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ZDNET's takeaways
Perplexity's new feature lets you make a restaurant reservation straight through OpenTable.
The feature uses OpenTable's system, so you don't have to trust the AI to do it for you.
Instead of navigating between apps or tabs to find a restaurant and then book a table, Perplexity handles everything.
Finding the perfect restaurant and making a reservation just got a whole lot easier thanks to a new feature in Perplexity.
The chatbot (which ZDNET's Steven Vaughan-Nichols prefers over every other chatbot) announced a new partnership with OpenTable this week that lets you reserve a restaurant table straight from Perplexity.
Also: I tested 3 text-to-speech AI models to see which is best - hear my results
This means you can hit up the AI for ideas and make sure you have a table without switching between apps or tabs.
To try out the new reservation mode, I presented Perplexity with a simple query: the best date night restaurants near me. But to go a step beyond what a simple Google search would do, I asked the AI to find date night spots located in historic buildings.
As a bit of a foodie, I didn't expect to see anything unfamiliar on the list, but I was surprised by Perplexity's response. The AI curated a list of five local restaurants, two of which I had never heard of before. Beyond just listing locations, though, Perplexity also gave details about the history behind each building.
I decided to give one of the new ones a shot.
Booking a restaurant with Perplexity
Perplexity's restaurant reservation feature isn't like ChatGPT's agent mode, which switches between two services; it actually uses the reservation platform. Making a reservation works exactly the same as if I went straight to OpenTable.
After choosing a restaurant, I selected a date, time, and party size. The next screen asked for my contact information and any special requests, such as whether I was celebrating a birthday or anniversary. Once that was done, I had a table. I got a link to manage the reservation and email confirmation from OpenTable. I had no reason to doubt things worked correctly, but I was able to access my reservation by going directly through OpenTable, too.
While I could accomplish the exact same thing without using Perplexity, the process was so smooth that I'll definitely use it again -- both for finding restaurants and booking a table.
Also: This handy AI voice recorder has changed the way I work (and it's easy to use)
Before, I'd usually use Google to find restaurants and then head off to another site to make a reservation. I might ask an AI chatbot for help, but I'm usually one to read through reviews first. Perplexity's partnership removes that middle step and makes the process a lot easier. In fact, after trying it out a few times, it's probably going to be my new source for trying to decide on a restaurant.
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