You may be more apt to call and confirm your Friday night reservation now that restaurants are taking steps to stay afloat in the current weak economy. Taking a cue from struggling airlines, your favorite dining establishment may be adopting the old trick of overbooking to better guarantee a full house.
Turning tables is even more of a priority than it used to be: Because restaurants can't pass on their increased expenses to equally cash-strapped customers, they need to rely on traffic to keep revenues up. While your reservation time may actually mean you'll still end up waiting for a table, The New York Times dishes out a pretty shiny silver lining — this Fall we can expect more deals like cheaper happy-hour snacks and lunchtime specials.
D&G
Tod's
Christian Dior
i've definitely noticed that even with a reservation - most of the time i'm forced to wait at least 15 minutes for my table. it's really kind of annoying actually since i've gone through the steps to secure a table and i still have to wait. there have been a handful of times that i've made a reservation and waited over 30 minutes as well - at that point - what's the point of making the reseration to begin with.
of course this post makes me fear for my saturday dinner plans this week. it's for my mother's birthday and i don't want to have to wait ages for our table.
i can understand that they are trying to ensure that they are always full - but i think that it's a bad tactic. who wants to come back to a place if you ALWAYS have to wait regardless of reservations or not.
as for the happy hour/lunch deals - i can agree that i've seen some better things out there - which makes it more economical for me to time my outings just right.
1ilanac- I always find the long wait even with a reservation frustrating, too. I end up going to the bar and spending extra money, along with the other people waiting for a table that are passing the time at the bar.
2I hate making reservations and they dont tell you something important.
My beau and I kept driving past this nice restaurant, so I booked for his birthday at 8pm. We got there and there was no room to park ANYWHERE within a mile and we were both dressed to the 9's so we gave up and got chinese takeaway! They could have told us they have limited parking or something. I wrote a letter of complaint to no avail.
Its not like it was pizza hut, this was going to cost like $150 for the two of us you would have expected better service.
3The restaurants I frequent have always practiced overbooking, I just expect it.
4Yeah, I've noticed this too. I've never been denied a table when I've had a reservation, but I might have to wait up to 15-20 minutes, which is OK - you can't REALLY predict just when, exactly, a table will be free, and I understand the restaurant wanting to keep their tables full. I don't mind a brief wait.
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