Answering service for restaurants
Answering service for restaurants: reservation, menu and event calls go to Victoria, our AI receptionist, while your team serves.
Talk or type with Victoria. Your price in about 2 minutes.
Businesses we've built for
Yupaa Analytics
Majesty Auto Sales
Calls Victoria answers for you
- “Are you open on Monday? What time does the kitchen close?”
- “Can I get a table for eight at 7:30 on Saturday?”
- “Is the patio dog-friendly?”
- “Does the mole have nuts in it? My son is allergic.”
More calls (4)Fewer calls
- “Do you do catering? It's for about 60 people in June.”
- “Can we bring our own birthday cake? Is there a cake fee?”
- “Do you charge corkage if we bring our own wine?”
- “I think I left my sunglasses at the table last night.”
Here's how a call goes
A typical call, then the summary you get when it ends.
What you get
- Flag
- Allergy question
- Guest
- Daniela Reyes
- Reservation
- Party of 4, 8:15, inside
- Question
- Her friend has a shellfish allergy and is asking about the paella
- Call back
- Before 8, on her cell
- Confirmation text sent
The reservation is on one of the tables you hold for phone bookings.
- Calls answered without anyone leaving the floor
- Menu answers from your notes, allergy questions to a person
- Phone reservations on the tables you hold
- Victoria:
Thanks for calling your restaurant, this is Victoria. How can I help?
- Caller:
Hi, do you have anything for four people around 8 tonight?
- Victoria:
Let me check. I have a table for four at 8:15 inside, or 7:45 on the patio. Which would you like?
- Caller:
8:15 inside. My friend has a shellfish allergy, though. Is the paella okay for her?
- Victoria:
For allergies, someone at the restaurant checks with the kitchen and calls you back, so I'm passing your question along now, with the shellfish allergy flagged.
- Caller:
Great, thanks. Is there parking?
- Victoria:
There's a lot behind the building, and the restaurant validates for two hours. What name should I put the reservation under, and is this a good number for the call back?
- Caller:
Daniela Reyes. Yes, it's my cell.
- Victoria:
You're set, Daniela: four at 8:15 inside, shellfish allergy noted. A confirmation text is on its way.
An illustration of a typical call, not a real customer.
How it works
- 1
Take the free assessment
A few questions about how your business runs today.
- 2
Get your price
See it on screen before you commit to anything, and email it to yourself.
- 3
We set it up
One setup call with Nathaniel, in person in the Santa Barbara area or by phone or video.
Questions people ask
Don't see yours? Ask Victoria during the assessment, or call (805) 970-2936.
What does it cost, with reservation and takeout calls all evening?
Your price is set by your calls, and extra calls are billed per call: the free 2-minute assessment works it out. Victoria can also answer texts, email, chat and DMs, and send reminders and review requests. If you're not happy in the first 30 days, we refund your first monthly payment.
Can she book straight into OpenTable or Resy?
A direct connection to a reservation platform is a custom build; tell us which one you use and we'll check what's possible on the setup call. Until then, block the tables you hold for phone reservations in your online book, and every phone reservation also reaches you in the summary.
What about takeout orders?
Victoria answers menu questions and tells callers how you take takeout orders, whether that's your website or the delivery apps you're on. She doesn't take orders or card payments over the phone.
Does she answer after we close?
Yes, 24/7. A guest who calls at 11 pm to ask whether you're open for brunch on Sunday gets your hours and directions, and can book one of your phone-reservation tables right then.
More questions (4)Fewer questions
Will guests know they're talking to AI?
If a guest asks, Victoria says she's an AI assistant answering for the restaurant; otherwise she just takes care of the reservation. If you'd rather certain calls reach a person, like a guest disputing last night's check or asking for the chef, add them to the calls she puts through.
Will she answer in Spanish?
Yes. A guest can ask in Spanish what time the kitchen closes, book a table for Sunday lunch or ask about the private room, and Victoria switches languages whenever the caller does.
What happens to the number on our menus?
Nothing changes for guests: they dial the same number, and on the setup call we set up how it forwards to Victoria, whether that's every call, after close, or only when the host stand can't pick up. If someone hangs up before anyone answers, missed-call text-back sends them the message you approved at setup, which can include your reservation link, from a registered local business number. Carriers approve that number before any text goes out, which takes from about a week to two or three weeks (Twilio); answering calls doesn't wait for it.
Who sets it up, and what does the restaurant need to have ready?
Nathaniel Ross, the founder, runs the setup call himself, and he's based in Santa Barbara. Have your menu ready, plus your house rules (corkage, cake fee, dogs on the patio, large parties), the tables you'll hold for phone reservations, and the number urgent calls like allergy questions should ring.
The details
In short
At 7 pm on a Friday the host is seating a party of six, two servers are taking orders and the phone rings again: is the patio dog-friendly, can you take eight at 7:30 tomorrow, do you charge corkage?
Victoria answers those calls from your menu and house rules, in English or Spanish, and anything about allergies goes to a person.
What gets in the way
One host covers the door, the waitlist and the phone.The same questions, all night.Allergy questions need someone who can check.Event calls come in during service.
One host covers the door, the waitlist and the phone
When one host runs the door, the waitlist and the phone, every call makes a party at the door wait while someone reads out the hours.
The same questions, all night
Hours, parking, corkage, the patio, whether you take parties of ten. Your staff answers them between plates, with a tray in one hand.
Allergy questions need someone who can check
The FDA names nine major food allergens, and sesame joined the list in 2023 (U.S. Food and Drug Administration).
A guess from whoever grabbed the phone isn't good enough, and 'let me check with the kitchen' in the middle of a rush turns into a long hold.
Event calls come in during service
Someone planning a rehearsal dinner or an office party needs a real conversation about dates, head count and the menu, and during service nobody can have it.
The inquiry ends up on a sticky note at the host stand, waiting for whoever has time tomorrow.
What we do about it
Calls answered without anyone leaving the floor.Menu answers from your notes, allergy questions to a person.Phone reservations on the tables you hold.Event details written down for after service.
Calls answered without anyone leaving the floor
Victoria picks up during service and handles hours, directions, parking, corkage, cake and patio questions from the notes you give us, while your staff stays with the guests in front of them.
Menu answers from your notes, allergy questions to a person
Victoria answers questions about your regular menu from the notes your kitchen gives us at setup.
She never tells a guest a dish is safe for an allergy: she flags the allergy at the top of the summary and, if you've asked for it, puts the call through to the number you named for urgent calls, so someone who can check with the kitchen calls the guest back.
Phone reservations on the tables you hold
You keep some tables aside for phone reservations, and Victoria books only those: the guest picks a time, gets a text confirmation, and nobody at the door is scribbling reservations on a notepad mid-rush.
Event details written down for after service
Set the threshold, like parties over ten or any catering request, and Victoria takes the date, head count and contact details while the guest is on the line.
They arrive in the summary right away, so whoever handles events can call back once service winds down.
By Nathaniel Ross, founder · Updated
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