carmine galasso/staff photographer
Remember when fiddling with electronic devices at restaurant tables was considered rude? Now computers are about to become as much a fixture on the tables of our local chain restaurants as the ketchup bottles and over-the-top chocolate desserts.
By the time I finally swiped my credit card at my tabletop tablet at Chili's in Little Falls, I had racked up $625,000 in my retirement account in The Game of Life and had spent most of my lunch creaming 'Bob,' my computer-generated opponent.
I sat down thinking that tabletop tablet computers could be a great way to speed up your meal, and walked out thinking they could also do exactly the opposite. After all, I lingered there because I couldn't tear myself away from the game. And the coffee I ordered via the device took almost 10 minutes to arrive.
North Jersey chain restaurant customers will soon see this kind of device far beyond Chili's. Similar ones are already at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Secaucus, where you can play trivia and games such as poker and, sometime next year, you'll be able to order food, too.
Tablets will also start appearing in our local Applebee's restaurants around December or early next year, according to Ed Choe, president of Doherty Enterprises, which owns the restaurants in Bergen and Passaic counties.
At first, you'll be able to order appetizers and desserts, re-order alcoholic drinks once a server has verified your age, and play games for a small fee, Choe said. Later, the restaurants will consider offering additional options.
'We don't want to do away with human interaction,' Choe said. 'We don't look at it as tablets replacing servers. I think if done right, it's a better experience for both servers as well as the guests. Certain guests may not want to use it at all. Some people feel uncomfortable with the technology.'
Choe compared the tablets to airport check-in kiosks - travelers can use them if they want, or get in line for help from a real person if they don't. 'It's really a convenience factor for guests,' he said. 'Servers still need to deliver the food, still need to deliver the drinks and make sure you're OK.'
At Chili's, where the computers were installed earlier this year, you still place your food and drink orders with a server. They can use the tabletop Ziosk computer to re-order alcoholic drinks and order coffee and dessert. You can also read the news via USA Today and browse some dietary information. And if you add 99 cents to your bill, you can play a number of online games, including Monopoly, Boggle and a bunch of options for children.
The biggest convenience: being able to view the bill whenever you want, swipe your credit card, sign and print out your receipt all right at the table, without that annoying dance for the check at the end of the meal.
A Chili's spokeswoman, Ashley Johnson, said that the tablets had helped the chain turn tables faster and sell more desserts and coffee (one of the first restaurants to offer the tablets actually ran out of coffee, since it is suggested when a customer orders dessert via the device).
Of course, the computers are optional to use, though only a fifth of Chili's customers have been ignoring them, and a whopping 70 percent use it to pay their checks, Johnson said.
During my lunch, I ordered coffee via the device just to try it out, but the dining room was swarming with available servers and I might have been served more quickly if I had just asked one of them.
Besides paying the check, the real value in these computers is the ability to entertain yourself and your children with the games. Johnson reports that Chili's most popular game is Trivia, which can be played by everyone at the table together. Or if you'd rather avoid one another, depending on how crowded the restaurant is, you may be able to request more computer tablets.
And if you'd rather avoid eating in a roomful of people glued to electronic devices, you may want to stay out of these restaurants altogether.
Email: ung@northjersey.com. Twitter: @elisaung.Blog: http://ift.tt/NbJ3jl.
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