I've done this loads of times. Albeit in the UK and Canada, where the card reader is brought to your table.

Just to add that, at least here in France, it is not at all uncommon to stand up and go pay at the terminal on the way out, instead of waiting at the table. They usually have a card reader anyway, but it's a matter of convenience for the restaurant I think.

(Tbf I'm talking about everyday restaurant, not gastronomic experiences)

Sure you can. It's not a special case. That's the beauty of Apple Pay. Industry standard protocol. If the merchant accepts contactless credit cards then Apple Pay will work. No need for any special hardware, any special software or any contract changes.

Typically in the US the waiter will take your credit card back to a payment terminal rather than bringing a card reader to you. Contactless isn’t really an option in that case.

No wonder you have more problems with fraud in the USA if you let a waiter take the card away from you and do god knows what with it.

Why would you hand anyone your credit card... to take it somewhere else... and do whatever with it ....

Because somehow that's still a normal and accepted practice in the US.

It seems madness to give your card to someone to take off somewhere. In Australia they either bring you a terminal to touch at the table (for a fancier place), or you touch the terminal on your way out (for a casual place).

In the US an upscale place would never bring a terminal to your table. They give you a check (receipt), you put card or money down, they take it to their register, and bring back a customer receipt or change.

Money is often a taboo subject in the US, and I think that is bleeding into a slow adoption of touchless transactions in nice restaurants.

It will take at least 5 years for this part of US culture to give way to convenience and security.

*Note I've not spent much time on the west coast; I'm sure they're ahead on this

> No need for any special hardware, any special software

Umm, except for the whole Apple device...

You don't need an Apple device.

The same tech used by Apple Pay is directly built into a lot of credit cards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactless_payment

And almost every other smartphone.

>> No need for any special hardware, any special software

ha ha - except for the iphone, watch and apple pay; no special hardware nor software required.

It's just NFC under the hood. Many credit cards have it built into the card itself.

My spouse and I recently went to a TGI Friday's for the first time in like 2 decades. Apparently these types of restaurants (TGIF, Chilli's, Appleby's etc.) now all have a tablet device at the table where you can instantly order another drink, dessert, pay, or (for a price) let the kids play a game. You can use credit cards, and maybe contactless payments (don't remember off the top of my head). It's a neat innovation for a restaurant like that, but of course they make the experience horrible by having this screen at the table constantly showing ads for either other things you can get at the restaurant, or other random things. We usually turn them around so we don't have to see ads while we're trying to eat. But that's a whole other issue.

Portable payment tablets are all over Miami, most accept Apple Pay. Because it’s a tourism hub maybe? Anyway it’s awesome, love not using my cards while traveling. I’m sure it’ll creep across the rest of the country eventually.