February 21, 2026
Friday night service shouldn’t turn into a missed-call graveyard, but when the phone rings 50 times and your team can only answer a fraction, lost reservations and takeout orders pile up fast. Every unanswered call is a guest booking elsewhere or ordering from a competitor. AI-powered restaurant table management changes the equation by answering every call instantly, quoting accurate wait times, syncing directly with OpenTable, and even processing phone orders with payment, all without adding staff during peak hours. We assessed leading systems to see which ones actually connect the full guest journey from first ring to confirmed reservation or completed order, and one AI restaurant table management system stands out for bringing reservations, wait times, and phone orders into a single solution.
TLDR:
AI for restaurant table management uses voice AI to answer calls, book reservations, quote wait times, and speed up table turnover. These systems can work around the clock with minimal staff involvement, checking availability in real time and syncing bookings directly into existing reservation software. They deliver accurate wait time estimates based on current table status, helping restaurants capture every booking opportunity during peak hours while staff focus on in-person service.
We assessed each solution based on call handling during peak periods, POS integrations with Toast, Square, Clover, and Aloha, reservation sync with OpenTable and Resy, order processing with payment capabilities, reservation management, multilingual support, menu accuracy, setup time, and analytics. Nearly hour-long waits in major markets make these factors critical for managing customer demand.
| Solution | Core Capability | Best For | Key Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loman | Full-service call handling with reservations, phone orders, and payment processing through OpenTable and POS integrations | Full-service restaurants needing unified reservation and order management | No major limitations identified based on publicly available information |
| Hostie | Reservation management across calls, texts, and emails in 20 languages with OpenTable and Resy sync | Restaurants with dietary restrictions and multi-party reservations | No native phone order taking with POS integration |
| Slang.ai | Reservation call automation and FAQ handling with OpenTable integration | Multi-unit groups focused on reservation management and call screening | No phone order processing with payment or POS delivery ticket sync |
| Kea | Order taking with 99.3% accuracy and kitchen display integration | Quick-service and pizza restaurants needing fast deployment | No reservation management or OpenTable/Resy integration |
| ConverseNow | Drive-thru and phone order automation for QSR with unlimited concurrent orders | Quick-service brands with heavy drive-thru and phone order volume | No reservation management or table booking features |
| SoundHound AI | Voice AI for drive-thru and phone orders with multilingual support | Enterprise chains with multi-location drive-thru automation needs | No table reservation management or OpenTable integration |
| Certus AI | 24/7 call answering in three languages with Toast, Square, Clover integration | Independent restaurants with multilingual customers and high call volumes | Missing OpenTable and Resy integration for real-time table availability |
| VOICEplug AI | Multi-channel order processing across phone, drive-thru, and kiosk | Pizza restaurants and QSR concepts with drive-thru automation needs | No reservation management or table booking features |
Loman answers every call 24/7, takes pickup and delivery orders, books reservations, and syncs directly with POS and reservation systems including OpenTable. The system processes secure payments over the phone while managing full reservation lifecycles. Restaurants see up to 22% higher revenue from recaptured calls.
Key capabilities include unlimited simultaneous call handling, direct integrations with Toast, Square, Clover, and Olo, AI upselling that increases average order values, and real-time wait time quoting through reservation system integration.
Hostie is an AI phone system that handles calls, texts, and emails while managing reservations and takeout orders. Built by restaurant operators, it processes requests across 20 languages with direct OpenTable and Resy connections. The system resolves 81% of calls without staff involvement at 97% customer satisfaction.
Best for restaurants handling dietary restrictions, multi-party reservations, and event inquiries.
Limitation: It lacks native phone order taking with POS integration for complete pickup and delivery processing, including secure payment capture.
Slang is a restaurant voice AI that answers calls for over 1,000 operators in 47 states. The system handles reservation and FAQ calls, integrates with OpenTable for booking modifications, and resolves 60% of reservation-related calls automatically, saving restaurants 200+ hours monthly by reducing staff phone time.
Best for multi-unit groups focused on reservation management and call screening who want to cut phone interruptions.
Limitation: It does not process phone orders with payment or sync delivery tickets to POS, requiring separate solutions for takeout revenue and creating a fragmented guest experience when customers want to place orders instead of book tables.
Kea is a restaurant voice AI that answers calls and takes orders with 99.3% accuracy through AI validation. The system connects to kitchen displays and integrates with major POS systems, with implementation taking as little as an hour. Text AI supports SMS ordering with menu questions and payments.
Best for quick-service and pizza restaurants needing fast deployment with strong ordering capabilities.
Limitation: The system lacks native reservation management and doesn't integrate with OpenTable or Resy, requiring separate tools for table bookings and wait time tracking.
ConverseNow provides voice AI ordering assistants that automate drive-thru and phone orders for quick-service restaurants. The system handles unlimited concurrent orders across more than 1,200 restaurants in 40 states, reporting up to 30% higher same-store sales and 25% larger average tickets.
Best for quick-service and fast-casual brands with heavy drive-thru and phone order volume that want to increase ticket size and reduce hold times during peak rushes.
Limitation: ConverseNow lacks reservation management and doesn't integrate with OpenTable or Resy for table bookings, making it unsuitable for full-service restaurants needing wait time quotes and dine-in guest coordination.
SoundHound powers voice AI across over 10,000 restaurant locations, working with brands including Chipotle, Church's Texas Chicken, Jersey Mike's, and White Castle. The system processes drive-thru orders through conversational AI with multilingual capabilities to reduce wait times.
Best for enterprise restaurant chains with multi-location deployments requiring drive-thru automation and omnichannel voice ordering.
Limitation: No native table reservation management or OpenTable integration for booking modifications and wait time coordination.
Certus is an AI voice agent that answers calls 24/7, taking orders, managing deliveries, booking reservations, and handling complaints in English, Spanish, and French. The system connects with Toast, Square, Clover, UberEats, and DoorDash.
Best for independent restaurants with high call volumes and multilingual customers needing call automation for single or small multi-unit operations.
Limitation: Missing OpenTable and Resy integration for real-time table availability sync, requiring manual workarounds that slow booking confirmation and table turnover.
VOICEplug AI automates food ordering across phone, drive-thru, kiosk, and pizza-specific channels with direct POS integration. The system handles multi-channel order processing for QSR and pizza concepts focused on order volume and throughput.
Best for pizza restaurants and quick-service concepts needing drive-thru and kiosk automation alongside phone order processing.
Limitation: No reservation management or table booking features for dine-in restaurants requiring wait time quotes and seating coordination.
Maple Voice answers calls, takes orders, books appointments, and re-engages leads around the clock. The system handles inbound and outbound calling with post-call analytics to optimize performance across service businesses, including appointment booking with automated confirmation and lead qualification through intelligent follow-up.
Best for service businesses and commercial operations needing general call automation across multiple industries beyond restaurant-specific needs.
Limitation: Not built for restaurants, missing menu management, POS integration for order ticketing, kitchen display sync, and restaurant workflows like complex modifications and allergen handling that dedicated systems provide.
Sadie is an AI host that answers calls, takes reservations and orders, and supports guests around the clock. The system has handled more than 700 calls in a single month, securing over 100 bookings for restaurant clients, with OpenTable integration for booking sync and 24/7 menu support.
Best for restaurants seeking basic phone answering and reservation handling with OpenTable integration for straightforward call management.
Limitation: Limited public information on POS integrations, payment processing, upselling features, and deployment scale compared to competitors with transparent documentation and validated customer results.
Loman brings restaurant table management, phone ordering, and reservations into one voice AI system built for restaurants. It answers every call 24/7, syncs reservations directly with OpenTable, takes pickup and delivery orders, and processes secure payments into POS systems like Toast, Square, Clover, Aloha, Olo, and SpotOn. Restaurants use Loman to capture revenue lost to missed calls and long hold times.
Unlike competitors that focus on only reservations or only ordering, Loman handles the full call journey. The AI quotes accurate wait times, manages unlimited simultaneous calls, supports multiple languages, and includes built-in upselling to increase average ticket size while keeping staff focused on in-person guests.
Most restaurants go live in under 24 hours. Operators report up to 22% higher revenue from recaptured calls and smart upsells while reducing labor costs by as much as 17%, with a dashboard that tracks calls, payments, and peak demand in one place.
Loman, ConverseNow, and SoundHound all process unlimited simultaneous calls without putting guests on hold, while some solutions may have concurrency or routing constraints depending on plan and configuration.
Most systems take 1-24 hours to go live. Loman and Kea report deployment in under a day with menu import and POS connection, while enterprise solutions like SoundHound may require weeks for multi-location rollouts.
Kea, VOICEplug, and ConverseNow specialize in high-volume QSR ordering with drive-thru automation, but restaurants that also take dine-in reservations need Loman's dual capability for both order processing and table management.
Your phone should drive revenue, not block it. With modern restaurant table management, every call gets answered, wait times are quoted in real time, reservations sync directly with OpenTable, and phone orders flow straight into your POS with payment captured instantly. The restaurants pulling ahead are using AI to connect reservations, takeout, and guest questions into one continuous experience instead of juggling disconnected tools. If you want to see how restaurant table management powered by Loman AI captures missed calls, increases order value, and frees up your staff during peak service, book a demo and hear the difference on your own line.
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