Restaurant Phone System in 2026: 14 Options Compared

Illustration of restaurant phone options compared: AI agents, VoIP lines and live answering

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If your problem is missed calls during the rush and after close, you want an AI phone agent that takes orders into your POS and books into your reservation system. Our pick is Persistence: it takes orders into Toast, Square or Clover, books into OpenTable, Resy or SevenRooms, costs from $0.10 per minute, and lets you test the agent before it goes live. Loman and Maple also suit order-heavy spots, Slang suits reservation-heavy full-service restaurants, and Yelp Host suits restaurants already on Yelp. If you only need cheaper phone lines, a VoIP system like Ooma or RingCentral is enough, but someone still has to answer.

Many restaurants are choosing a phone system whether they planned to or not. AT&T plans to retire nearly all copper landlines by 2029, so the old line at the host stand is going away. At the same time, the phone keeps ringing during the Friday rush, and every unanswered call is a lost cover or an order that goes to a delivery app instead.

This list compares 14 options across all three kinds of restaurant phone system, with published prices, what each one actually handles, and who it’s best for.

What are the three kinds of restaurant phone system?

	VoIP phone line	AI phone agent	Live answering service
Who answers	Your staff	An AI agent	Remote operators
During the rush	Rings until someone is free	Answers every call at once	Answers, usually takes a message
Takes orders into the POS	Only if staff key them in	Yes, if integrated	Rarely
Books resos	Only if staff do it	Yes, if integrated	Sometimes
Typical price	Per user per month	Per location, per minute or flat tier	Per minute or per call
Best for	Replacing an old landline	Missed calls, orders and resos	A person on every call

Many restaurants combine them: a VoIP line or POS phone number, with an AI agent answering first and transferring to the host stand when needed.

How we compared them

We checked each option’s public pricing page, integration list and documentation on November 11, 2026. We didn’t place test calls with every vendor, and we didn’t score anything that isn’t published. We looked at:

Restaurant workflow: answers, takes orders with modifiers into the POS, books and changes resos, transfers to staff.
Integrations: named POS (Toast, Square, Clover) and reservation systems (OpenTable, Resy, SevenRooms).
Pricing: whether the full price is published, setup fees, contract terms.
Quality controls: transfer rules, testing before go-live, recordings and transcripts, languages.
Multi-location: per-location setup and reporting.
Track record: published restaurant customers and scale.

We list Persistence first because it’s the best fit for most restaurants that want orders and resos answered on the call at a published price. For every other option, we give the use case it fits best.

The 14 options at a glance

Option	Type	Best for	Published price	Orders into POS	Books resos
Persistence	AI agent	Orders and resos on the call at a published price	From $0.10 per minute, all in</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="https://loman.ai/pricing">Loman</a></td><td>AI agent</td><td>Order-heavy pizza and takeout on Toast</td><td>Not published</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="https://www.slang.ai/pricing">Slang</a></td><td>AI agent</td><td>Reservation-heavy full-service</td><td>From $399/location/month	No (texts a link)	Yes
Maple	AI agent	A flat, published monthly price	Pro $220/month yearly, $350 monthly	Yes (Pro)	Yes (Pro)
Yelp Host	AI agent	Restaurants already on Yelp	From $249/month ($199 with Guest Manager)	Yes	Yes
SevenRooms Voice AI	AI agent	Groups already on SevenRooms	Not published	Not stated	Yes
Hostie	AI agent	Groups wanting cross-location booking	Not published	Yes (higher plans)	Yes (higher plans)
SoundHound	AI agent	Large chains	Not published	Yes	No
ConverseNow	AI agent	Pizza and QSR chains	Not published	Yes	No
Goodcall	AI agent (general)	Low call counts, simple questions	$79-299/month by unique callers</td><td>Custom only</td><td>Custom only</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="https://www.ooma.com/uploads/pdf/office/sellsheet-restaurant.pdf">Ooma Office</a></td><td>VoIP line</td><td>Cheapest landline replacement</td><td>From $19.95 per user/month	No	No
RingCentral	VoIP line + AI add-on	Multi-site phone system	From $20 per user/month</td><td>No</td><td>No</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="https://www.nextiva.com/pricing">Nextiva</a></td><td>VoIP line + AI add-on</td><td>Lines and an AI add-on from one vendor</td><td>From $15 per user/month	Claims Square and Toast	Claims table booking
Smith.ai	Live answering	A person on every call	From $300/month (30 calls)	No	No

Prices checked November 11, 2026 on each provider’s public pricing page. Plans change, so confirm before you sign.

AI phone agents for restaurants

1. Persistence

A platform for building, testing and monitoring AI voice agents. Persistence connects to Toast, Square, Clover, OpenTable, Resy, SevenRooms and other POS and reservation systems, so phone orders land as tickets and resos land in your book. For phone orders it texts the guest a payment link. You can run simulated calls covering your menu and transfer rules before the agent takes real calls, then see every call’s recording, transcript and outcome. One agent can handle reservations, changes and the waitlist, to-go orders with modifiers, catering and event leads, order status, menu and allergen questions from your menu, gift cards and hours, plus outbound calls like order confirmations, reservation reminders and guest feedback, in 40+ languages and across every location.

Best for: restaurants and groups that want orders and resos finished on the call, landing in their own POS and reservation system, at a published per-minute price.
Price: from $0.10 per minute, all in, plus $2/month per phone number; $10 in free credits to start.
In practice: food businesses already run high call volumes on Persistence. A coffee chain makes more than 1,000 calls a day for its internal operations, and a food delivery brand makes more than 9,000 calls a day to collect feedback on orders.

2. Loman

An AI phone agent built for restaurants, strongest in pizza, wings and takeout. Loman says it’s live in more than 1,500 restaurants and is a Toast partner. It takes orders with payment and books reservations on its Premium plan, and integrates with Toast, Square, Clover, SpotOn, Shift4, NCR Aloha, Olo, OpenTable and Resy.

Best for: order-heavy independents and small groups.
Price: not published; plans are Starter, Premium and Enterprise. Ask about setup fees and contract length.
Watch for: multi-location features sit on Enterprise.

3. Slang

An AI host for full-service and fine dining, built around reservations. It books into OpenTable, SevenRooms, Yelp and Resy, and handles events leads through Tripleseat and Perfect Venue. It texts ordering links rather than taking orders on the call.

Best for: reservation-heavy full-service restaurants.
Price: Core from $399 per location per month; Premium from $599.
Watch for: no phone orders; per-location pricing adds up for groups.

4. Maple

AI phone answering with flat, published tiers. The Pro plan takes orders into Toast, Square, Clover or Shift4 with payment, and books through OpenTable.

Best for: independents who want one flat monthly price.
Price: Voice $85/month billed yearly ($150 monthly), answers questions only; Pro $220/month billed yearly ($350 monthly).
Watch for: orders and resos need Pro; multi-location is Enterprise.

5. Yelp Host

Yelp’s AI phone agent for restaurants. It takes takeout orders and texts a payment link, books and changes reservations (including OpenTable), and manages the waitlist with Yelp Guest Manager. Yelp says it has handled more than 1 million calls since its October 2025 launch.

Best for: restaurants already using Yelp Guest Manager or getting heavy Yelp traffic.
Price: from $249/month after a free trial, or $199/month with Guest Manager.
Watch for: it answers on its own Yelp Host number, and the POS integrations aren’t named.

6. SevenRooms Voice AI

Voice AI built into the SevenRooms reservation and guest CRM platform. It books, changes and cancels reservations, recognizes returning guests, and collects deposits by payment link.

Best for: groups already on SevenRooms.
Price: not published.
Watch for: phone orders aren’t mentioned.

7. Hostie

An AI host for restaurants with orders by phone or text and reservations on higher plans, plus cross-location booking for groups. It lists 20 languages.

Best for: multi-location groups that want sister-restaurant booking.
Price: not published (Essential, Premium, Hospitality Plus, Enterprise).

8. SoundHound

Enterprise voice AI for phone and drive-thru ordering, running at more than 10,000 restaurant locations by its own count. It integrates with Square, Toast, Oracle and Olo.

Best for: large chains and franchise groups.
Price: not published.

9. ConverseNow

Voice ordering for pizza and QSR chains, by phone and drive-thru, with integrations into chain POS systems like Brink, NCR Aloha, PAR and Olo.

Best for: pizza and QSR chains.
Price: not published. Not built for a single independent.

10. Goodcall

A general small-business AI agent priced by unique callers, with unlimited minutes. It answers questions and takes messages; orders and reservations need custom setup.

Best for: low call counts and simple questions.
Price: $79 (100 callers), $129 (500), $299 (2,000) a month.

Phone lines (VoIP) for restaurants

These replace your landline with an internet phone system. Staff still answer, but you get call routing, a phone menu, hold messages and multiple lines.

11. Ooma Office

Low-cost business lines with a virtual receptionist menu (“press 1 for takeout”), on-hold specials and paging.

Best for: the cheapest replacement for an old landline.
Price: from $19.95 per user per month (Ooma restaurant sales sheet), month to month.

12. RingCentral

A full business phone system with multi-site support, plus an AI Receptionist add-on that answers and routes calls.

Best for: multi-location groups that need a full phone system.
Price: Core from $20 per user/month billed yearly ($30 monthly); AI Receptionist add-on from $39.
Watch for: no named restaurant POS or reservation integrations.

13. Nextiva

Business phone lines with an AI agent add-on that Nextiva says can take takeout orders and table bookings with Square and Toast.

Best for: lines and an AI add-on from one vendor.
Price: Core from $15 per user/month billed yearly; AI add-on $1.50 per conversation, or $99/month for 100 conversations standalone.

Live answering

14. Smith.ai

Live receptionists who answer every call, with an AI receptionist option. No restaurant-specific features.

Best for: catering and events businesses that want a person on every call.
Price: live from $300/month (30 calls) to $2,100/month (300 calls); AI receptionist from free (25 calls) to $500/month.
Watch for: expensive at restaurant call volumes.

Coming from your POS

Toast opened early access to an AI “Answering Agent” in October 2026; no price yet.
Square announced AI voice ordering for phone calls in October 2025.

If you’re on one of these, ask your rep what’s available before you add another tool.

What does it cost at the same call volume?

Prices use different units, so here they are side by side for one illustrative month: 1,000 calls at about 1.5 minutes each (1,500 minutes). This is our own arithmetic from list prices.

Option	About this much a month
Persistence	$152 ($150 in minutes + $2 phone number)</td></tr> <tr><td>Maple Pro</td><td>$220-350, flat
Yelp Host	$249 ($199 with Guest Manager)
Goodcall	$299, if under 2,000 different callers</td></tr> <tr><td>Slang Core</td><td>$399 per location
Dialzara (general AI, not listed above)	About $524 ($349 for 1,000 minutes + overage)
Smith.ai live	$2,100 covers only 300 calls</td></tr> <tr><td>Ooma (2 lines at the host stand)</td><td>About $50, but staff still answer every call

Checked November 11, 2026. Your quote may differ.

For what an AI receptionist should handle and which calls to keep with staff, see our AI receptionist for restaurants guide.

How to choose

Count your calls. Pull a month of call logs: total calls, how many during the rush and after close, and how many are orders vs resos vs questions.
Start from your POS and reservation system. Pick an option that books and takes orders into the ones you already use.
Check what your current vendors offer. Yelp, SevenRooms, Toast and Square all have or are adding phone AI.
Compare at your volume, not on the headline price.
Test with your real menu: a Friday reso for six, a pizza with three modifiers, a gluten-free question, a guest who wants a manager, background noise.
Read the contract: setup fees, term length, refunds.

Related resources

Keep going with our guide to choosing an AI receptionist, Toast vs Square for the POS side, and our hub guide to contact center automation.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best phone system for a restaurant?

It depends on the problem. For missed calls, orders and resos, an AI phone agent integrated with your POS and reservation system. For cheaper lines, a VoIP system like Ooma or RingCentral. For a person on every call, a live answering service.

Do I still need a phone line if I use an AI agent?

Usually yes. The AI answers your existing number (forwarded) or a new one, and transfers calls to a line at the host stand when a person is needed.

Can an AI phone system take orders into Toast or Square?

Several can, including Loman, Maple, Yelp Host and Persistence. Ask to see a test order land as a real ticket with modifiers.

What happens to my restaurant's landline?

AT&T plans to retire nearly all copper landlines by 2029. If you’re still on one, you’ll need to move to a VoIP line or another service.

How much does a restaurant phone system cost?

VoIP lines start around $15-20 per user a month. AI agents run from about $150 to $525 a month at 1,500 call minutes. Live answering costs $1,700 or more at similar volume.

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