At QT Kitchen, dinner is never just dinner, it’s a full sensory experience from the moment you walk through the door. Inspired by traditional Vietnamese flavours and elevated with contemporary techniques, the venue offers a chef-led journey that begins long before the first dish arrives.
Guests step into an intimate, carefully curated space where every detail matters. Fresh herbs, premium seafood, and seasonal produce take centre stage, all brought to life through a dynamic chef’s table that sets the rhythm for the evening. It’s immersive, it’s personal, and it’s designed to feel a little bit special from start to finish.
But behind the scenes, delivering that level of experience takes precision.
With limited seating and a strong focus on timing, pacing, and flow, every service at QT Kitchen is meticulously planned. Bookings aren’t just entries in a system, they’re part of the performance. Each reservation plays a role in shaping the night.
To understand how the team keeps everything running so smoothly, we spoke with Director Kevin Pham about the challenges they faced and the surprisingly simple change that made a big impact.
When the phones start running the show
Like many hospitality venues, QT Kitchen found itself trying to balance two competing priorities. On one hand, they were delivering a high-end, immersive dining experience that required full attention and care. On the other, they were managing a constant stream of calls, bookings, and guest enquiries that never seemed to slow down. And in a venue like this, there’s no margin for distraction.
“One of the biggest challenges for us has always been managing reservations without disrupting service, we’re a small venue, so every single booking matters. It’s not something we can afford to get wrong,” Kevin explained.
Between last-minute changes, no-shows, dietary requirements, and detailed guest questions, the traditional way of handling bookings just wasn’t cutting it anymore. Then there were the phones.
If you’ve ever worked a busy service, you already know how it goes. The kitchen is firing, guests are arriving, the energy is building and the phone starts ringing. Then it rings again and again…
“We’d be right in the middle of service and have to stop what we’re doing to answer calls, It breaks the flow for us, and it takes away from the experience we’re trying to create for our guests.”
But ignoring the phone wasn’t an option either. Every missed call could mean a missed booking, and in a venue with limited seats, that’s not just inconvenient, it’s lost revenue. It became clear that something needed to change.
The secret to silent phones during service
Instead of continuing to rely on staff to juggle calls during peak service, or risk missing them altogether, QT Kitchen introduced Sadie, the AI receptionist designed specifically for hospitality.
The idea was simple, take the pressure of phone management off the team without sacrificing service quality. In just one month, Sadie handled more than 250 calls for QT Kitchen. That’s over 250 times the phone didn’t interrupt service, didn’t go unanswered, and didn’t pull a staff member away from the floor.
That’s more than 750 minutes saved in a single month and over 12 hours of staff time that could be redirected back into delivering a better guest experience.
“Sadie has honestly changed everything for us, we were already using Now Book It for reservations, but adding Sadie on top of that has taken a huge amount of pressure off the team, especially during busy periods.”
But what really made the difference wasn’t just that calls were being answered, it was how they were being handled. Sadie isn’t just a digital answering machine, she’s designed to actually understand and respond to guest enquiries in a way that feels helpful, consistent, and on-brand.
Over that same month, Sadie managed enquiries across more than 320 different topics. Everything from booking availability and menu details to dietary requirements, special requests, and general FAQs.
And here’s the key: every response is powered by QT Kitchen’s own knowledge base. Using the Sadie dashboard, the team can update menus, service details, booking rules, and frequently asked questions in real time. That means guests always receive accurate, up-to-date information, without the team needing to step in.
“What’s really impressive is how much Sadie actually knows, gusts are getting clear, helpful answers straight away, and we still have full control over what’s being communicated.”
There’s no hold music, scribbled notes on paper or “we’ll call you back later.” Just instant, reliable responses that help turn enquiries into confirmed bookings.
And importantly, it all happens without interrupting service.
Shifting focus back to what matters
For most people in hospitality, answering phones isn’t exactly the highlight of the job. And at QT Kitchen, removing that burden has been one of the biggest wins.
“We’re spending way less time on admin now, and way more time focusing on the guest experience, which is exactly where we want to be.”
With Sadie managing incoming calls and the reservations landing directly into the Now Book It diary, the team is no longer being pulled in multiple directions at once. Instead, the team can stay present & fully focused on delivering the experience guests came for. In a venue built around precision and atmosphere, that kind of consistency makes all the difference.
One of the reasons the setup works so well at QT Kitchen is that it actually reflects how hospitality operates in the real world. Whether it’s a late-night enquiry about availability, a question about the menu, or a last-minute change to a booking, Sadie handles it instantly, without disrupting the team.
“We’ve basically got someone answering calls 24/7 now, it’s like having a front-of-house team member who’s always on, always consistent, and never calls in sick.”
That kind of reliability is hard to achieve with traditional systems and it’s especially valuable in a venue where every booking counts.
At this point, QT Kitchen hasn’t just improved how they handle bookings, they’ve completely rethought the process. By combining Sadie with Now Book It, they’ve created a system that runs quietly in the background, keeping everything organised and efficient without demanding constant attention.
Book a table at QT Kitchen
Now Book It tip: Go for the Chef’s Table. It’s the best way to experience the restaurant and enjoy a curated dining journey showcasing the freshest seasonal ingredients.