Stop the wait!

What is going on with the wait time with these newer restaurants? I mean they have decided that there should not be reservations? You know who I am talking about (Hammerheads, Game, Mussel and Burger Bar, Toast, El Camino, etc.) just to name a few.

I like the food at these establishments, but none and I mean none are worth the wait time you find on most weekends and even some weekdays. Sorry, but there is no excuse for these outlandish wait times. Sometime even right at 5 p.m. you can find yourself on a 45 min. wait. Even for brunch at 8:30 you may find yourself with a 30 min. wait.

No reservations? I know, I know, some owners believe they can seat more tables this way. Well before I complain more, let be be proactive.

First of all it should not only be upscale restaurants that take reservations. I have walked into Varanese on a Friday without a reservation and got a seat in less than 5 minutes. That being said, here is how to handle the situation of a long wait.

1. If you are extremely short staffed, move extra tables out of sight from guest so they can't see empty tables.

2. If you have servers who can't handle more than two or three tables that sounds like a yp (your problem) not an mp (my problem). You should just cut them loose. People apply to be servers everyday.

3. This is my favorite: Take reservations. Tell the guest (and strictly follow this) they have a 5 minute buffer. If the reservation is for 6 they have until 6:05 or they automatically loose the table. It is better to be early than loose your table.

4. Call Ahead Seating: Wait, let me explain. Call Ahead Seating was an idea developed in the 80's so people could call ahead and be placed at the top of the wait list upon their arrival at the restaurant. That means when you let the host/hostess know you have arrived, you are the next to be sat. Sorry other patrons in the lobby, but you should have called ahead.

I have found myself added to the bottom of the wait list a few times at various restaurants. I have been upset and walked out when this happens. And trust me, I always let someone know with either a face to face or a written letter to the manager.

Also, look at the layout of most restaurants now, they don't have a proper wait area so in the winter people end up being outside in the cold.

P.S. Don't give me that bar area is first come first serve. Everyone is told that and there are people crowding the bar area at some places just hawking over a table until the guest get up.

Take note restaurateurs and take both walk-ins and reservations. You can have your cake and eat it too. Death to the unnecessary wait!

[Robin Garr]

Lots of interesting thoughts there, Jason. I concur in some, have my doubts about a few ... I think some popular spots have abandoned call-ahead seating because they thought it caused more problems than it solved. Good food for thought, though. I'll be interested to hear what some of our restaurateurs think.

I agree that there is a dismal lack of space devoted to a waiting area (Captains Quarters being an exception to the rule. Thank you CQ.) I don't mind waiting my turn, just give me someplace to do it where I'm not standing in the doorway leading to the outside, right next to the doorway to the bathroom, or an aisle way between dining tables dodging food servers. Maybe better restaurant design is the answer. Multiple levels where those waiting for a table are out of the line of vision of the dining rooms. Of course someone will argue that if you have space to wait you'd have space for dining tables and avoid the wait all together. (Shrugs) Maybe.

As for the "no room for waiting", the worst I've ever seen is Ruby Tuesday, particularly the one in Clarksville. The only place to stand is literally at the front door between two separate dining areas, the salad bar and the hostess stand. It's truly ridiculous.

I understand getting slammed and having a rush but it just burns my goat to see a third to a half of the tables vacant and the parking lot half empty and be told we'll have a 45 minute wait to be seated. No thanks. We'll go elsewhere and we'll remember that experience every time we drive past your restaurant in the future.

I wonder if management thinks they are creating demand by making customers wait for a table. (Wrong!)

Unless there is a comfortable seat at the bar, I won't "do" waits...period.

To contradict that statement, on a recent trip to Asheville one of our favorite places downtown was doing this thing where gave them your cell number and they would text you when your table was ready...Which sounded like a great idea since -both- times we went they were on an hour and a half -plus- wait...Anyway, the idea being that once they had your number you could mosey around town, maybe have a brew next door, visit a couple of shops and then about the time you think your table will be ready you make your way back to the restaurant in anticipation of a text message...Major FAIL. Both times we tried this, 25 minutes later -just- as we sat down to have a beer a couple of blocks from the restaurant- we got text messages saying our table was ready and we had 5 minutes to get there.

So...as I was saying, unless there is a comfortable seat at the bar, I won't "do" waits...ever...period. Your food isn't worth 45 minutes or an hour of my time...I don't care -who- you are or what you're serving.

I fully support everything Jason suggests.

Quite frankly it could be seen as an insult to your customers NOT to take reservations. How so? Because quite frankly my time is better spent than spending 50 minutes waiting in your lobby area for a table. If you dont think so then you are frankly insulting me.

I havent had problems to date getting tables at Hammer Heads (generally 10-15 min wait) or El Camino (been twice less than 5 min wait both times). Game or M&BB? I wont go back to either. Their wait times are ridiculous.

There are just to many great restaurants in town to bother with frustrating waits: Silver Dollar, Cafe LouLou, Havana Rumba, Jeff Ruby's, Milkwood, etc etc.

I dont like reservations because I usually dont start making dinner plans until about 5:30 or so on Friday or Saturday nights.

But, that said, I also dont do long waits very often and tend to stick with places with reasonable wait times. Generally 15-20 tops or 30 if I can get a good beer at the bar.

I agree with most of what's been said here; I generally think both reservations and call-ahead seating are good things.

But:

Quite frankly it could be seen as an insult to your customers NOT to take reservations. How so? Because quite frankly my time is better spent than spending 50 minutes waiting in your lobby area for a table. If you dont think so then you are frankly insulting me.

No, it isn't an insult. Because nobody's forcing us to eat anywhere. If a restaurant compelled you to come and then compelled you to wait without a reservation, that'd be an insult. If they took your reservation and then made you wait, that'd be an insult. But, as it is, it's a free country. Restaurants are free to operate on a first-come basis if they want to, and patrons are free to not patronize them if they think their time is too valuable to wait.

It's not like the medical industry, where I make a 10AM appointment to see my doctor, arrive on time, get shown into the exam room at 11AM, and the doctor comes waltzing in at 11:45 to give me five minutes of his precious time. THAT's an insult.

I agree that there is a dismal lack of space devoted to a waiting area (Captains Quarters being an exception to the rule. Thank you CQ.) I don't mind waiting my turn, just give me someplace to do it where I'm not standing in the doorway leading to the outside, right next to the doorway to the bathroom, or an aisle way between dining tables dodging food servers. Maybe better restaurant design is the answer. Multiple levels where those waiting for a table are out of the line of vision of the dining rooms. Of course someone will argue that if you have space to wait you'd have space for dining tables and avoid the wait all together. (Shrugs) Maybe.

I totally agree about CQ, but for some reason this thread started me thinking about when the movie theaters first opened at Stonybrook many moons ago, and the box office was outside, you were forced to wait in line outside for a ticket before you could even enter the lobby. ~I thought that was odd.

No, it isn't an insult. Because nobody's forcing us to eat anywhere. If a restaurant compelled you to come and then compelled you to wait without a reservation, that'd be an insult. If they took your reservation and then made you wait, that'd be an insult. But, as it is, it's a free country. Restaurants are free to operate on a first-come basis if they want to, and patrons are free to not patronize them if they think their time is too valuable to wait.

I get where you are going with that line of reasoning. However, whether Im forced to eat there or not is beside the point. Its an insult that an owner finds this situation acceptable for their customers to endure. If an owner can remedy the situation and chooses not to, or in some cases makes the situation worse, then they are an active participant.

It's not like the medical industry, where I make a 10AM appointment to see my doctor, arrive on time, get shown into the exam room at 11AM, and the doctor comes waltzing in at 11:45 to give me five minutes of his precious time. THAT's an insult.

Fully agree. Its happened to me, and I have let the office manager at my physician's office know I wont accept such behavior in no uncertain terms.

I suppose I could see how you might view a zero reservations position as hubris, but consider a small restaurant with little space but great atmosphere. People tend to do one of two things- not show up or camp out.

When I was gm of the Blind Pig this was what I encountered. It was nearly impossible to keep anyone happy. One big flaw in the perspectives on this thread is not acknowledging a MAJOR Louisville restaurant phenomenon- the 7 o'clock dinner bell that 80% of Louisville diners hear on a nightly basis. When nearly everyone wants to eat between 6:30-7:30 you run into a traffic jam that little can remedy. You have the whole place filled up and nearly all the tables blocked for reservations while non-resos are streaming in and getting extremely hostile that they have to wait while looking at empty tables. There are numerous patrons who will make reservations at numerous places to give a group of friends an option and then not call the places that aren't chosen. It happens more than you might think. Not to mention that folks loved the atmosphere there so many tables wanted to camp and talk all night, even the ones who arrived early. I found the only thing louisvillians hate more than waiting is asking them to give up their table after a reasonable amount of time. I realize that there is a smooth way to do this, but I will say that I find it frustrating that the vast majority of people almost uniformly expect a free drink or something similar just so a table will allow another party to dine after they've been finished for a reasonable amount of time. We ended up with a hybrid system of limited reservations and call ahead seating but especially in the early days when the NY times review came out it was nearly impossible to not upset people one way or the other. I had hostesses literally in tears many weekend nights.

If you have a large space, it is unreasonable not to take reservations or have a large waiting area, but in a restaurant such as the blind pig, hammerheads, game, or Wiltshire on market you are doomed to choose between accommodating as many as possible or turning many diners away in favor of reservations. This tends to work better for places on the higher end such as Wiltshire, but I've still heard people complain that they thought Wiltshire was "snobby and exclusive" because they were unable to get a table due to them being fully booked. And if you can tell me a way we could have offered more waiting room without losing tons of seating at the Pig I'd like to hear it. It seems to me, in bigger food towns there is an unspoken understanding that if the place is huge such as Nellcote or Belly Q you will have reservation options, but in a smaller scale space such as Avec or Ruxbin you will have to brave the crowd and wait. If you are insistent on eating at a time when nearly everyone else wants to eat, the free market will essentially force you to eat at a later time. It's a little difficult for me to accept the borderline hostile attitude that so many people in town have towards waiting, especially so many people on this message board, while they simultaneously express a desire for Louisville to truly reach its full potential as a world class food destination. I think a little more understanding is necessary to accommodate the kinds and quantity of places that louisvillians seem to crave. Believe me- we want to serve you and keep you happy, we really do.

Jeremy

Once again I find you to be the voice of reason. I can only speak from my experience as owner/operator of L&N for 9 years. We were a relatively small place (80 seats). Our first 3 years or so, we only took reservations for large parties, everything else was on a first come, first serve basis. After enduring an onslaught of complaints, we made a huge mistake and started accepting reservations. It had a huge negative impact on our sales and I regretted ever changing it. Jeremy is correct in that the overwhelming majority of diners all look for reservations in a 1 hour window, from 6:30-7:30. I have long joked, sort of, that if I ever had another place in Louisville I would name it "Not 7:30". So if you open your business at 5:30 for dinner, you essentially are unable seat anyone coming in after 5:45. I understand a customers frustration with long wait times for a table, but if this is the case, the market has determined that the product is worth waiting for.
As Jeremy also stated, there is almost no way to balance both the fiduciary responsibility an owner has and keep all guests happy at the same time.

I spent a couple years as a hostess at a small (read: tricky to seat!) Louisville Original that at the time had an hour+ wait on weekend nights. We did take reservations but not call-ahead seating. Here's what I learned:

Reservations in a small restaurant are almost impossible to get right. And you will make people angry every night. If you need two adjacent tables to bring together for a larger party then chances are one of those tables will be left not sat for too long. Inevitably, there is always one table that doesn't want to end their night and will camp long after they are done dining. Servers get angry because they are losing money due to empty tables. People that are waiting constantly remind you that there is an open table and they would like to sit there. The party who made the reservation is mad because their table isn't ready.

If a restaurant is busy and has the ability to keep tables turning quickly because they are not taking reservations then that's great. I understand that some people hate waiting, but you can't hold it against a restaurant that has a packed house of customers happy to wait.

It's a little difficult for me to accept the borderline hostile attitude that so many people in town have towards waiting, especially so many people on this message board, while they simultaneously express a desire for Louisville to truly reach its full potential as a world class food destination. I think a little more understanding is necessary to accommodate the kinds and quantity of places that louisvillians seem to crave.

Bravo! Well said!

I agree that everyone wants to sit down between the hours of 6:30-7:30 on Friday and Saturday nights. This town likes their meals early! Every restaurant in this town will have seating available after 8:30. Just check opentable.com.