I tried Perplexity's new reservation feature, and it surprised me with new dining spots to try

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ZDNET's takeaways

• Perplexity's new feature lets you make a restaurant reservation straight through OpenTable.
• The feature uses OpenTable's system, so you don't have to trust the AI to do it for you.
• Instead of navigating between apps or tabs to find a restaurant and then book a table, Perplexity handles everything.

Finding the perfect restaurant and making a reservation just got a whole lot easier thanks to a new feature in Perplexity.

The chatbot (which ZDNET's Steven Vaughan-Nichols prefers over every other chatbot) announced a new partnership with OpenTable this week that lets you reserve a restaurant table straight from Perplexity.

Also: I tested 3 text-to-speech AI models to see which is best - hear my results

This means you can hit up the AI for ideas and make sure you have a table without switching between apps or tabs. 

To try out the new reservation mode, I presented Perplexity with a simple query: the best date night restaurants near me. But to go a step beyond what a simple Google search would do, I asked the AI to find date night spots located in historic buildings.

As a bit of a foodie, I didn't expect to see anything unfamiliar on the list, but I was surprised by Perplexity's response. The AI curated a list of five local restaurants, two of which I had never heard of before. Beyond just listing locations, though, Perplexity also gave details about the history behind each building. 

I decided to give one of the new ones a shot.

Booking a restaurant with Perplexity

Perplexity's restaurant reservation feature isn't like ChatGPT's agent mode, which switches between two services; it actually uses the reservation platform. Making a reservation works exactly the same as if I went straight to OpenTable. 

After choosing a restaurant, I selected a date, time, and party size. The next screen asked for my contact information and any special requests, such as whether I was celebrating a birthday or anniversary. Once that was done, I had a table. I got a link to manage the reservation and email confirmation from OpenTable. I had no reason to doubt things worked correctly, but I was able to access my reservation by going directly through OpenTable, too. 

While I could accomplish the exact same thing without using Perplexity, the process was so smooth that I'll definitely use it again -- both for finding restaurants and booking a table. 

Also: This handy AI voice recorder has changed the way I work (and it's easy to use)

Before, I'd usually use Google to find restaurants and then head off to another site to make a reservation. I might ask an AI chatbot for help, but I'm usually one to read through reviews first. Perplexity's partnership removes that middle step and makes the process a lot easier. In fact, after trying it out a few times, it's probably going to be my new source for trying to decide on a restaurant. 

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