Reservations vs Waiting lists

The OpenTable thread brought this to mind but didnt want to clutter up that thread with off topic stuff.

What are people's thoughts on reservation vs waiting lists. Both have positives and negatives and Im wondering when and what circumstances you think one is better than the other. Specific example that bugs me: Irish Rover used to be waiting list, now they are reservation. Its kind of an annoying situation for my group of friends because we may not decide on a restaurant until 6:15 or so on a Friday. Previously, would get there, realize had a 45 minute wait, have a few beers at the bar before dinner. Now, dont go as often (if decision isnt made until late) and then get there and get a table.

It seems to me you get less people thru a restaurant using reservations, but you dont have the problem with long wait times. But how much of a problem is wait times? Seems to help the bar business. Is this correct?

We never wait more then 10 minutes. If the wait is longer than that, we'll try somewhere else.

So, for us reservations are the way to go. We often make them from the car while we're on the way. There's no need to make them days ahead of time for most places.

I think that most people like to know that there is a table waiting for them when they're going to a restaurant.
Making a reservation brings them peace of mind.

From the restaurant's point of view, knowing who, when and how many are "on the books" is invaluable. It allows for planning and preparation.

We grapple with a similar issue at Sake Blue, but with our hibachi grills. We only take reservations for parties of 6 or more at the grills. Now, we're getting too many large party reservations which is creating large waits for people who call ahead or just walk-in, which are typically smaller parties. Starting this weekend, we started limiting the reservations so that we avoid this issue since we don't want people to feel discouraged from coming. I can't speak for all restaurants, but I think the mix between reservations and reserving a certain # of tables/grills will work well for us.

If my husband and I have to wait more than 10 or 15 minutes, we usually leave. There are so many good places to eat here, that finding someplace else to go is never an issue.

Unless it is a special occasion(V-day, Anniversary) or a large group, I never make a reservation. If there is more than a 10 minute wait, I go elsewhere. We always have a back up before we leave the house.

I can't understand the places that won't take a reservation for large group.

Just wanted to clarify that The Irish Rover has not changed any policies. We have always taken reservations for parties of 5 or more and do not take reservations for smaller groups. The reasoning is that we have far more tables that seat four or fewer than seat 5 or more, and the smaller tables also tend to turn much faster than larger ones, so waits for small groups are not usually excessive.

On some nights -- especially Friday and Saturday -- all of our big tables may be booked through the evening (we budget two hours per reservation) and we may have a long wait for smaller tables, so a large group that comes in without reservations would probably have to wait a verrrryyy long time for a large table (or two smaller ones that could be pushed together). I think you'll find this to be true in most small restaurants.

FYI, we also take call-aheads, so groups of any size can lessen their wait time by getting on the wait list before they leave home.

Michael Reidy

Just wanted to clarify that The Irish Rover has not changed any policies. We have always taken reservations for parties of 5 or more and do not take reservations for smaller groups. The reasoning is that we have far more tables that seat four or fewer than seat 5 or more, and the smaller tables also tend to turn much faster than larger ones, so waits for small groups are not usually excessive.

On some nights -- especially Friday and Saturday -- all of our big tables may be booked through the evening (we budget two hours per reservation) and we may have a long wait for smaller tables, so a large group that comes in without reservations would probably have to wait a verrrryyy long time for a large table (or two smaller ones that could be pushed together). I think you'll find this to be true in most small restaurants.

FYI, we also take call-aheads, so groups of any size can lessen their wait time by getting on the wait list before they leave home.

Michael Reidy

Thanks for clarifying, but as I rarely go in a group smaller than 5, it has SEEMED to change, whether it has or not. In the distant past, we would call ahead and get on the list, and would get seated with a reasonable wait (although may have to wait for a while - my reasonable wait is longer than some on this thread). More recently, the reservations have been taking up all the large tables. Maybe you are just more popular. But, in the past, if there was an empty table we would be seated at it, now it always seems to be for a reservation.