For a small restaurant that wants the phone to take orders, Yelp Host (from $249 a month) or Maple Pro ($350 a month, or $220 billed yearly) fits best. Popmenu AI Answering starts at $149 and texts links instead. Slang.ai suits reservation-heavy venues but publishes no price. Test all four with the same eight calls.
Those four are not the same kind of product, which is why comparing feature lists misleads. Yelp Host and Maple describe taking an order on the call and sending it to your till. Popmenu's page says its assistant texts guests a link to order or reserve, so the guest finishes the job. Slang's page leans on reservations and guest handling. The right pick depends on what comes through your phone, so start there.
What your phone actually does all week
Before comparing vendors, sort a week of calls. For a typical small restaurant the calls fall into four groups, and each group favours a different product:
- Booking calls: tables for tonight or the weekend, party sizes, changes and cancellations.
- Order calls: takeaway or delivery, often with modifiers ("no onions, extra sauce") and a pick-up time.
- Question calls: hours, parking, allergens, whether you take large groups, whether a dish is gluten-free.
- Problem calls: a missing order, a complaint, a supplier, a private-event enquiry with a budget.
Say a 40-seat restaurant logs 70 calls on a normal week: 18 bookings, 20 orders, 24 questions, 8 problems. A tool that handles bookings and questions but not orders covers 60 per cent of the calls; one that handles all four groups well still has to send the 8 problem calls to a person. Count your own mix first, because the right answer for a pizzeria with mostly order calls is not the right answer for a fine-dining room with mostly bookings.
The four tools, as each vendor describes itself
Everything in this table comes from each vendor's own public page, checked on 27 October 2026. Maple's figures are its standard prices before discounts. Where a page does not say, the table says so, and you should ask in writing.
| Tool | List price | Orders | Reservations | Other points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yelp Host | Free for up to 30 days, then from $249 a month; its page's comparison table shows $249 to $399 | Takes phone orders, texts payment links, syncs with your POS; no commission on takeout orders, per the page | Through integrated booking tools, including waitlist | Pulls hours and details from your Yelp page; detects the caller's language; transfers to a number you set |
| Slang.ai | Not published on the page checked | Not described as order-taking on the page checked | OpenTable, SevenRooms, Yelp and Resy listed | Texts links and confirmations; call recordings and summaries; private-events tools with Tripleseat and Perfect Venue; 97 languages on a higher tier |
| Popmenu AI Answering | From $149 a month; custom quotes | Texts guests an ordering link; does not take the order itself | Texts a reservation link | Forwards from your existing number; owner app shows priority calls, peak hours and time saved |
| Maple | Voice (answering, FAQs, transfer) $150 a month, or $85 billed yearly; Pro (adds orders and reservations) $350, or $220 yearly; standard prices before volume discounts | Pro plan takes phone orders with modifiers and sends them to your POS in real time (drive-thru and kiosk are in early access) | Pro plan: reservations on OpenTable; Voice plan has none | Says most restaurants go live within 24 hours, with phone set-up and menu programming handled by Maple |
One caution on prices. Yelp's own page lists Slang at $399 to $599 a month and another vendor at 59 cents a conversation in a comparison table. That is a competitor's claim, not Slang's published price, so treat it as a rough pointer and get a quote from Slang itself. And "from" prices rise with call volume, locations and add-ons, so the number you pay is your quote, not the headline.
The conditions that decide eligibility
Two details save a wasted week. Yelp Host is a restaurant product that builds itself from your Yelp page, so you need a Yelp business listing you have claimed and kept accurate; if your hours on Yelp are wrong, the assistant starts with wrong information. The page does not state every eligibility rule, so ask Yelp to confirm in writing. Popmenu's assistant forwards from your existing number and texts links, so check that your mobile carrier or phone system allows the kind of forwarding it needs, and that the sending number appears sensible to guests when the text arrives.
Slang's and Maple's pages emphasise integration, so the practical question is the same for both: does it work with your point-of-sale and booking systems? Ask for the exact names of the systems, a named restaurant using the same combination, and whether the AI reads live availability or just takes a request for staff to confirm.
The main worked example: a 40-seat restaurant with takeaway
An illustrative restaurant, with figures to replace by your own. It has 70 calls a week. 20 are takeaway orders at an average $38. It misses about a third of phone calls at peak times, when the kitchen is slammed, so about 7 order calls a week go to voicemail or a busy tone, and let us say half of those customers order elsewhere. That is about 3.5 lost orders a week, or 15 a month, worth $570 in sales and, at an illustrative 65 per cent margin after food cost, about $370 in gross profit.
Now the booking side. Of 18 weekly booking calls, say 5 are missed at peak and 2 of those never ring back. A table of three might spend $75, so 8 lost bookings a month is $600 in sales. Together the missed calls cost about $1,170 in sales a month. A $249 tool covers that if it recovers a quarter of it; a $149 link-texting tool covers it if enough guests tap the link. The point is not the exact figure; it is that the tools pay on a sensible volume, and the difference between them lies in how much they recover.
That recovery rate is where the link-versus-order difference bites. If a tool texts a link and only 60 per cent of callers tap it and finish (an assumption to measure, not a claim), you recover 60 per cent of what a tool that takes the order itself would. On 15 lost orders a month, that is about 6 fewer orders, or $150 of gross profit. Over a year, it is more than the price gap between plans. This is why a cheap plan is not automatically the better buy.
Eight calls to run on each tool
Use the vendor's demo number or free trial, ring from a mobile with background noise (a radio or a kettle), and run exactly the same script on each tool. Score every call as pass, partial or fail.
- Simple booking. "Table for four, Saturday at 7:30." Pass: confirms details, repeats back, sends a confirmation text. Check if it saw live availability.
- Booking change. "Can I move Saturday to Sunday?" Pass: finds the booking by name and changes it. Fail: creates a second booking.
- Allergen question. "Is the risotto gluten-free?" Pass: answers only from your approved list, or says staff will confirm and takes a number. Fail: guesses. Allergens are safety, so a guess is an automatic fail.
- Takeaway order with modifiers. "Margherita, no basil, and a side of fries, for 7:15." Pass: captures it right, confirms the total or the link, and sends it to the till. This separates the order-takers from the link-texters.
- Large group. "Fourteen for a birthday." Pass: recognises it is beyond the rules and takes details for a person, plus any minimum spend.
- Interruption. Change your mind mid-sentence ("actually make that six"). Pass: handles it without starting again.
- Angry call. "My order was wrong last night." Pass: apologises once, takes details, and transfers or promises a call back. Fail: tries to resolve a refund. See answering restaurant complaints with AI for what the follow-up should say.
- Foreign language or accent. A caller who speaks a second language or has a strong accent. Pass: copes or hands over. Yelp's page says its assistant detects the caller's language, Slang lists 97 languages on a higher tier, and Maple's says multiple languages; test each in the languages your guests actually use.
Total the scores. A tool that fails the allergen question or the order test is out for a restaurant that needs those, whatever its price. A scoring sheet in a spreadsheet takes ten minutes: one row per call, one column per tool, three colours.
The same order call, handled two ways
An illustrative takeaway call shows the gap between a tool that takes the order and one that texts a link. The caller wants one margherita with no basil and fries, for 7:15.
Order-taking tool:
Caller: A margherita, no basil, and a side of fries, ready for 7:15.
AI: One margherita, no basil, one fries, ready at 7:15. That's $19.50.
Shall I text you a payment link? ... Done. The kitchen has it.
Link-texting tool:
Caller: A margherita, no basil, and a side of fries, ready for 7:15.
AI: I can text you our ordering link so you can add that. What's the best number?
... Sent. Tap the link and choose your items.Both are reasonable designs. The second puts work on the caller, who is often driving, or holding a baby, or simply does not want to tap through a menu. Some will complete the order and some will not. What matters is not which is better in principle but how many of your callers finish, which you can only learn by measuring orders captured against calls answered. Ask any vendor you shortlist for the completion rate among its own customers, and treat a figure from a recorded demo as marketing.
What the AI should hand to a person, as a table
Whichever tool you choose, give it the same hand-off rules. Write them down and ask the vendor to configure each one:
| Call | AI action | Human step |
|---|---|---|
| Allergy or dietary question not on the approved list | Says staff will confirm; takes a number | Manager rings back before service |
| Party of ten or more | Takes details and the date; no confirmation | Events lead confirms with deposit terms |
| Private hire or buy-out | Takes budget, date and headcount | Owner replies the same day |
| Complaint or refund | Apologises once; takes order number and details | Manager calls back |
| Caller asks twice for a person | Transfers | Whoever is on the floor |
| Supplier or sales call | Takes a message | Read at the end of service |
The allergen row is the one to be strictest about. An AI that says "that's gluten-free" from a menu description is repeating a guess. Only let it answer allergen questions from a list your kitchen has signed off, and re-sign the list whenever a recipe or supplier changes. The call-script wording for these hand-offs is covered in writing call scripts and escalation rules.
Scoring sheet: how a finished comparison reads
After the eight calls, your sheet might look like this. The marks below are invented for illustration, to show the format, and are not test results for any product.
| Call | Tool A | Tool B | Tool C | Tool D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Simple booking | Pass | Pass | Partial | Pass |
| 3 Allergen | Pass | Fail | Pass | Pass |
| 4 Order with modifiers | Pass | n/a | Partial | Pass |
| 7 Angry caller | Pass | Pass | Fail | Pass |
Read it by elimination. Any automatic fail (an allergen guess, a duplicate booking) removes a tool for your restaurant until the vendor fixes it. Then compare on price among those left. If two tools tie on calls, choose the one whose price and contract you can leave most easily, because the AI that is best this year may not be next year.
A mistake that happens in week one
A realistic one: the venue's hours changed for the winter, the owner updated the website but not the assistant, and the AI told callers the kitchen closed at 10 when it now closed at 9:30. Three guests arrived to a closed kitchen and one left a review. The fix costs nothing and takes minutes: keep a single page of hours, specials and closures, make updating the AI part of the same checklist as updating the website, and read the call summaries for the first fortnight. Where the AI works from your Yelp page, as Yelp Host does, the same rule applies to that listing.
What to ask each vendor in writing
- The full monthly price for your call volume and number of locations, and what happens above it.
- Contract length and the notice period to cancel. Yelp's page offers up to 30 days free; ask what "additional fees and terms" apply.
- Which point-of-sale and booking systems it connects to, by name, and whether the link reads or writes.
- How call recordings are stored, for how long, and whether they train the vendor's models.
- What happens when the AI cannot cope: where the transfer goes and what the caller hears if nobody answers.
The longer list of questions is in twelve questions to ask before you sign up, and the base cost sums are in what AI phone answering costs and pays back.
Which fits which restaurant
These are leanings, not verdicts, because your call mix and systems decide.
- Takeaway-heavy pizza or curry house on a till the tool supports: an order-taking tool, so Yelp Host or Maple, where the AI takes the order itself.
- Reservation-heavy dining room with an existing booking system: Slang's strength is reservation handling and events; check it reads your system.
- Café or pub with mostly question calls: Popmenu's lower price and link-texting suit a venue that mainly wants hours and menu questions answered and a link sent. See whether a coffee shop's call volume justifies an AI receptionist.
- A venue already on Yelp Guest Manager: Yelp's page offers bundled pricing with Host and says reservations and the waitlist sync in real time, so fewer systems hold your bookings. Weigh that against being tied to one vendor.
What to do if none fits
If no restaurant-specific tool passes your test, a general AI receptionist can still answer hours and take messages. Goodcall lists plans from $79 a month, Smith.ai a free plan for 25 calls and $150 for 75, and Quo has a Sona AI agent in its $28-a-user plan. They do not take POS orders the way a restaurant-specific tool does, so use them for the question calls and messages and keep orders on your normal channels. The general set-up steps are in how to set up an AI receptionist without losing callers.
Friday at 7 pm: testing the busy hour
A restaurant phone does not fail on a quiet Tuesday; it fails when six calls arrive in ten minutes while the pass is full. Popmenu's page says its assistant can handle many calls at once, and Yelp's says it answers every call with no hold times, but a claim on a page is not a test. Ask each vendor to let you place three calls at the same moment from three phones, and check that each is answered and that none hears the others' details. Do the same during a real service in your trial week, and have a staff member stand by to listen to a few calls live.
Also check the opposite problem: a quiet line that the AI answers too eagerly. If a regular rings and wants the owner by name, can they say so and be put through? Give the AI a short list of names it should transfer on sight, such as the owner, the head chef and a long-standing supplier, and test each. A tool that makes regulars repeat themselves to a machine will cost you goodwill that no order total records.
Leaving cleanly if it does not work
Before signing, find out how to stop. Ask whether the plan is month to month, how much notice cancelling needs, and whether you keep your recordings and call data on exit. Make sure the phone number stays yours: with forwarding set up from your existing number, leaving means switching the forward off, whereas a new number issued by the vendor may be hard to port. Put one line in your own notes with the cancellation date and the person responsible, because a trial that rolls into a paid plan unnoticed is a common way to pay for a tool you stopped using.
First month: measure, then decide
Run the winner for four weeks on unanswered calls only. Each week, count calls answered, orders captured, bookings made and calls handed to staff. Compare orders and bookings to the same weeks before. Listen to five calls a week, including every one marked as a complaint. At the end, compare the gain to the plan price and decide. The measuring method is in how to measure an AI receptionist's return, and if a wrong booking slips through, here is how to fix it without losing the guest.
Questions before you choose a restaurant phone assistant
Which of the four is cheapest for a small restaurant?
On published list prices, Popmenu AI Answering starts lowest at $149 a month, Maple's answering-only Voice plan is $150, and Yelp Host is from $249 after a free trial of up to 30 days. Maple Pro, which adds orders and reservations, is $350. Slang.ai publishes no price, so get a written quote.
Do any of them take takeaway orders by phone?
Yelp Host and Maple describe taking phone orders and sending them to a point-of-sale system. Popmenu's page says it texts guests a link to order or reserve, which is not the same as the AI taking the order itself. Ask each vendor to demonstrate an order with a modifier.
Do I need a Yelp listing to use Yelp Host?
Its setup reads your hours and details from your Yelp page, so you need a listing you control. Confirm eligibility with Yelp before you plan around it, because the product page does not spell out every requirement.
What if I already use OpenTable or Resy?
Slang's page names OpenTable, SevenRooms, Yelp and Resy among its reservation integrations. Check each vendor's integration list for your booking system, and ask whether the AI reads availability live or only passes on a request.
How should I test them fairly?
Use the same eight scripted calls on each, in the vendor's demo or trial, on the same day, and score each call the same way. Do not rely on the vendor's recorded demo calls, which are edited for demonstration.
Further reads
- How Much Does AI Cost a Small Restaurant Each Month? — The whole AI bill for a small restaurant, month by month.
- AI Receptionist for Small Businesses in the USA: TCPA, Porting, Pricing — Rosie, Goodcall, Dialzara, My AI Front Desk and Smith.ai costed at three call volumes, plus the consent and number-porting checks to make first.
- AI Restaurant Order Taking: Who Takes the Order, Who Texts a Link — Maple, Yelp Host, Popmenu AI Answering, Square and Owner.com sorted into phone-order takers and link senders, with a ten-call test.
- Best AI for the Food Industry: Picks for a Cafe, Caterer or Takeaway — Six AI picks for a cafe, caterer or takeaway: costing, menu copy, allergen records, supplier orders, phone answering and POS-built AI.
- Is Yelp Host Worth It for a Small Restaurant? — An independent cost-and-listing verdict on Yelp Host: the price, the break-even sum, and what your Yelp page and POS must have in place.
- Maple AI for Restaurants: Voice or Pro Plan, and Who Needs Which — Maple Voice answers and transfers calls; Pro adds orders and reservations. Compare the monthly cost, break-even orders and the test to run first.
- Owner.com Pricing for Restaurants: Flat Rate or Per-Order Fee? — Owner.com's $249 plan with a 5% order fee against the $499 flat plan: the break-even in sales and orders, with worked monthly numbers.
- Popmenu AI Answering: Does It Take Orders or Only Send Links? — Popmenu AI Answering sends links instead of taking orders. A test-call script, a link-drop-off sum and what to put in place before a takeaway relies on it.
- SevenRooms Voice AI: What It Does and Who It Suits — What SevenRooms Voice AI does, why you must ask for a quote, and how it compares with Yelp Host, Slang and Popmenu.
- Slang.ai for Restaurants: Is It Worth It for an Independent? — Slang's Core and Premium tiers, the booking systems it connects to, private-events capture and a break-even sum for an independent.
- AI Software for Restaurants: POS-Built AI or an Add-On Tool? — Compare Toast IQ, Square AI and Lightspeed AI with add-on tools, job by job, with list prices and a checked date.
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.
Sources: Yelp Host product page; Slang.ai product page; Popmenu AI Answering page; Maple product page; Goodcall, Smith.ai and Quo pricing pages (all checked 27 October 2026).