Originally Posted by
RTWRide
I ate at a restaurant yesterday named "Neal's Country Cafe" in Houston. I've eaten there before about a month ago, and they swiped my card. It's one of those restaurants where you could pay from your table or go to the cashier, which also functions as the take out counter. After getting the bill, I decided I did not want to wait for the waiter to pick up my cc, so I went to the cashier. The girl seems to know what she's doing and she went straight to inserting my Freedom with EMV. It went as normal as a swipe transaction, with me putting the tip into the receipt. Also, the machine _looks_ like one of those portable ones with a PIN pad. Silly me did not check to see if it is connected via cable though, to see if it's really one of those portable ones common overseas. I'll check again next time.
If it is they may only bring it to the table if you use a PIN preferring card. A good indication would probably be if you only see a power cable and nothing else (indicating WiFi or Bluetooth comms) but a model number would provide definite confirmation. And of course if they bring it to the table always that would be great. ^