Checking out the waiterless uWink in Mountain View for the first time

Posted By Hup | December 16, 2008

Tonight me and Stephanie were invited to grab a bite to eat at a very unique and interesting place down the road in Mountain View called uWink. There are 3 uWink restaurants that are all located in California and they all have one thing in common - no waiters.

You see, uWink has replaced the waiters that have always been a necessity in restaurants with LCD touch screens that not only let you order your food, but also let you play games by yourself, your table and sometimes that entire restaurant. These screens make for a very interesting situation because sometimes you’re not talking at all while you’re playing games by yourself, sometimes you’re being super social and screaming like crazy as you’re trying to beat the other people at your table and sometimes you’re screaming across the room as you’re trying to beat everyone in the restaurant. The games were a lot of fun and our tables game of choice was called uSketch, which is like Win, Lose or Draw on crack.


Inside the Mountain View uWink


Who needs a stinkin’ waiter?

Overall the concept was pretty cool, but as we rode home both me and Stephanie wondered how the uber-techy restaurant would survive after everyone had already been there once to check it out. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we had a lot of fun, but I doubt that I’ll go back there any time soon just for there delicious food or fantastic drink specials. Its definitely fun going there with a group of people, but just be well aware that after the initial buzz of the place wears off and you all find yourselves playing single player tetris-like games on your touch screens, it can start to feel a little awkward. But, if you’ve never been there before then you should definitely check it out at least once.

One other thing that’s pretty funny is that although you don’t have waiters taking your orders, they still have to bring your food and drinks out to your table. Well, since they only know you by what you punched into your touch screen thingy, this also means that they have to call you by the name you enter in all night long - which can be quite entertaining. All I’m saying is that if you do end up checking out uWink, just be sure to tell ‘em that Big Papa Pump sent you. :)

Here’s a quick video introduction to uWink and what they’re all about.

Filed Under great friends, new/random experience

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    1. karen on December 24th, 2008 2:30 pm

      OMG–uWink is the most anti-social social place I’ve ever been to. So fun to play table and group games with the entire resturaunt, but you barely talk to each other outside of that.

      So glad you two made it out to rock the night. :) Where should our next adventure be to??

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