Sometimes, the future doesn't arrive.

You know - one of the things I hate about dining out, is having to wait to get my check. It honestly drives me up a wall.

I don't know how many universal signs you can make to let the server know you want to leave. Piling plates in the middle of the table. Staring at them from a distance. Smoke signals. Just give me my effin check, for shits sakes.

So, last year when a restaurant in Palo Alto opened with the promise of getting rid of all those annoyances - I about lost my mind. Of course, it took me a full year to get over there. I don't get as many opportunities to hang out in Palo Alto as I would like.

Why the interest? The ability to order and check out with a table side device. Youtube vid here.

I have nothing against servers. I just think I can handle this process myself. Like self checkout at the grocery store.

It seems though, those little devices aren't working out so well.

We get seated at the table and a server comes to take our order. Remember, the table side devices were the only reason I picked this place. I ask the guy if they weren't using the devices anymore. He said they only had a couple of them and they were having some sort of "issue". I don't remember if it was hardware or software, because at that point I didn't care. I was disappointed. Luckily the food made up for it.

I'm not sure if it really was a problem with the systems, or if people aren't used to getting rid of the tradition of having a server come to your table. I was sure these little devices were going to take the restaurant industry by storm. Which just sucks it didn't.