While back, I wrote about Mountain View hotels and geek friendly lodging. Now comes news of a high tech restaurant in Mountain View, CA from uWink (www.uwink.com). Report from the Mountain View Voice.

The incoming restaurant and bar, uWink, is packed with technology, including a touch screen at every table with interactive menus, video games, movie trailers and horoscopes. Waiters don’t take orders — the touch screen sends it straight to the kitchen. A uWink has existed since 2006 in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, but Alissa Tappan, the company’s vice president, said the Mountain View location will have a new look and new games. The restaurant was founded by Nolan Bushnell, who also started Atari and Chuck E. Cheese. The new restaurant could be described as a cross between those two companies, but without the animatronics and with a menu aimed at people of all ages.

Read the full article. And Wired has a review of the Woodland branch of uWink,and although its a bit outdated, it’ll still give you a pretty fair idea of where uWink is headed. It’s actually quite an interesting concept. Let’s leave the robotic waiters alone for the moment and focus on the concept of social gaming in restaurants. We all know pool tables and other entertainment in restaurants tends to draw a diverse crowd. But this could be the next big thing, as far as geeks and restaurants are concerned. No more pick lines. Just start playing games and hook up with your favorite players. A good way to break the ice and make friends. Course, conversation would tend to be a bit one-track, focusing on scores and who beat who, instead of talk about the superbowl or the next Google.

In fact, I can see gaming groups hanging out at uWink, and play-offs between uWinks in different cities. This whole ’social entertainment restaurants’ thing could mushroom into something huge, if teenagers catch on to it. 

Posted on April 8th, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Restaurants