Yelp Deploys AI Voice Agent to Check Restaurant Wait Times, Expands AI-Powered Features

Voice Agent Integration Drives Consumer-Facing AI Expansion

Yelp is launching a new feature called Check for Me that allows app users to request an AI voice agent to call restaurants on their behalf and check wait times. The functionality appears on restaurant pages in the app—users enter their party size and phone number, the agent calls the establishment, and the results are texted back to help diners decide whether to visit. This move follows a wave of personal assistant applications including Instinct, Fo, and Muse that have introduced voice-calling capabilities for customer support and appointment bookings. Yelp previously launched a voice solution for restaurants and service providers themselves last year; Check for Me now completes the two-way marketplace by enabling consumers to leverage similar technology.

The implementation introduces an intriguing operational question: potential agent-to-agent interactions between Yelp's calling AI and restaurant voice systems could theoretically disrupt communication flow, though the company has not flagged this as a primary concern during rollout.

AI Assistant Gets Personalization Overhaul and Restaurant Booking Integration

Simultaneously, Yelp is enhancing its existing AI assistant that helps users discover restaurants and services. The platform now integrates with OpenTable, allowing users to book reservations without leaving the Yelp app—streamlining the discovery-to-transaction journey. The assistant's personalization capabilities have been expanded to retain user preferences mentioned in prior conversations, with chat history from the last 30 days accessible within the app and full historical records coming later.

New conversational features include setting custom reminders (such as weekend activity suggestions every Friday) and building personalized lists. Users can create custom collections starting with two default categories—Been Here and Want to Go—and organize them by location, category, cuisine, and custom notes. These lists are filterable, reorderable, shareable, and soon will support maps views.

Discovery and Business Tools Complete the Update Package

Yelp plans to launch weekly personalized recommendations based on saved items and user rankings next month, while also converting existing collections into list format. A redesigned lists tab will roll out later in the year alongside the aforementioned maps functionality.

On the business side, Yelp introduced Smart Lead Reply, a paid AI product priced at $30 monthly that automatically responds to customer inquiries and qualifies leads for business owners. The tool allows business owners to configure how the AI agent should conduct conversations, directly competing with similar offerings from Meta aimed at small-business customer support automation.