A Robotic Dining Experience

In these trying times, who can afford to pay waiters? ZagatBuzz reports that restaurants “have increasingly been incorporating automated components into the dining experience.” Translation: Push a button instead of speaking your order. At Alain Ducasse’s Adour, diners peruse the wine list by using a touch screen on the bar. At Clo, a New York eatery, “patrons fill their glasses from automatic dispensers using prepaid credit cards.” Sounds impersonal, but then again, so does waiting ten minutes for a refill.