Dash
Dash, an NYC-based startup, just raised a $1.2 million round of funding to solve that problem by letting you pay your tab from your phone.
The idea is that Dash partners with bars, clubs and restaurants to allow customers to use its app to pay their tab, as well as split the bill if they're in a group. You can, essentially, dine and dash, which saves both you and the bar time.
The company launched with 50 NYC partnerships in the fall and will be using the new money to grow its user base and expand to more locations. (Next stop: Chicago.)
Dash definitely isn't the only company pouncing on the idea of mobile payments in bars and restaurants. Cover is another NYC-based app that does nearly the same thing.
However, Dash argues that its connections in the restaurant world (the new round was led by renowned restaurant owner Jonathan Segal) will help it expand faster across broad restaurant groups, rather than by one individual establishment after another.