Posted on: Wednesday, February 28, 2001
Trying out online restaurant services
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Web gives us food for thought. No, not ideas or concepts, but real food, which can be ordered through online delivery services, or arranged for through a restaurant reservation system.
The Advertiser placed a restaurant reservation through RestaurantRow.com (no connection with the commercial complex here), one of the very few online reservations services including Hawai‘i restaurants. We also thought we’d give the system a little test by clicking on the Chart House Restaurant in Kane‘ohe, knowing it’s now called Haleiwa Joe’s.
Then over to Food.com, an online food delivery service, where we chose California Pizza Kitchen, one of the eateries with delivery provided by Room Service in Paradise Inc.
The reservation request generated an automated e-mail acknowledgement, but confirmation would take a while since RestaurantRow.com folks alert the restaurant to reservations only between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern time (hours should be extended soon, they say). A follow-up e-mail arrived the next morning, saying the reservation could not be confirmed because the management was changed ("I believe it is called Holly Eva Joe," they wrote).
Our Food.com request generated a call from the Paradise delivery folks, saying they start work only a half-hour before the delivery time; could our delivery be delayed a bit?
The food arrived just fine, proving online ordering can work well, especially if you need to make plans in advance. But all the confusion made us wonder: Wouldn’t a phone call be easier?
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