The best AI phone answering for restaurants

During a Friday rush, nobody on the floor wants to stop and answer “are you open on Monday?” for the tenth time. Restaurant phones ring with three kinds of calls: questions about hours, parking and the menu; reservations; and takeout orders. A general AI receptionist handles the first. Only restaurant-built tools handle the other two properly, because they need to talk to your reservation book or your POS.

That’s how we ranked the four tools in our listing that name restaurants among the businesses they serve: first by whether they take orders or reservations directly, then by price and contract terms. Prices assume 200 calls a month at about 3 minutes each where that matters; three of the four charge a flat monthly rate regardless.

1. Loman: best for takeout and delivery orders

Loman is built to take phone orders. It reads your menu, takes orders with modifiers, collects card payment on the call, suggests add-ons and sends the ticket to your POS: Toast, Square, Clover, SpotOn, Shift4 (SkyTab), Aloha, Olo or Stream (Loman). It also books tables in OpenTable or Resy, answers up to 50 calls at once, and keeps sold-out items in sync.

Its pricing page asks for a quote, but its own blog says plans start at $199 a month with unlimited calls and no per-minute fees (Loman vs Slang). Taking orders on the phone with POS integration is on the Premium tier, priced on request. You pick a 1, 3, 6 or 12 month initial term; leaving early makes the rest of the term due (terms). Onboarding takes 24 to 48 hours, Loman says. Read our Loman review.

2. Slang AI: best for reservation-led restaurants

Slang AI is built around reservations. It books and changes tables in OpenTable, SevenRooms, Resy or Yelp, collects special requests, captures private-event inquiries for Tripleseat or Perfect Venue, and routes VIPs to staff (Slang). Its Premium tier adds a voice that switches among 97 languages mid-call and cross-sells callers to your sister restaurants.

It starts at $399 a month per location, with Premium from $599, and every plan goes through a quote (pricing). No POS integration is listed, so it isn’t the tool for phone orders. New customers can cancel within the first 30 days and get that period’s fees back; after that, orders renew for the same term unless cancelled 30 days ahead (terms). Read our Slang AI review.

3. NextPhone: flat price for the questions and the bookings

NextPhone is a general AI receptionist that lists food and dining among its industries (industries). It answers questions from your website, books into Google, Outlook, Calendly and similar calendars, texts callers links, and transfers to your staff. It doesn’t name a reservation system or POS.

What suits restaurants is the price: $199 a month with unlimited calls and no overage, however busy the line gets. It answers in 14 languages. Use it to take the hours-and-directions calls off your staff and text a link to your online ordering or reservation page. There’s a 7-day free trial and no setup fee.

4. Upfirst: cheapest for a quiet line

Upfirst lists restaurants among the businesses it serves (Upfirst). Like NextPhone it handles questions, messages, transfers and texts, but names no reservation system or POS. It bills per call: 200 calls cost $159.95 on Pro, but a busy restaurant at 600 calls pays $299 and $0.70 for each call beyond. A small café with 80 calls a month pays $59.95.

You set it up yourself from your website with a 14-day trial, no card needed, and plans are month to month.

Which fits your restaurant

• Most of your phone calls are orders: Loman, so orders land in the POS and get paid on the call.
• Most calls are reservations or events: Slang AI.
• You mainly want questions answered and callers texted a link: NextPhone for busy lines, Upfirst for quieter ones.

Before signing with Loman or Slang, get the monthly price, any call or talk-time limits and any setup fee in writing. Both quote every plan, and both keep billing after the first term unless you cancel.