I thought you all might be interested to see something I found at a Chili’s restaurant in Baltimore. It seems they are trying to make the experience more…interactive? At each table was a small digital display by a company called Ziosk, and it allowed patrons to peruse the menu, play games, join the frequent eater’s club or whatever it’s called, you could even pay your bill, dividing up the payment if necessary, and printing a receipt as well!

You still have to have the server take the order and bring it out, but other than that it’s pretty automated. I don’t know if they have them out here, perhaps one of you can confirm or deny that. Have any of you used one, even somewhere else? I also thought I would show the surreptitious picture I took of the family at the other table. They were all engrossed in the Ziosk and not paying attention to each other. That’s the downside to any device such as this, and I thought it was a sad thing to see. They did have the infant playing with a calculator, though, so on the bright side we may have a future mathematician in our midst.