An AI sommelier, not an AI gimmick

The worst implementation of AI in a restaurant is a chat window that knows less than the menu it sits on. Guests ask whether the duck is spicy; it apologises and suggests calling the restaurant. That's not intelligence — it's a liability with a typing indicator.

What your best captain does is different. They listen for mood — celebrating, hungry, cautious, curious — and recommend with conviction: one dish, one reason, said with confidence. They never invent dishes, never guess at allergens, never oversell.

That's the standard we built against. The Tybl sommelier draws only from the restaurant's own menu data — dishes, descriptions, prices, pairings the chef actually approves. It can walk a hesitant guest from 'something light' to a specific starter, or talk a table through a tasting menu the way the chef would want it told. When it doesn't know, it says so and calls a human.

The measure of success isn't novelty. It's the quiet numbers: higher average covers from confident recommendations, fewer dishes sent back, and guests who never realise they were talking to software at all.