How to Get a Table in a Busy Restaurant Without Bribery
In 2014, a New York City chef made headlines after opening the “most exclusive” restaurant in the world – it took 10 years to get a table. And while the restaurant’s exclusivity turned out to be partly a hoax , it is a reminder that people are willing to wait too long for food; At New York restaurants Per Se and Le Bernardin, it is recommended to book a table several months in advance.
But what if you can’t wait days or even hours to reserve your seat? On the Eater’s Digest podcast, Eater’s editors discussed how to get a table in a busy restaurant when things seem hopeless. If you time your meals correctly and convince the host, you could very well win the table.
Go to a big event or on a rainy day
As Eater recommends, if you want to skip the Game of Thrones finale or the Super Bowl, you should visit the restaurant during a major TV event; there are more chances that you will fight for the table when everyone is at home, provided that you are not going to a sports bar or anywhere else with HDTVs. Visit a bustling restaurant during any big game, awards ceremony, or even the occasional presidential debate.
It’s the same with rainy days. Chances are, some parties will cancel their reservation to escape the rain, which means you can swoop in and take that table. My advice: when it starts raining, be sure to check websites and applications like OpenTable or Resy for table updates; Better yet, call the restaurant around the time you plan to visit and you might be in luck.
If in doubt, you can also search for a restaurant online using Google Maps to check for crowds; Google uses ” aggregated and anonymous data ” to estimate how busy restaurants are at any given time and how long you can expect to wait.
If you rely on booking sites, call instead
If you tend to rely on OpenTable for table reservations, this is why you shouldn’t take the availability of some restaurants at face value: they don’t always show the full picture.
“Restaurants can sometimes change their availability based on special circumstances,” says OpenTable on its website . “For example, some restaurants may offer limited reservations at popular seating times such as 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm to satisfy diners who are not in attendance.”
Plus, if you don’t show up and call ahead, you can easily grab a table for this party. These no-shows cannot be immediately accounted for in booking apps or websites. (In OpenTable, restaurant employees must indicate no-show. When they are busy, they are unlikely to get to it right away.)
Always, always try to call the restaurant, even if it is booked online; It also doesn’t hurt to be polite when dealing with the host who collects the remaining tables.
Come at the right time
Here’s a (obvious) tip for those looking to grab a table at this trendy restaurant: Don’t show up during rush hour. This means that you should completely avoid sitting between 7 and 21 pm. If this is a restaurant you’re desperate to try – and you’re ready to have an early dinner – book your first seating around 5pm or 6pm when there are likely to be more openings.
And if you are meeting with a group of friends, agree to meet for 10 minutes every hour, as we wrote earlier . If you arrive at 6:50 am, you will knock out other groups that have agreed to meet for an hour and cannot be seated until the party is over. This is especially useful in cases where several parties arrive unconditionally hoping to get a table.
Make some concessions to the owner
If you’re hanging out at the host booth and desperate for a table, it’s worth making some concessions. This means that you shouldn’t be picky about an internal table versus an external one or sitting at a bar – wherever there can be the fastest access with the least resistance from the host. It also means offering to complete as quickly as possible.
“Restaurants typically set aside 90 minutes to two hours for lunch (although a fixed menu can take much longer to prepare),” writes the Wall Street Journal . “An offer to get in and out in an hour might be your ticket to the table.”
And don’t add seats to your group after you’ve already called your name and counted; this will likely delay your anticipation. So present your case to the host and show some courtesy. You may not have the best restaurant table, but the bathroom table is still a table.