An AI front desk for restaurants: reservations, catering and the questions nobody has time for

A restaurant's AI front desk answers the questions that pull staff off the floor (hours, menu, dietary options, parking, private dining), captures reservation and catering requests with the details your team needs to confirm them, and flags special occasions. It works best alongside your reservation system rather than replacing it: the AI handles the conversation, your team or your reservation tool confirms the table.

The phone at a restaurant

At 7pm the host is seating a party, a server is taking an order, and the phone rings with "are you open on Monday?" and "do you have gluten-free pasta?". Those questions have fixed answers. A caller asking about a party of twelve next Saturday needs a person, but only after someone has written down the date, time and headcount.

What it answers from your facts

• Hours, including holidays and kitchen closing time.
• Menu highlights, dietary options and allergen policy wording.
• Parking, accessibility, dress code, corkage, children's menu.
• Private dining and catering: minimums, lead times, what is included.

What it captures for your team

Reservation requests: party size, date, time, name, occasion, seating preference. Catering requests: date, headcount, location, budget, dietary needs. Your team confirms against real availability, or the AI sends the link to your reservation page.

What it hands off

Allergy questions beyond your approved wording, because an allergy is a safety matter. Complaints about a recent visit. Large parties and buyouts. Anything a manager should decide.

Special occasions

Birthdays, anniversaries and proposals are worth flagging. A note on the request lets the team prepare, and it is often what turns a good evening into a regular customer.

Frequently asked questions

Can it book tables directly?

Restaurant table management usually lives in a dedicated reservation system. The AI can capture the request or send that system's link.

What about allergy questions?

It answers only with your approved allergen wording and hands anything specific to a person. It should never assure a guest that a dish is safe for their allergy.

Does it work for takeout orders?

Answering questions about the menu and hours, yes. Taking orders is a job for your ordering system.

What Frontiva does here

The restaurants page shows the workflows. In Frontiva the AI answers from your approved facts, escalation keywords hand allergy and complaint messages to a person, and catering and large-party enquiries become leads with an owner and a follow-up task. See what an AI receptionist should refuse to answer.