Comments on: Would you buy a reservation?

By: Bill Burge

Bill Burge — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:40:18 +0000

Hopefully we never find out. Even the service is ridiculous, and I see the top price went up as there is a Babbo reservation for $50 right now.

By: Ian Froeb

Ian Froeb — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:52:46 +0000

I don’t know, Bill. I think a restaurant that tried such a policy itself would get creamed by the NYC press.

Look what happened to the restaurant Fiamma. It got 3 stars from Frank Bruni. Soon after, it raised its prix-fixe prices. This week, Bruni wrote an article pointing out what the restaurant had done, and Fiamma turned right around and lowered its prices. (Though not to the original level.)

By: Bill Burge

Bill Burge — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:19:33 +0000

But what if some of the restaurants like the idea and start just doing it themselves?

David Chang is a chef’s chef. He gets it, and he wants people that dig tasty food to be in his restaurant. He doesn’t want every pretentious asshole in New York to flood his gates.

There are a lot of restaurants that have a certain aura of pretension around them, however, and they would like the idea that it’s so difficult to get in that people are having to buy reservations.

It helped every place mentioned in the article, because it amounted to free press.

Either way though, it’s one of the strangest thing’s I’ve ever seen, but then I refused to even sit around and wait to get into the French Laundry.

Food shouldn’t be that difficult to obtain.

By: Mike Sweeney

Mike Sweeney — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:09:17 +0000

As Ian mentioned, restaurants are going to start requiring ID at the time of the reservation and then this idea goes right into the garbage.

By: Annie

Annie — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:42:52 +0000

all i got is a ‘What the F*CK’. Are they serious. I’m a grown woman. I stopped the shifty ways once hit 21. I just want to eat…that’s all…just eat. Next thing you know you’ll have to give up your first born.

Reeks of Hannah Montana.

By: Bill Burge

Bill Burge — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:21:14 +0000

good thing Ellie and I hit it when we did I guess…we just walked straight in and sat down.

Well…the original momofuku that is.

By: Ian Froeb

Ian Froeb — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:50:41 +0000

Momofuku Ko, the new restaurant from uber-hot NYC chef David Chang, just put its online-only reservation system up this week and have already had to implement a policy to prevent scalping. You must present ID at the door that matches the name the credit-card under which the res was held.