I do call when ordering from the family-owned restaurant we get takeout from. They recognize us when we call and a sometimes we order off menu.
I appreciate businesses (or the associates thereof) that provide this service.
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None of the places we regularly go are large enough to have their own app. I assume only large chains do that. But yeah, if i were offering from Domino’s or something I’d probably use the app.
Probably depends on who you get.
When I was in college I waited tables at a pizzeria that was part of a local chain. They had a coupon in the local Entertainment book that was “buy one specialty pizza, get a second specialty pizza free”. And the computer was a stickler… you could not apply the coupon if both pizzas weren’t specialty pizzas.
This annoyed the heck out of a lot of people who wanted to order a specialty pizza for the parents and plain cheese (cheaper than a specialty pizza) for the kids. They reasoned that since the second pizza they wanted was cheaper than the one we were willing to give them for free that they should be allowed to get the cheese pizza for free with the coupon.
But the computer truly wouldn’t allow it.
So I would always point out to my customers that one of the specialty pizzas was a double pepperoni (pepperoni, extra cheese, second layer of pepperoni) and you were allowed to make up to two changes to a specialty pizza. So you could literally order a double pepperoni pizza hold the first layer of pepperoni and hold the second layer of pepperoni and be left with just extra cheese… probably close enough to what they wanted to be ok. My customers would roll their eyes and then agree to do that.
Other waitresses would just stand there and argue with their customers that they couldn’t do what the customer wanted.
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BTW, the kitchen hated it when they got orders for double pepperoni pizzas hold both layers of pepperoni. But that was their problem. It’s easier on them to make extra cheese.
Maybe not an app, but at least in my neck of the woods a lot of local restaurants have websites that take orders. I was kind of surprised, I’m talking restaurants in Kansas with exactly one location, not even local chains. Well, the pizza place we like has two locations.
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A lot of restaurants added a website for ordering during covid. I’m sure it’s more of add-on software to their site.
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Does it matter? Cause, had sex!
Inconsiderate and/or inattentive drivers with “baby on board” signs on their cars.
One thing I get extremely annoyed by: when I am behind another driver on a highway entrance ramp and they try to merge going slow speed. Today I was behind a guy merging at 35mph where the speed limit is 65 and most drivers are traveling faster. It’s crazy dangerous to do that, and you are endangering me as well.
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Yeah, those confused drivers slowing down in speed-up situations are annoying.
Another one I see too often is the driver that comes up to a red light with a green right arrow and freaking STOPS in the right hand turn lane. You DON"T STOP when you have a G.D. Green Right Arrow!
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I have a zoom call every couple of months with about 100 boomers. Jeezus it’s like they have no idea that they’re on zoom. Why do I have to look at old men chewing their dinner or blowing their nose or whatever else?
I should have said “app or website”. I almost exclusively use websites. In fact… I exclusively use websites I think. Around here it’s probably 50-50 on whether a place has their own website.
The best / most expensive pizza place does not; they use Door Dash, so I call.
The mom & pop Greek place has online ordering on their website that we utilize as does our second-favorite much-less-expensive pizza place.
The hole-in-the-wall Chinese place has a terrible online ordering system that makes me pull my hair out so I call and order over the phone because it’s less nuisance.
I’m not always clear which websites are actually run by the restaurant and which are powered by door dash or the like. So I call. Except for the local Italian place whose website says, “we are too busy to answer the phone. Please order on-line”. I use their website.
If the website is www.doordash.com/momandpopsgreekfood/ then it’s Door Dash.
If it’s www.momandpopsgreekfood.com and it doesn’t redirect you to Door Dash then it’s not.
If it’s more complicated than that (they’re somehow using Door Dash behind the scenes while making it appear that they’re not) then that’s on the restaurant for making it too hard on me to tell. I’ve never observed this… ordered from what I thought was a restaurant and the charge went to Door Dash or the food was delivered by a Door Dash driver rather than a restaurant employee. Maybe it’s possible to surreptitiously order from Door Dash though??? It’s not like I’ve done a comprehensive survey of every restaurant’s website ordering system to say for sure.
If they have a reasonably straightforward website then I use that as it’s quicker and probably saves them money vs paying someone to take my order over the phone. But if their website is crap or nonexistent then I call.
Oh, annoyed thoughts. The pizza place I like has a website. But if you use it they charge $4 for delivery. Plus a 20% tip that’s not optional. A large pizza is $25 or so, I’m not paying $9 for you to deliver it, this town isn’t that big. I live 1.5 miles from you. So yeah, I usually pick it up, but some days I can’t be bothered.
It’s actually cheaper to order on DoorDash. I’m on the fence. On one hand I want to call it in and tip whatever I want, and let them keep all the revenue as a local business. On the other hand, I can order on DoorDash and they can pay 30% until they figure out why people aren’t using the website.
Yikes, I’d be tempted to use Door Dash too.
We have a place about a mile away that does exclusively online ordering for pickup. Pizza is decent and they are cheaper because they don’t have dine-in or delivery.
Every. F**king. Day. 
Amazon has decided that I speak Spanish. So when I use the site on my phone, it shows everything in Spanish, and I have to set it to translate back to English. Now it’s started sending me emails in Spanish, too.
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