[Nathan]

Swicks, on Mar 10 2008, 03:18 PM, said:

Interesting stuff.

For a non new yorker, could someone put into perspective where this $170 menu with wine sits in comparison pricewise to some of the other top tables? 

It sounds like from what people think its a relative bargain?

$130 with wine, I was including tax and tip.

it's perfectly fair and equivalent to similar tasting menus with similar levels of ambition....

[fendi_pilot]

Nathan, on Mar 10 2008, 05:28 PM, said:

Swicks, on Mar 10 2008, 03:18 PM, said:

Interesting stuff.

For a non new yorker, could someone put into perspective where this $170 menu with wine sits in comparison pricewise to some of the other top tables? 

It sounds like from what people think its a relative bargain?

$130 with wine, I was including tax and tip.

it's perfectly fair and equivalent to similar tasting menus with similar levels of ambition....

The only better deal is Kitchen Counter at Beacon - but that's only once a week, 6 seats and isn't quite as 'creative' although it is very delicious and at $85 per person for tasting and wine is priced very very low for nyc standards.

[Swicks]

Nathan, on Mar 10 2008, 02:28 PM, said:

Swicks, on Mar 10 2008, 03:18 PM, said:

Interesting stuff.

For a non new yorker, could someone put into perspective where this $170 menu with wine sits in comparison pricewise to some of the other top tables? 

It sounds like from what people think its a relative bargain?

$130 with wine, I was including tax and tip.

it's perfectly fair and equivalent to similar tasting menus with similar levels of ambition....

So would this compare say to Atelier? I believe the price point there is much higher, like $190?

[Nathan]

Swicks, on Mar 10 2008, 04:09 PM, said:

Nathan, on Mar 10 2008, 02:28 PM, said:

Swicks, on Mar 10 2008, 03:18 PM, said:

Interesting stuff.

For a non new yorker, could someone put into perspective where this $170 menu with wine sits in comparison pricewise to some of the other top tables? 

It sounds like from what people think its a relative bargain?

$130 with wine, I was including tax and tip.

it's perfectly fair and equivalent to similar tasting menus with similar levels of ambition....

So would this compare say to Atelier? I believe the price point there is much higher, like $190?

$190 base. then maybe another $80-100 for wine, $30 for tax, $75 tip. so about $400.

[Fat Guy]

I received the following via email from Momofuku just now:

Quote

the momofuku ko reservation site will launch tomorrow, 3/11/08, at 10:00 AM.

You will need to create a new account.

If you have any questions please feel free to shoot us an email.

Thanks!!!

https://reservations.momofuku.com/

[oakapple]

They weren't kidding when they said 10:00 a.m. At 9:59, the password box was still there. At exactly 10:00, it opened up. And at 10:02, it crashed.

[catsrus9]

crap....i made an account but i didn't get to the reservation part yet.
ahhhh i have to go to class! :(

[catsrus9]

its back up! score!

__________, you reserved 2 seats on 3/14/2008 at 07:30 pm

if you are going to be late call __________ and leave a message

unfortunately if you are going to be more then 15 minutes late we will have to give up your spot out of respect for the guest arriving after you

If you would like to cancel your reservation please click on the following link:click here to cancel your reservation

please note we will do our best to accommodate special needs and food allergies however because our menu changes from day to day we will sometimes be unable to significantly alter your meal

This post has been edited by catsrus9: 11 March 2008 - 09:26 AM

[Fat Guy]

I wonder why they didn't just sign up for the OpenTable service.

[oakapple]

Fat Guy, on Mar 11 2008, 07:32 AM, said:

I wonder why they didn't just sign up for the OpenTable service.

Indeed, I wonder that too. I used to be a computer programmer. There's always this great temptation to waste your time on problems other people have already solved.

Money quote from the Eater comments:

Quote

Oh wait I get it now. In keeping with the whole concept of the restaurant, they've put the reservation system on a server that only can handle 12 people at a time!

[Nathan]

opentable charges $2500 a year minimum.

if they have someone in-house who can put together the site (not that difficult with available web-authoring tools) or someone willing to do it for a discount or for services in kind (likely)...they can do it for substantially cheaper than that. and organize the setup exactly the way they want.

This post has been edited by Nathan: 11 March 2008 - 08:04 AM

[oakapple]

Nathan, on Mar 11 2008, 08:01 AM, said:

opentable charges $2500 a year minimum.

Assuming you're not running the amateur hour, you need at least three servers: production, test/backup and development. Plus a huge amount bandwidth, cost of development and maintenance, and professional management. I'd like to know where you think that's available for $208.33 a month.

Quote

if they have someone in-house who can put together the site (not that difficult with available tools)....

We are seeing right now just how difficult it is.

This post has been edited by oakapple: 11 March 2008 - 08:07 AM

[Nathan]

oakapple, on Mar 11 2008, 08:06 AM, said:

Nathan, on Mar 11 2008, 08:01 AM, said:

opentable charges $2500 a year minimum.

Assuming you're not running the amateur hour, you need at least three servers: production, test/backup and development. Plus a huge amount bandwidth, cost of development and maintenance, and professional management. I'd like to know where you think that's available for $208.33 a month.

Quote

if they have someone in-house who can put together the site (not that difficult with available tools)....

We are seeing right now just how difficult it is.

that's ludicrous. it's a restaurant with 12 seats. they're not running three servers...just one, if that, for all I know they're just virtually hosting it (which would make sense).

obviously they don't have a huge amount of bandwith.

[oakapple]

Nathan, on Mar 11 2008, 08:18 AM, said:

oakapple, on Mar 11 2008, 08:06 AM, said:

Nathan, on Mar 11 2008, 08:01 AM, said:

opentable charges $2500 a year minimum.

Assuming you're not running the amateur hour, you need at least three servers: production, test/backup and development. Plus a huge amount bandwidth, cost of development and maintenance, and professional management. I'd like to know where you think that's available for $208.33 a month.

that's ludicrous. it's a restaurant with 12 seats. they're not running three servers...just one, if that, for all I know they're just virtually hosting it (which would make sense).

obviously they don't have a huge amount of bandwith.

Well, even supposing you did it with just one server, I doubt you get all that for $208.33 a month. But in that case, of course, just wait till the time you want to enhance or modify it—trust me, that will happen—and you have no "sandbox" to work in. Amateur hour indeed (if that's what they did).

[Nathan]

oh, I agree that they probably should have gone with an existing solution (i.e. opentable).

but it's not hard to guess what happened:

Either of:

A. someone there can build a page with web-authoring tools, or someone offered to do it for food or a discount. you can buy a basic server and peripherals for $800 or less. internet access: $30-100 a month. boom...substantially cheaper than opentable (especially after the first year); or

B. someone there can build a page with web-authoring tools, or someone offered to do it for food or a discount. virtual hosting (with backup)...$200 a month or less. same price as opentable essentially...but they have control.

obviously, that's assuming the setup works. but it's not hard to see that was probably the mindset.

[raji]

David (Chang) -

http://www.mediatemp.../webhosting/gs/

(MT's Grid Server hosting is located on a computing cluster. Bandwidth, storage, and CPU demands increase ON DEMAND. Not so much relevant because they went with a Microsoft web server, which just sucks overall, but honestly, the site is not exactly rocket science....)

thank me later!

This post has been edited by raji: 12 March 2008 - 06:42 AM

[oakapple]

Nathan, on Mar 11 2008, 08:40 AM, said:

oh, I agree that they probably should have gone with an existing solution (i.e. opentable).

but it's not hard to guess what happened:

I think you're right. They thought they had something that was less expensive than OpenTable, with the extra plus that they'd have total control. They're learning the hard way that it's not as easy as it looks.

[raji]

IIS is shit.

Thankfully they're concentrating on the food not the website.

Well, thankful until it's time to do business...

[catsrus9]

I can't believe I'm already referenced on nymag and eater....craziness.
Ok time to remove my name the the phone number haha

[mjr_inthegardens]

Looks like DC dropped beer on the server.

[catsrus9]

so who else is going to be there on friday? I'm coming all the way back from school in providence just for the weekend so I can go

I'm so excited
I feel like I was just accepted into college again!

[catsrus9]

To those of you who have already been there, were people dressed up? I don't want to be under or overdressed! Thanks!

[Sneakeater]

No, they totally weren't.

NOTE TO JESSICA COEN: I don't know if you read this board, but if you do: I was only kidding.

[Fat Guy]

Noticed this in the help file:

Quote

q: can i make a reservation for someone else?

a: no, you are only supposed to make reservations for you. we don't want to start cross checking id at the door but we will notice if one person is making reservations for others.  if that happens then we'll ask you to stop.

And this on the main page:

Quote

please note you must show id that matches

your reservation info when you come in to eat

(wish we didn’t have to do that)

[fendi_pilot]

Nice. David Chang is my hero! I only wish they would take it a step further and have an a**hole screener built into the reservation interface. Although if that happened I may or may not pass....

[oakapple]

Fat Guy, on Mar 11 2008, 06:28 PM, said:

And this on the main page:

Quote

please note you must show id that matches

your reservation info when you come in to eat

(wish we didn’t have to do that)

If memory serves me right, that notice wasn't there earlier in the day. I suspect they saw comments about rezys being sold on eBay—perhaps they even saw it right here—and decided they had to take action. Good for them.

[raji]

The site simply doesn't work on a mac for me... the bot-denying image won't load. Anyone else?

[weinoo]

I don't know about anyone else, but when it comes to reservations for a restaurant, I don't want to have to deal with it like I have to deal with Ticketmaster for hot concert tix... jmo.

[fendi_pilot]

raji, on Mar 12 2008, 08:47 AM, said:

The site simply doesn't work on a mac for me... the bot-denying image won't load. Anyone else?

Seems to work with my mac - are they already booked for tuesday or is it wednesday today ? i logged on at before 10am and everything was taken already.

This post has been edited by fendi_pilot: 12 March 2008 - 07:15 AM

[oakapple]

weinoo, on Mar 12 2008, 07:03 AM, said:

I don't know about anyone else, but when it comes to reservations for a restaurant, I don't want to have to deal with it like I have to deal with Ticketmaster for hot concert tix... jmo.

Assuming they fix the stability issues, the Momofuku website is certainly no more annoying than the ritual at Babbo or Gramercy Tavern: hitting redial 80 times, then waiting on hold for twenty minutes, only to be told there are no tables available. And at Ko, unlike those other places, the prime time tables aren't held in reserve for regulars and VIPs.

Some of the measures taken on the website are merely indicative of Chang's success. Otherwise, unscrupulous diners would be snapping up reservations and hawking them on eBay—as a few people already tried to do.