Save me a seat, please!

photo courtesy of the internet

During dinner with a colleague she asked how I secured seats at restaurants as she disliked waiting for a seat for dinner.  I replied that I tried to use online reservations systems as much as possible but I will call an establishment if they have no online reservation system or I have a specific question. Below are my thoughts about experience as well as the well as the pros and cons of two reservation systems I have used.

OpenTable (www.opentable.com)
I began  using OpenTable in 2004 (OpenTable's records show that I've had my current account since 2007). I started using OpenTable because I wanted to visit restaurants during Restaurant Week in Dallas.

The pros of using OpenTable:

photo by TEP

• Creating an account is free and relatively easy to do.
• Ease of booking restaurants in cities throughout the United States and some international locations.
• Points for booking a table and completing a reservation (generally 100 to 1000 points per  reservation, depending on time and location).
• You can rate your dining experience and write a review.
• OpenTable has a smart phone app
• Some restaurants using OpenTable

The cons of using OpenTable:

• If a reservation needs to be rescheduled less than 30 minutes before the reservation time, it's best to contact the restaurant directly. If the restaurant indicates you no showed for a reservation, OpenTable will send a note to the diner reminding the diner to cancel in the future or the OpenTable account will be closed. The one time it happened to me I replied to the note and explained that I had contacted the restaurant directly because the Open Table site would not allow me to make the modification. The restaurant confirmed that I did call and OpenTable sent a subsequent note thanking me for contacting the restaurant.
• While restaurants that are OpenTable members usually have a link to book reservations. Only reservations booked directly through OpenTable  receive points.
• Reviews in OpenTable are stored for about a year. If you love a review you wrote, save it to your hard drive. 

City Eats(www.cityeats.com)
I've had a City Eats account since 2013. I  was introduced to City Eats  when I wanted to book a table at Restaurant Eve. City Eats is powered by the Food Network.

The pros of using City Eats:

photo by TEP

• Creating an account is free and pretty easy to do
• Ability to book tables at restaurants not featured in OpenTable
• City Eats recently began offering 200 points for each completed reservation
• City Restaurants often list special events (dinners, classes) on City Eats
• You can rate your dining experience, write a review and upload photos.
• City Eats has a smart phone app

The cons of using City Eats:

• The screen displays and search features are sometimes painfully slow
• The concierge free concierge feature has a lot to be desired. I requested assistance in booking a table at The Red Hen and was not contacted by a member of the City Eats team. My party and I eventually made reservations

Other reservation models:
Some restaurants (e.g. Komi) require that you call them or complete a form (e.g. MiniBar,  Restaurant Gary Danko). If I'm going to call the restaurant I try to have a couple of potential dining days and times  in mind.  Smaller parties often have an easier time securing a table  than larger parties (six or more).  I'm happy to complete an online form if it means that it actually secures the table. In my opinion, it seems inefficient and increases the possibility of identity theft and fraudulent activity to  ask diners complete the online form, then send the diner a reservation form requesting the same information and require the form be emailed or faxed back to the restaurant.  After two attempts to fax my reservation form to one restaurant (the fax machine I was using registered the document as sent, but the restaurant was not receiving the form), I asked what the other options were to complete the reservation. In the end I emailed a scanned copy of my reservation form.

Note to solo diners: most often it is the restaurant, not the online reservation system that is not allowing you to reserve that table. In my post, Solo sojourns, I discuss some of the options available to single diners.

What's been your experience? Do you only visit restaurants that accept reservations?

 Be well,

 

Technicolor girl