Has The Restaurant Reservation Culture Gone Too Far?

Some of us love nothing more than spontaneously driving through a city to look for somewhere to eat. What if you get there and find out there are no tables left for the night? No worries; you simply head on and try somewhere else. That’s great until you find out it’s the same at every restaurant you come across and suddenly have nowhere to eat for the night.

All of this has left plenty of diners asking the same thing: has the restaurant reservation culture gone too far? While plenty like to make reservations for big nights to ensure we have a table or know that popular places might need a table booking, many now think that getting your hands on a table has entirely gone out the window in favor of people booking up spots for months, if not years, in advance.

People are going to incredible lengths to get restaurant reservations

If you want to dine at the seafood restaurant Dame in New York City, you might have to join the line. Plus, you’ll need to get there at 4:30 pm and wait for 90 minutes to even stand a chance. If you want to get into other hotspots across the US, you might have to be prepared to fork over thousands of dollars. That’s right; restaurateurs admit that plenty of customers have started bribing in ways that have never been seen before. Think Rolex watches, rides in private jets, and shoes from Gucci. As if that wasn’t enough, others are bagging reservations at restaurants for months in advance and selling them off to the highest bidder. 

Restaurants are sometimes seeing thousands of reservations a night

According to Yelp, searching for a restaurant reservation has gone up by 107% since the beginning of 2022 - and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Places across NYC, including Dhamaka, have admitted to seeing 1,500 people on their virtual waiting list each night. Empress by Boon, a relatively new San Francisco restaurant, has also been booked up since it first opened its doors in June 2021. In fact, things have gotten so bad that many are sharing tips about how to get into a reservation over everyone else across several internet forums. 

Paying for a restaurant reservation is making it harder for spontaneous dining

What about the people who want to enjoy a spontaneous night on the town? It seems they could be in for some bad luck. That’s because people earning more than others are seemingly buying their way into restaurants for prices many of us could never afford. The problem? As well as taking up tables, it can be enough to make many of us worry we won’t be able to get a seat and start booking tables when we can. All in all, it’s seen spontaneous dining has become more and more impossible.

Reservations allow restaurants to know what to expect

Of course, the restaurant reservation culture isn’t an entirely bad thing. For one, it means that restaurants know how many staff they need for the night and can expect the amount of food they’ll go through in an evening. Plus, it means they can have tables arranged and set up for a certain number of people instead of having to shuffle things around for each new dining party. Thankfully, it seems plenty of restaurant owners have embraced the change. Much of the restaurant reservation culture started during the pandemic, with people being forced to book tables. Now, many still want to continue dining outside to avoid crowds. 

Some people reserve tables all year long

Believe it or not, but there are now sites that allow people to pay a subscription to have a permanent table reserved at hotspot restaurants to ensure they never have to line up or worry about missing out on a spot. Dame in NYC is one of the many on the list, with people now having access to a once-weekly reservation to the tune of $1,000 a year. Emmett in the West Village, NYC, is another at the lower price of $300 a year. Amazingly, 75 Main, another restaurant in the state, has even seen someone drop a whopping $90,000 to reserve a table every night for the entire summer of 2022.

Reservations are causing some people to miss the dining experience

There are plenty of good sides for restaurant owners when it comes to the restaurant reservation culture. However, there are also plenty of downsides for diners. Many restaurants now offer a timeslot for each reservation, with some claiming they have just 90 minutes to make it through a meal. This has led to people eating faster than they should and rushing meals, all to enjoy a hard-earned spot inside.

Has the restaurant reservation culture gone too far? For many, the answer is yes. While there are arguments on both sides of the fence, many are hoping it’s a trend that leaves as quickly as it seemed to enter the chat.