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I eat at Outback and I &$@! hate their tablets. Who are all these people in this thread who don’t value a server’s knowledge and flexibility? It’s as if they’v

I eat at Outback and I &$@! hate their tablets. Who are all these people in this thread who don’t value a server’s knowledge and flexibility? It’s as if they’ve never been infuriated by an IVR system and cannot imagine that kind of horror landing in their restaurant booth when all they’re looking to do is enjoy themselves. Sometimes you want recommendations that come with more details than what the web guy baked into the hero piece. Sometimes you want something prepared a certain way, and the UI isn’t going to be up to it. Good luck getting that through an abused table tablet. So some servers underachieve. Fine. I still want one.

theNJR 8y ago
You really need a waiter to recommend things at Outback ... Even at a local restaurant a waiters recommendation is always biased. I'd rather integrate reviews into the system.
- Scramblejams 8y ago
  Sometimes they'll get an unusually good cut of something and a good server will tell you. Reviews won't. (Nor will they help much at a restaurant that frequently changes its menu. And if the restaurant is responsible for the review system, invariably a bunch will end up hiding the negative reviews and flagging the customers who leave them, with predictable consequences. Seriously, reviews you're reading on the restaurant tablet are going to be somewhere between useless and a disaster that starts Twitter wars.) But getting back to my Outback example. Did you know if they pan sear your filet they do it with a weight on top of it? I didn't until a server told me, and gave me the option to skip the weight. (Much better result, by the way, even if it does take longer.) And did you know at Outback if they wood fire your filet they don't use a weight, but instead of the 17 spice seasoning they use in pan searing, they switch to salt and pepper? I didn't until a server told me, and gave me the option to go wood-fired plus 17 spice seasoning, which is a terrific combo. Drawing a larger point, computer people would rather deal with computers. I get it. But there's a whole world of possibilities out there you miss when instead of building relationships with the people you meet casually around you (like wait staff), you instead constrain yourself to the choices made available to you through silicon and Javascript.

theNJR 8y ago

You really need a waiter to recommend things at Outback ... Even at a local restaurant a waiters recommendation is always biased. I'd rather integrate reviews into the system.

Scramblejams 8y ago
Sometimes they'll get an unusually good cut of something and a good server will tell you. Reviews won't. (Nor will they help much at a restaurant that frequently changes its menu. And if the restaurant is responsible for the review system, invariably a bunch will end up hiding the negative reviews and flagging the customers who leave them, with predictable consequences. Seriously, reviews you're reading on the restaurant tablet are going to be somewhere between useless and a disaster that starts Twitter wars.) But getting back to my Outback example. Did you know if they pan sear your filet they do it with a weight on top of it? I didn't until a server told me, and gave me the option to skip the weight. (Much better result, by the way, even if it does take longer.) And did you know at Outback if they wood fire your filet they don't use a weight, but instead of the 17 spice seasoning they use in pan searing, they switch to salt and pepper? I didn't until a server told me, and gave me the option to go wood-fired plus 17 spice seasoning, which is a terrific combo. Drawing a larger point, computer people would rather deal with computers. I get it. But there's a whole world of possibilities out there you miss when instead of building relationships with the people you meet casually around you (like wait staff), you instead constrain yourself to the choices made available to you through silicon and Javascript.