Mussel and Burger Bar

Here for father's day.
I've given this place two chances. I won't be back unless they institute a REAL reservation system.
Called 30 minutes ahead of time. Yet upon arrival we have been waiting 35 mins (and still waiting). This is the second time that has happened. I have better things to do with my time.

There are enough other great restaurants in this town with better seating systems.

Any major holiday is going to have a huge back up on sitting at restaurants.

We love Mussel and Burger. We've been a number of times since they've opened.

I've only been there twice. Both times I observed a problem with their wait time/reservation system. But the food was worth the wait. I'm willing to deal with small irritations for a bigger payoff.

Neither Mussel & Burger Bar nor Guaca Mole have a reservation system, and the regulars know and respect this. You go at prime time, you are going to wait...they are both that popular....that is one hell of a good problem to have, in my opinion. In both cases the food is well worth the wait, and they both have a very nice bar area.

When you are popular enough that people will wait for a table reservation systems don't make sense. In reality, all they do is leave tables empty, waiting for people to arrive. Call ahead seating, which both of these restaurants use helps because it puts your name on the list. If you are not there when your name is called the restaurant can easily just skip your name to keep the table filled.

In defense of Doug, I think he's right in that there are so many great places to eat in town, if one of them stresses you out for any reason, it's not worth it. No meal will change your life or is worth undue stress.

I understand both points of view here. While visiting Louisville recently we gave it a try. Called ahead. Arrived and were told 30 minutes but actually waited only 10. While waiting, the estimated time escalated to 1 hour and a few walk-ins, walked out. This was on a Wednesday evening. I wouldn't try a Friday or Saturday.

We thought the low price for quality and quantity received was a great value. We will return. Probably next visit home.

To each their own. My time at 30 mins to an hour wait, after calling ahead, isnt worth any food anywhere. Not to sound snooty or anything but my time is worth more than that. Especially when I can walk into Milkwood or any number of other just as good establishments in town and be seated within 10 mins of arrival with my reservation.

Notice I have no complaints about the food. The CEO burger with the Foie Gras on top is amazing. Its just not worth the hassle to me.

I will take exception with what someone said, that reservations mean empty tables sitting unused. I would argue not if you know how to properly run a reservation system. Two weekends ago I got reservations at the hottest new French restaurant in D.C. If they were so detrimental to business I doubt they would be the industry norm.

I'm with you Doug. I hate to wait more than 20 minutes for anything. There are just too many other options out there. Unless of course you are trying to eat at 7:00pm on a Friday night when the entire city is trying to get a table too.

That being said, The price point of Mussel Burger & Bar with the top end being around 20 bucks, really doesn't lend itself to a reservation system as "turn and burn volume" is really the only way to sustain the model.

While the food itself is of high quality, but perceived to be inexpensive on the wholesale side; all of the scratch made bells and whistles that go along with it, have to be prepared with lots of expensive labor. And there is a small army in the kitchen there.
That means they have to pack the place and turn most of those tables over at least once on the weekends to keep up with the payroll and the bills.
Reservations really only work at the higher end on the price point places, where you may only need to turn a couple of tables to keep the lights on.
Because let's face it, no one is really looking to go out to eat before 6:30-7ish anyway, so even though it might be an inconvenience for people like Doug and I, who don't want to wait around to be seated, there are plenty of other people out there who will. And it seems to be working just finef or them.

Dan,

Thanks for the comments and insight from someone in the bizz.

Question: You say they arent using reservations because they are attempting to embrace a turn and burn business model. If thats the case it would certainly be understandable. Similar to a Red Robin or something where of course no one would get reservations there either. However, Im not sure the clientele understands that or is aware of that.

On the two occasions I have gone it seems many patrons are going to the place for special occasions and are spending a lengthy stay at their table. One of the occasions was even at an early time of 5:30pm for dinner and most patrons were taking their time and enjoying the ambiance and food.

Maybe they either need to raise prices or get more seating/space?

Thoughts?

Several people have a misconception that they take reservations at all. I called them a few months back to see if they take reservations and was told, no, they do not but if you call half an hour or so before you expect to arrive they'd put our name on the list.
I did not in any way interpret that to mean anything but that, in effect, the wait time would start when I called rather than when I arrived. So if they were on a 90 minute wait, we'd still wait an hour. Seemed clear to me. There's no reason to be put out about the wait unless one of their staff messed up and said they'd take your reservation for a table at such & such time. Did that happen to anyone?

I tried Friday to call ahead to put my name on the wait list and they said they didn't do that. Not a big deal; it was pretty early and we only had to wait about 20 minutes.

I can't stand to wait, either, but the last time I went to M&BB, I put my name down and gave the Hosts my cell phone # so I could go to a place that had room at the bar for me to wait it out comfortably - they called a few minutes prior to seating. Voila! My time wasn't wasted at all!

I hate call ahead seating. It seems like if i make the effort to get off my lazy ass and actually go to your restaurant, I should get precedence over someone who called in to get on the list ahead of me and may or may not even actually show up.

I mean don't get me wrong, I respect if you prefer to just go somewhere without a wait...but if you want to eat at the popular restaurant so bad then just stand for 30 minutes like the rest of us and enjoy the company of your companions.

I hate call ahead seating. It seems like if i make the effort to get off my lazy ass and actually go to your restaurant, I should get precedence over someone who called in to get on the list ahead of me and may or may not even actually show up.

I mean don't get me wrong, I respect if you prefer to just go somewhere without a wait...but if you want to eat at the popular restaurant so bad then just stand for 30 minutes like the rest of us and enjoy the company of your companions.

I'm not sure why you hate call ahead seating. It's available to everyone, you can use it too! It certainly allows you to make better use of your time as well as helping the restaurant keep tables full. Actually, people calling ahead are very beneficial to them because they don't have to have such a big area for people to stand around waiting when they are busy. If they don't show up, what's the problem? It just means people lower down the list will get seated faster because if they haven't arrived when their name is called the hostess will just seat the next people who are available.

It sounds like a win-win to everybody as far as I'm concerned!