IF there’s one thing more maddening than trying in vain to book a reservation at a hot restaurant, it’s when that hot spot won’t take one.
No-reservation polices are popping up all over these days, not just at local dives, but at celebrity chef eateries such as Mario Batali’s Otto Enoteca Pizzeria (for fewer than six people), Jimmy Bradley’s Mermaid Inn, Tom Colicchio’s Craftbar, and Charlie Palmer’s Kitchen 22 and its new sibling, Kitchen 82.
In the new waiting game, diners are asked to cool their heels up to 2½ hours before dinner. Incredibly, impatient New Yorkers are up to the task – to a point.
“We’ve been told we have to wait 50 minutes for a table, but we’d be happy to wait up to an hour and a half,” said Sean Dougherty, one of a party of four return customers on the list for seats at Otto on a recent Saturday.
What’s the big attraction? “Mario Batali’s name above the door, the food is great and it’s got a fun atmosphere.”
Over at the East Village’s Mermaid Inn, another pair decided to try their luck elsewhere when they found out they were in for a 11/2-hour lag.
“It’s a bit excessive,” reasoned Phillip Koblence of Manhattan. “But I suppose you can’t blame the owners if they’re full. And I’d rather be turned away than be squished into a tiny corner where there’s no room to move.”
After surveying the action on two recent Saturday nights at some of the more popular reservation-liberated spots, we sussed out a few strategies to make the going easier.
1. Start dinner at the bar.
“If you can eat while you’re hanging around for a table, it takes your mind off it,” said one diner waiting to be seated last Saturday night at Otto.
The holding pen there, modeled after an Italian train station, is a bustling scene in itself, packed with a happening crowd at marble-topped stand-up tables, waiter service, and an antipasti and 500-wine menu.
“I think if you offer people the ability to wine and dine before they dine, they’re certainly happy enough to do it,” remarks general manager Caroline Jackson. “Our enoteca serves all our antipasti, and most often that’s what people do. They come in and begin their evening there and, as they progress, they move to the tables.”
2. Don’t try it for a special occasion.
Mermaid Inn is run by the same team as the insanely popular Red Cat and the Harrison, but unlike them, the new seafood house doesn’t accept reservations. Husband and wife Tony Mastromatteo and Stella Munoz of Queens learned the hard way it wasn’t the best plan for her birthday party.
They knew they couldn’t book, but were told they would probably get a table for six by turning up and waiting half an hour.
“Now, we’ve been told it will be over a two-hour wait and we might not even get seated!” he grumbled. “We’re not prepared to come back in 2½ hours.”
“It’s disappointing, but what can you do?” she sighed.
3. Have a Plan B.
Charlie Palmer’s prix-fixe, no-reservation formula for Kitchen 22 on 22nd Street has been so successful that the Aureole chef has duplicated it for Kitchen 82 on the Upper West Side.
The small eatery with a limited menu of five appetizers, entrees and desserts is perpetually packed. And the wait for even a lone Saturday diner on a recent evening was 50 minutes to an hour.
“If I were with someone else, I might consider nipping out to a bar nearby to pass the time,” said Sarah Dye of London.
“But as it’s just me, I think I’ll see if there’s somewhere else that can serve me straight away. If I don’t find anywhere, I might come back and try my luck at Kitchen 22 a bit later.”
Some people wait at the bar, but it can get cramped. So Ross Josephson and Allison Rose decided to nix a one-hour lag till mealtime.
“I’m not severely annoyed about being turned away because I’ve got money and I’m happy to spend it elsewhere,” he said. “But we’ll probably go somewhere next time where we can reserve a table. It takes the hassle out of things.”
4. Keep the wait in perspective.
Even with reservations, there’s sometimes a wait, notes chef Rebecca Charles, whose tiny Pearl Oyster Bar in the Village is another famous no-reservation destination. She’s expanding the place, adding another 30 seats to the existing 25. But even with the bigger space – which she expects to open after Memorial Day – there’ll be no reservations.
“Reservations really is a whole can of worms,” Charles says, especially when people show up late.
“If people have to wait half an hour and they have a reservation, which is pretty normal these days in New York, what’s the point of having them? It just causes resentment.”
She expects the expansion to cut down on weekend wait time, which is currently from 20 minutes to a little over an hour.
Charles also recalled the old days at Balthazar when “people were waiting for like two hours to get a table and people with reservations were waiting 45 minutes. That’s kind of a given, that with really popular restaurants you will still wait, particularly if they’re more casual.”
5. Become a regular.
If you’re not a celebrity – everyone knows they’re immune from seating policies – at least let the management get to know you. Among those braving the eternal line Saturday outside Frank, the East Village Italian, were regular Anne To and her sister Brenda. They didn’t get in any earlier, but service was more relaxed when they did.
“Until we got to know some of the waiters, they would often hurry us out. I have had half a glass of wine left after my meal and been asked to leave the table and drink it at the bar, even though the bar was packed.”
This time, they waited 40 minutes and the meal was unrushed. – additional reporting by Gemma Calvert and Joanna Walters