Tech Gets a Seat at the Dinner Table

Technology may’ve ruined our peaches, but the universe is making up for it with two new tech innovations in restaurant dining.

First, a helpful tool for forgetful imbibers.

Since opening in May, City Tap House has provided drinkers with Tasting Notes, a sheet for tracking observations about the beers they were sampling. After a long night at the bar, patrons could give their Notes to servers and within a few days, the information would be added into a personalized database which was accessible by signing in to City Tap House’s website. It’s the alcoholic’s version of Goodreads.com.

But now it’s gotten even better. With Beer 2.0, drinkers can access their logs from any browser. (Think: on your iPhone when you’re out and can’t remember whether or not you really loved or really hated the Lancaster Milk Stout.) Sign up by clicking here.

Second, an excuse to leave your wallet at home.

Thanks to locally-created XIPWIRE, diners can pay for their meals (in participating restaurants) with a simple text message. Once you register with XIPWIRE — which you can do by texting “go” to 56624, the whole process takes less than minute — here’s how it works:

1. When it’s time to pay your bill, give your server your XIPWIRE username.
2. The server will enter the bill amount and username is entered into one of the restaurant’s XIPWIRE-equipped iPads.
3. You’ll receive a text message asking you to verify the charge.
4. Once the charge is verified, you will enter your PIN number to confirm and pay for the meal.

For diners who split checks, the process is just as simple. Instead of transferring money to the restaurant, diners would transfer money to the primary bill-payer’s account and then that person would pay the entire bill using the transferred funds.

All of this can be done in seconds and will save on endlessly annoying ATM fees. You’ll pay a $0.50 transaction fee when receiving a transaction or transferring funds between XIPWIRE or bank accounts. When transferring funds from a credit card, there’s a $0.50 transaction fee along with a 2.5 percent service charge for card processing. XIPWIRE accounts can draw money from a debit card, bank account, credit card or with money that friends and family transfer to the account.

Stephen Starr’s Pod is currently the only local restaurant with XIPWIRE’s technology.