AgentsAutonomy & tool use
Yelp launches Check for Me, an AI agent that calls restaurants to ask about wait times
Yelp's new Check for Me feature calls a restaurant for a user, asks about the wait and texts back the answer. It is part of a fall release that also adds OpenTable booking, preference memory and a $30 lead-reply agent.
From the TechCrunch AI article of October 20, 2026 and cited sources: On eligible restaurant pages, users enter their party size and phone number. [5] [1]
SOURCES[5] Stock Titan: Yelp press release (Business Wire) stocktitan.net[1] TechCrunch: Yelp can now call on your behalf to check wait… techcrunch.com
AT Pulse research deskPublished · Updated · 5 min read · AI-assisted analysisAI-assisted, not human-edited. Methodology Corrections Who owns this site
- Original source
- TechCrunch AI article, independent perspective
- Brief by
- AT Pulse research desk AI-assisted; publisher and contact on the desk page
- When
- October 20, 2026 article published
- Covered
- Oct 20 edition
- Evidence
- 8 sources across 7 sites
- 1TechCrunch: Yelp can now call on your behalf to check wait…techcrunch.com
- 2PPC Land: Yelp Host adds OpenTable as call volume gains…ppc.land
- 3TechCrunch: Yelp is adding AI-powered voice agents…techcrunch.com
- 4Restaurant Dive: Yelp adds AI host and receptionistrestaurantdive.com
- 5Stock Titan: Yelp press release (Business Wire)stocktitan.net
- 6CO/AI: Google's AI assistant now makes business calls…getcoai.com
Reach: not measured yet
On eligible restaurant pages, users enter their party size and phone number. Yelp's agent then calls the restaurant and texts the wait time back within minutes. The feature is reaching US iOS users first, and Yelp says it will come to Yelp Assistant in the coming months. [5] [1]
Yelp now has AI agents on both ends of the call. Restaurants may answer with Yelp Host, the $249-a-month AI receptionist launched in October 2025. Yelp reports that Host has handled more than 1 million calls, with call volume growing about 38% a month. TechCrunch notes that conversations between two AI agents can break down. [1] [2] [4]
The same release expands Yelp Assistant. It can now book through OpenTable at tens of thousands of restaurants, join Yelp Waitlist from the chat, remember user preferences and keep 30 days of chat history. A $30-a-month Smart Lead Reply agent for movers, plumbers and other trades starts next month. [1] [5]
Yelp sells AI agents both to people who place calls and to the restaurants that answer them, and Google runs a similar calling service.
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Implication: businesses may get more automated calls, so how agents identify themselves, hand off calls and handle opt-outs becomes a practical concern.
Executive brief
Yelp now sells AI phone agents to both sides of the same call. The restaurant may be running Yelp Host, the AI receptionist Yelp has sold since October 2025, which takes more than 1 million calls (TechCrunch; PPC Land). Check for Me is part of a fall release Yelp says has more than 30 updates.
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Yelp now sells AI phone agents to both sides of the same call. Its new consumer feature, Check for Me, phones a restaurant to ask about the wait and texts the answer back to the user. The restaurant may be running Yelp Host, the AI receptionist Yelp has sold since October 2025, which takes more than 1 million calls (TechCrunch; PPC Land). Check for Me is part of a fall release Yelp says has more than 30 updates. Others include OpenTable booking inside its chat assistant, an assistant that remembers your preferences, and a $30/month lead-reply agent for tradespeople. Yelp has not said which AI models it uses, how it measures accuracy, or what restaurants are told when its agent calls.
What changed and event timeline
Voice agents previewed
Yelp said it was building AI phone agents for restaurants and service businesses on OpenAI's Realtime API. They would answer questions, add callers to waitlists and pass hard cases to staff ().
Yelp Host and Receptionist launch
Two products went live that combine LLMs with Yelp's business data and its own voice system. They answer calls around the clock, take reservations and screen spam ().
Host passes 1 million calls
Yelp reported average growth of 38% a month, added OpenTable syncing, 16 more languages and eight new voices. Price: $249/month ().
Fall release with Check for Me
Yelp announced the consumer calling agent, assistant memory, OpenTable booking in chat, shared lists and Smart Lead Reply (;).
Capabilities and access
- Check for Me: on eligible restaurant pages, tap "Check wait time now" and enter party size and phone number.
- Yelp Assistant: books through OpenTable at "tens of thousands" of restaurants (iOS), joins Yelp Waitlist from the chat, remembers preferences from earlier chats, keeps 30 days of chat history and sets custom reminders (TechCrunch).
- Smart Lead Reply: $30/month starting next month, for movers, roofers, plumbers and other Request a Quote categories.
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- Check for Me: on eligible restaurant pages, tap "Check wait time now" and enter party size and phone number. The agent calls and texts the wait back "within minutes." It reaches US iOS users and Yelp Assistant "in the coming months" (Stock Titan).
- Yelp Assistant: books through OpenTable at "tens of thousands" of restaurants (iOS), joins Yelp Waitlist from the chat, remembers preferences from earlier chats, keeps 30 days of chat history and sets custom reminders (TechCrunch).
- Smart Lead Reply: $30/month starting next month, for movers, roofers, plumbers and other Request a Quote categories.
- Model and version: not disclosed.
Technical analysis for researchers and developers
- Architecture: the only documented stack is from 2025: OpenAI's Realtime API running full calls, drawing on Yelp's knowledge graph and business data such as name pronunciations, greetings and forwarding rules (TechCrunch 2025).
- Agent-to-agent calls: TechCrunch notes that Check for Me may end up talking to another AI agent, and that such conversations can break down.
- Evaluation: there are no public benchmarks, accuracy figures for reported wait times, or latency numbers beyond "within minutes." Nothing can be reproduced.
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- Architecture: the only documented stack is from 2025: OpenAI's Realtime API running full calls, drawing on Yelp's knowledge graph and business data such as name pronunciations, greetings and forwarding rules (TechCrunch 2025). Nobody has confirmed that Check for Me uses the same stack.
- Agent-to-agent calls: TechCrunch notes that Check for Me may end up talking to another AI agent, and that such conversations can break down. Yelp has published no protocol for these calls and no data on how often they fail.
- Evaluation: there are no public benchmarks, accuracy figures for reported wait times, or latency numbers beyond "within minutes." Nothing can be reproduced.
Claims and evidence
- Host call volume (1M+ calls, 38% monthly growth): Yelp's own figures. Yelp did not publish conversion rates or how many restaurants use Host (PPC Land).
- Time saved: one restaurant reported saving 80 hours a week, while Yelp cites about 14 hours as typical.
- Assistant usage: about 10% of Q2 Request a Quote submissions came through Yelp Assistant, per Yelp (Stock Titan).
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- Host call volume (1M+ calls, 38% monthly growth): Yelp's own figures. Yelp did not publish conversion rates or how many restaurants use Host (PPC Land).
- Time saved: one restaurant reported saving 80 hours a week, while Yelp cites about 14 hours as typical. The gap shows how far single-restaurant anecdotes can sit from averages (PPC Land).
- Assistant usage: about 10% of Q2 Request a Quote submissions came through Yelp Assistant, per Yelp (Stock Titan).
- Check for Me performance: no independent evaluation exists.
Context and prior work
- Google's "Ask for Me" uses Gemini with Duplex technology to call groomers, dry cleaners and auto shops about prices.
- TechCrunch places Yelp alongside recent assistants that call businesses for users, such as Instinct, Fo and Muse.
- In 2025, Yelp's then-CPO Craig Saldanha argued that voice AI will become a commodity and that Yelp's edge is its data (TechCrunch 2025).
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- Google's "Ask for Me" uses Gemini with Duplex technology to call groomers, dry cleaners and auto shops about prices. The agent says it is an AI, and businesses can opt out in their Google profile (CO/AI).
- TechCrunch places Yelp alongside recent assistants that call businesses for users, such as Instinct, Fo and Muse. It also notes Meta's AI tools for handling small businesses' inbound inquiries (TechCrunch).
- In 2025, Yelp's then-CPO Craig Saldanha argued that voice AI will become a commodity and that Yelp's edge is its data (TechCrunch 2025).
Limitations, safety and contested findings
- Yelp's release does not say whether Check for Me tells staff it is an AI, whether restaurants can opt out, or how the user's phone number is handled (FinancialContent/Business Wire).
- No controls are described for how the assistant stores and uses remembered preferences.
- Commentary has raised two worries: AI agents talking past each other and garbling reservations, and automated replies wearing away real contact between businesses and customers (Zetik).
Read the full section
- Yelp's release does not say whether Check for Me tells staff it is an AI, whether restaurants can opt out, or how the user's phone number is handled (FinancialContent/Business Wire). Google's opt-out is a clear contrast.
- No controls are described for how the assistant stores and uses remembered preferences.
- Commentary has raised two worries: AI agents talking past each other and garbling reservations, and automated replies wearing away real contact between businesses and customers (Zetik).
- All reporting so far relies on Yelp's announcement. No independent hands-on testing has been published.
Business and practitioner implications
- Restaurants: expect more AI calls coming in.
- Yelp: it earns on both ends, through consumer engagement and business subscriptions ($30–$249/month). Its claimed advantage is data, not the voice technology itself.
- Developers building calling agents: published standards for agents identifying themselves, structured handoffs between agents, and opt-out registries are still missing.
Read the full section
- Restaurants: expect more AI calls coming in. An AI receptionist like Host ($249/month) can absorb them, but each such call still uses the line or the staff's time.
- Yelp: it earns on both ends, through consumer engagement and business subscriptions ($30–$249/month). Its claimed advantage is data, not the voice technology itself.
- Developers building calling agents: published standards for agents identifying themselves, structured handoffs between agents, and opt-out registries are still missing. Accuracy of wait-time reports and disclosure to businesses are what to watch as this rolls out.