[lee martell]

There is so much more to eating out at a restaurant than just the food. Sometimes, that really is all I want, and the sooner the better. Other times, say at a sit down, clean tablecloth kind of place, I want to take my time and absorb the ambiance.

I am not wanting to spend the evening talking (or yelling) into a smiling clown face with a microphone taped onto the mouth. I could do that now at a drive through. I recall going to a nice restaurant in Chattanooga years ago, where a man entertained us as a ventriloquist, and took requests from the audience on what he and ‘his pal’ should sing. I include holograms in that theory too. They have their place, but then so does the actual person in real time and three dimensions.

[Age of Reason]

There is so much more to eating out at a restaurant than just the food. Sometimes, that really is all I want, and the sooner the better. Other times, say at a sit down, clean tablecloth kind of place, I want to take my time and absorb the ambiance

You're assuming enough people will still have jobs to afford to patronize real restaurants and keep them from going out of business.

I am not wanting to spend the evening talking (or yelling) into a smiling clown face with a microphone taped onto the mouth.

And I don't like getting tech support from a call center in India or telephoning a company and having to sort through an automated voice menu, either.

[bert]

While all that might be true, one does not need to tip a robowaiter with a line of slick banter and the ability to top off your glass of sweet tea