Thursday, April 28, 2011
Restaurants Holy crap
Posted by Cliff Bostock @cliffbostock on Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 8:19 PM
Economic apocalypse may be shaking up the restaurant biz in town. But at least one restaurant is going gangbusters.
Comments (8)
Showing 1-8 of 8
Don't be so fooled. What time did you try and make reservations? Restaurants and, ahem, Miller Union, often block off peak times to avoid paying fees to Open Table. Try calling for a reservation. You might just get lucky.
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There seem to be plenty of times available at Miller Union next week. I think you encountered a computer error.
Ummm, yeah...I was able to get reservations for tomorrow nite with several time slots. Did you have a party of 12?
Think it's a non-story, Cliff...delete...delete...
Nope, not 12, but 8. It didn't have to be this week.
I'll follow your suggestion next time, gko. I had no idea restaurants did that.
It probably has more to do with your party size than the restaurant blocking out times so as not to pay the fee. Having worked with Open Table as a restaurant manager, I know most places won't take reservations for more than 6 people through the online reservation system. I also often encounter the same problem when trying to book parties of 3 - the program allows (or used to allow) restaurants to specify how many parties of 2, 4, etc can be seated every hour. Sometimes there isn't a provision made for 3-tops. I usually book for 4 then call the restaurant to let them know we'll be 3. It's not a perfect system - instead of saying there's no availability it ought to say the system doesn't take reservations for parties of that size and to call the restaurant. But I bet that's the issue.
Open Table will never ask you to "call the restaurant" for any reason. It's contrary to their business model of getting all reservations they can (and thus charging the restaurant the max) on-line.
Open table is a restaurant worst nightmare you almost have to have it because people have come to expect it. It cost $1 per person per reservation for a restaurant, they charge a monthly fee for the equipment and they are in control of the language at the top of the page. If a restaurant holds large tables back form opentable they will not allow you to publish that information on the site. It is always better to call a restaurant to make a reservation to save your local restaurant money. As a person that has paid an opentable bill it can cost a restaurant upwards of $10,000 to $15,000 a year to have the system. I think people should think about added cost next time you complain that prices are going up.
As a consumer, I rely on Open Table heavily. I'm not going to call around to 8-15 restaurants to see who has availability on a Friday night.
It's also a great way to look to see what new restaurants you want to try, or remind you to go back to ones you've enjoyed in the past.
If a restaurant doesn't want to pay the fee and be a part of Open Table, then they won't have the exposure that their competition does and had better hope that the reviews and word of mouth gets butts in seats. There are only a few places we go to that aren't on OT.
And on the Miller Union craze, I don't get it. We've been 3 times, brought guests once, and don't see what all the fuss is about. Have had better meals consistently at Bocado, Restaurant Eugine, JCT Kitchen, FAB, etc.
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