Industries
Restaurant answering service in English and Spanish
Short answer
A restaurant answering service picks up when your host stand can’t: during the dinner rush, before you open and after you close. AIReceptionistGo is a 100% AI receptionist that answers in your restaurant’s name, says it’s an AI, and takes reservations, answers hours and menu questions and passes catering and complaints to your manager, in English or Spanish, whichever the caller speaks. Every call lands in your inbox as a summary.
Free setup · No contract · Cancel anytime
Example call: a birthday table, in Spanish
Casa Paloma Kitchen · A birthday table, in Spanish
- AI
- Casa Paloma Kitchen, this is AI Receptionist, the AI assistant. How can I help?
- Caller
- Hola, ¿hablan español?
- AI
- Sí, claro. ¿En qué le puedo ayudar?
- Caller
- Quiero una mesa para seis el sábado a las siete. Es un cumpleaños.
- AI
- Tengo el sábado a las siete para seis personas. ¿A nombre de quién?
- Caller
- Graciela Ybarra, 555-0179.
- AI
- Listo, Graciela: sábado a las siete, seis personas. ¿Le mando la confirmación por mensaje de texto?
- Caller
- Sí, gracias.
Summary sent to you
- Booked
- table for 6, Saturday 7:00 p.m., birthday. Saved in your reservation book.
- Guest
- Graciela Ybarra, 555-0179. Call in Spanish.
- Done
- confirmation texted.
In English, line by line
“Hi, do you speak Spanish?” · “Yes, of course. How can I help you?” · “I’d like a table for six on Saturday at seven. It’s a birthday.” · “I have Saturday at seven for six people. Under what name?” · “Graciela Ybarra, 555-0179.” · “All set, Graciela: Saturday at seven, six people. Shall I text you the confirmation?” · “Yes, thank you.”
When restaurant calls come at the wrong time
It’s 7:30 on a Friday night in San Antonio. Every table is full, three parties are waiting by the door, and your host is walking a family of five to the patio. The phone at the stand rings for the eighth time in ten minutes.
One caller wants a table for eight tomorrow. One wants to cater an office lunch. One asks, in Spanish, whether you take walk-ins. Each unanswered call is a Saturday table that stays empty, or a catering order nobody quotes.
How the call goes
The 911 rule comes before any of these steps. If a caller says someone is having an allergic reaction or can’t breathe, the AI drops the script, tells them to hang up and call 911, and alerts your manager. Nobody booking a table is asked about emergencies; the rule only fires when the caller brings one up.
“If someone is having trouble breathing, please hang up and call 911 now.”
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What do they need?
A table, a takeout order, catering or a group, a question, or a complaint, in whichever language the caller uses; there’s no key to press for Spanish. Catering, a group above the size you book and complaints go to your manager, put through or by email.
The AI says: “Are you calling about a reservation, an order or something else?”
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Answer from what you approved
Hours, address, parking, whether you take walk-ins, which dishes are on tonight’s menu. Anything not on your list gets a message, not a guess.
The AI says: “We’re open until 10 tonight, and we take walk-ins at the bar.”
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Tables
Party size, date, time, name and number. A table is confirmed once it’s saved in your reservation book; otherwise it’s a request your host confirms.
The AI says: “That’s a table for six on Saturday at 7. Shall I text you the confirmation?”
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Takeout orders
Each item, read back to the caller and sent to you; the order counts once your kitchen confirms it. Or the caller gets a text with your online ordering link.
The AI says: “I have one chicken mole and two horchatas. The kitchen will confirm by text.”
How a call in Spanish runs, from greeting to summary, is in our Spanish-speaking caller protocol; other examples are in the call protocol library.
What counts as urgent
For a restaurant, urgent means tonight. These are the defaults we start from.
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Someone having an allergic reaction | Told to hang up and call 911; manager alerted |
| A guest says your food made them sick | Manager reached now, or a message marked urgent; nothing admitted |
| A table for tonight, or a party running late or cancelling | Host stand told at once; a table tonight is booked only if your book shows it, otherwise the caller hears your walk-in rule |
| A group above the size you book, or catering for today or tomorrow | Put through to the manager |
| A reservation for another day | Booked if your book is connected; otherwise a request |
| Hours, menu, parking, gift cards | Answered from your approved list |
What it never says on these calls
- That a dish is free of an allergen, or safe for someone’s allergy. That question goes to your staff.
- A table or an order as confirmed when it isn’t saved or confirmed by you.
- A price, a special or a delivery time that isn’t on your approved list.
- An apology that admits fault, a refund or a free meal, unless you’ve set one.
- A card number taken over the phone.
What you decide
- What callers can be told: hours, menu, walk-ins, parking, gift cards.
- Reservations: party sizes it books, how far ahead, and when a group goes to the manager.
- Takeout: whether it takes orders as messages or texts the link to your online ordering.
- Allergy questions: who on your staff answers them, and how the AI passes them on.
- Vendors and sales calls: screened, with a message only if you want one.
- Languages: English and Spanish on the same line, and the language your summaries arrive in.
We set it up the way you want and you approve the final version.
Why this works for restaurants
Our call protocols come from nearly two decades of running phone reception for small businesses. A restaurant phone rings in bursts, at the exact moment nobody can pick up. It asks what matters: party size, time, name and number, and nothing that slows the call down. It never promises what you don’t: no table that isn’t in your book, and never “yes, that’s safe for your allergy.” More on our method and on the bilingual AI receptionist.
What it costs
On Pay As You Go you pay $0.99 per answered call and no monthly fee, so a slow Tuesday costs almost nothing. A restaurant that takes calls all day usually fits the 100-Call Plan: 100 calls for $49 a month, then $0.49 per extra call. See pricing.
Free setup · No contract · Cancel anytime
Your month, by plan
Best fit: 50-Call Plan, $29.00
- Pay As You Go Best fit $29.70
- 50-Call Plan Best fit $29.00
- 100-Call Plan Best fit $49.00
What the month would cost on each plan: the monthly fee plus each call past the ones included.
Questions restaurant owners ask
What does a restaurant answering service do during the dinner rush?
As a restaurant phone answering service, it answers every call your host can’t, several at the same time, with no one on hold. It books or requests tables, answers hours and menu questions from your approved list, and sends catering, groups and complaints to your manager. Your host stays with the guests in front of them.
Is restaurant voice AI good enough for a busy Friday?
An AI receptionist for restaurants is built for exactly that: short calls with the same few questions, many at once. It says it’s an AI, keeps the call brief and asks only what you need. Anything it isn’t sure of goes to your staff as a message, not a guess.
Can it take takeout orders by phone?
Yes, as an order message: this AI answering service for restaurants takes each item, reads the order back and sends it to you, and the order counts once your team confirms it. Or, if you prefer, it texts the caller the link to your online ordering. It never takes a card number.
Does an AI phone answering system for restaurants connect to my reservation book?
When it’s connected, tables go straight into your book and are confirmed once saved; when it isn’t, each table is a request your host confirms. Name the reservation book you use when you sign up; if it doesn’t connect, tables stay as requests and we say so before setup.
What does it say when someone asks about allergies?
It never says a dish is free of an allergen or safe for an allergy. It passes the question to your staff, or tells the caller to ask their server when they arrive. If someone is having a reaction right now, it tells them to call 911.
Is there an answering service for catering companies too?
Yes. Catering calls need more than a table: event date, headcount, location and a callback. The AI takes them and sends the lead to whoever quotes, with no price you haven’t approved. Hotels with a restaurant use our hotel answering service for the same kind of call, and every other sector is on industries.
Answer the rush in both languages
Press Get started and send us your hours, your approved menu answers and how you take reservations, and we set up your protocol in English and Spanish, as a phone answering service for restaurants that knows your menu; setup is free. You approve it before the first call is forwarded, as described on how it works.
Free setup · No contract · Cancel anytime