Home › Answers › Calls and customer service
Can an AI receptionist take restaurant bookings?
Short answer
Yes, if it can see your availability. An AI receptionist can answer the phone, take the party size, date, time and name, and book the table, but only reliably when it connects to your booking system or calendar. Without that, it can take a request and text you to confirm. Hand allergy questions, complaints and large parties to a person.
What it needs
- A link to your bookings. Check the service integrates with the booking system you use, or with a calendar it can read and write.
- Your rules: opening hours, last sitting, maximum party size, deposits, cancellation policy.
- A script for handovers: allergies, private hire, complaints, anything it isn't sure about.
What it does well
- Answers during service, when nobody can get to the phone.
- Handles the same questions every time: opening hours, parking, dogs, whether you take walk-ins.
- Sends a confirmation text and a summary of each call.
Watch out for
- Allergies. Don't let an AI answer allergen questions; pass them to a person who can check.
- Double bookings if it can't see live availability.
- Recording calls. If calls are recorded, tell callers and say why (ICO guidance).
Cost
Prices vary by provider and number of calls. See how much does an AI receptionist cost in the UK? and our page for cafés and restaurants.
Related questions
Are AI phone answering services any good?
Good at routine calls, weaker with complicated ones. See are AI phone answering services any good?
Can it take a deposit?
Only if it connects to a booking system that takes payment. Otherwise send a payment link from your booking system.
Sources
- ICO: monitoring workers, specific methods (call recording)
- Our AI receptionist cost guide (prices from providers' pages, 17 October 2026)
Checked 17 October 2026. Rules and prices change, so check the source before you rely on it. This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.
More on calls and customer service
- Are AI phone answering services any good?
- Can AI make and answer phone calls?
- Can I use ChatGPT for customer service?
- Can Otter AI record phone calls?
- Does Gemini have voice chat like ChatGPT?
- Does Otter AI work with Teams, Zoom and Google Meet?
All calls and customer service answers · All answers · Guides · AI tools directory
Get one useful AI tool in your inbox each weekday
Free, plain English, five minutes to read. Unsubscribe any time.
See our privacy notice.