that supermarkets are saying “oh shoplifting has gone through the roof, I wonder why?” and it’s like “you literally allow people to scan their own shopping, bag it themselves and only check it once in a blue moon and even then if it’s wrong you just re scan and pay - of COURSE people will take advantage of this”

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