NYC's Toughest Table to Book?

[oakapple]

What's the toughest table to book for prime time on a Saturday evening? (Ground rule: it has to be a restaurant that takes reservations.)

Obviously I haven't tried every conceivable place, but for the moment my nominee is Babbo. At 10:00 a.m. every morning, they start taking reservations for the numerical date one month in advance. I have tried several times. You cannot get through in the first hour. When you finally do, the only tables available are 5:30 or 10:30 p.m.

My most recent experience with Babbo is (it seems) typical. After 15 minutes of trying, all I got were busy signals, except for twice. At 10:02, a recording informed me that Babbo's rezy line was still closed. At 10:08, I got through, but after traversing several layers of menus, a recording informed me that due to high call volume I would now be disconnected.

Per Se is, of course, a tough table. But you do get through in a reasonable amount of time, and apparently their switchboard has the capacity so that you don't get disconnected. Given the rather significant difference in the size of the two restaurants, Babbo is, in relative terms, the tougher table to get.

Any other experiences?

[kathryn]

For me, Babbo is easy, but only because I live a ten minute walk away and have a fairly flexible work schedule.

They take reservations in person. I have shown up at 9:55am, waited inside the closed restaurant, and then received whatever time I wanted for the date (one calendar month ahead, of course.)

Edited January 18, 2008 by kathryn (log)

[Fat Guy]

Rao's is probably the toughest.

I'm not sure I follow the reasoning that says Babbo is a tougher table than Per Se. There are several ways to game Babbo: getting one of the first-come-first-served tables, making reservations in person, getting in on a last-minute cancellation, just showing up and hoping for a no-show . . . Per Se is a much tougher nut to crack. They won't talk to you in person, they don't have any unreserved tables, they rarely get last-minute cancellations. The problem at both restaurants is, I imagine, that they have a lot of VIP holdbacks. The reason you can't get anything but 5:30 or 10:30 at Babbo isn't because it took an hour to get through. More likely it's that they never made any other tables available to the general public in the first place.

So basically, if you offered a monetary reward for getting into Babbo or Per Se on a Saturday night between 7 and 9:30pm, I'd rather take the challenge with Babbo than with Per Se. (Also, given that the only reliable way to succeed at this task is to become a regular, it's just a lot more affordable to become a Babbo regular than it is to become a Per Se regular.) I'd also probably rather try for Babbo than for, say, Union Square Cafe at prime time. There are actually a whole bunch of restaurants where, unless you're known to the restaurant, you will simply never be offered anything but a very early or very late reservation on a Friday or Saturday night. Some of them are second- and third-tier places, but they have their audiences. Places like Sfoglia.

[oakapple]

I'm not sure I follow the reasoning that says Babbo is a tougher table than Per Se. There are several ways to game Babbo: getting one of the first-come-first-served tables, making reservations in person, getting in on a last-minute cancellation, just showing up and hoping for a no-show . . .

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I stipulated that the ground rule was a reservation. I agree that if you're willing to just show up, Babbo is much easier than Per Se, because Babbo always has walk-in tables (plus dining at the bar), and Per Se does not.

I didn't realize that you could walk in and reserve in person, though that option only benefits those who live nearby and can be away from their job at that hour.

[Nathan]

1. Rao's.

2. Per Se.

Babbo, like many restaurants, often has prime time tables if you call the day of.

[Nathan]

actually, if you discount reservations made in person....than the Waverly Inn is up there.

[oakapple]

1. Rao's.

2.  Per Se.

Babbo, like many restaurants, often has prime time tables if you call the day of.

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I always thought of Rao's as practically a private club for its regulars.

What I was really trying to ask was, "What's the city's toughest restaurant to book in advance?" Calling around on the day or just showing up are very reasonable things if you're flexible (which we all are sometimes), but that wasn't what I meant.

Based on having tried both lately, Babbo seems to be harder to book in advance for a prime time than Per Se.

[Nathan]

but Babbo is not the only restaurant that simply doesn't offer prime time tables weeks in advance to non-regulars or VIPs.

[Fat Guy]

I always thought of Rao's as practically a private club for its regulars.

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Between 7 and 9:30pm on a Friday or Saturday night, tons of restaurants are practically private clubs for their regulars. At many restaurants -- even some that aren't particularly good -- those tables are held for regulars until the day of. The only way you get one is at the last minute, if it hasn't been claimed.

[Busboy]

Host note: Discussions of the various times that "regulars" and "amateurs" eat arising from FG's post has been moved to a separate topic here.

[Mambwe]

I would say Rao's as well.

Not sure if it is only me, but I have absolutely no desire to go to Rao's. I doubt I would ever have the opportunity to go, but something bothers me about this place. They have this tiny little restaurant in NYC which always gets recognized as a great little Italian restaurant that is impossible to get into. Unless you know Di Nero or are a relation of the Dapper Don you have no chance of getting in.

All of this exclusivity and what do they do? They open a restaurant in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas? I don't get it.

They get all of this great press here in NY and they Sell Out. I better watch what I type. I don't want to be the next shooting victim of Rao's, but this place just bothers me. They have no business in Las Vegas. They are a NYC institution and they should have stayed there. Do people actually feel or think they're having a dining experience anywhere close to that of the NYC location? I wonder...

This bothers me so much that if I ever got the impossible reservation or invite(which I won't) I'm not sure if I'd want to go.

Sorry for taking this post off topic, but I still think its the hardest reservation that I would never want to have.

[Nathan]

Rao's isn't known for the food (though it's supposed to be pretty decent Italian-American).

I know one regular and he goes to chat with his friends.

[Fat Guy]

I know one regular and he goes to chat with his friends.

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That's true at any restaurant. Lots of chefs and restaurateurs -- at really good places -- have told me that 95% of their customers are there for reasons other than the food. The regulars are often the worst offenders. They're the ones who go to Daniel and get a plate of steamed shrimp -- five days a week. Those of us who bother to be eGullet Society members tend to be in the 5%, but statistically we're freaks. That's why most popular doesn't equal best in the restaurant world. You want to see a restaurant that's hard to get in to? Try going to a Cheesecake Factory on a Saturday night at 7:30pm. You could easily sit in a mall for two hours with a vibrating pager waiting to be summoned to a table. You'll spend less time waiting if you walk in to Babbo.

[Batard]

I was working an event at the Rainbow Room in NYC, and they held an auction before dinner. One of the items being bid were two seats to Rao's for dinner. Frank Pelligrino was there and they made this whole big fuss over him. My company ran sound for the event, and Frank sang a little song for the crowd.

Then the bidding started. The two seats went to someone who bid over $2,500 for them. I could not believe that someone would pay that for a guaranteed table for two at Rao's. I know Rao's has a lot of mystique and an aura of the underworld, but this is just red-sauce Italian right?

I really do like their jarred marinara sauce though.

Edited January 19, 2008 by Batard (log)

[oakapple]

In my original post, I almost considered adding: "not counting Rao's". It seems to be in a category by itself. Any day of the week, any time of day, walk-in or reservation, the average person just can't get in there at all. This is so well known that most people wouldn't even try—never minding the question of whether it is even worth trying.

Babbo has its walk-in tables, but if you actually want a reservation in advance at prime times, it seems harder to book than Per Se. I've tried Babbo several times, and have never succeeded. I (or friends of mine) have tried Per Se several times, and have always succeeded.

Edited January 22, 2008 by oakapple (log)

[raji]

According to something I read recently, Bite Club ...

[victornet]

I've had pretty good success getting reservations at Babbo, using the strict 1 month before schedule, but I'm sure I never tried for Friday or Saturday night at prime time. Why bother?

Per Se, as I recently found out, works on a 2 month in advance schedule. Thus, although they could tell me the date I ate at French Laundry several years ago, they were unable to acomodate my 25th anniversary (with only 6 weeks advance notice) which we had to enjoy at Daniel.

Rao's is indeed the toughest. We have friends who have let us have their table twice, most recently a couple of weeks ago. Great fun, you are treated a lot nicer than at Babbo, but Mario wins on food, decor, and music program.

[Sneakeater]

This is probably obvious to everyone already, but today's Mesa Grill review in the Times made me realize why Babbo is so hard to book.

I remember one weekend in the Summer of 2006. A friend was coming into the City from the suburbs to go to a movie with me. The movie was on 12th St. Afterward, we would go to dinner.

I had planned to go to the Fatty Crab, which at that time was the hot new restaurant that you never could get into. I figured it was a summer weekend, and we'd be able to get in because no one would be around.

My suburban friend -- who watches a lot of Food Channel -- told me that he'd stopped into Mesa Grill on his way to the movie, hoping to get a last-minute reservation, but they were fully booked. (I hid my relief.)

We were later able to walk into a fairly empty Fatty Crab.

I reflected that a place like Fatty Crab, which caters almost exclusively to locals, would be empty on a summer weekend. But a place like Mesa Grill, which by now caters mainly to out-of-town Food Channel viewers visiting New York, would be packed on a summer weekend.

Almost uniquely, Babbo gets both those crowds.

OF COURSE you can't get a reservation.

Edited January 23, 2008 by Sneakeater (log)

[Nathan]

right! Babbo, like Balthazar, is one of the few restaurants that actually gets both groups in large numbers....

[weinoo]

right!  Babbo, like Balthazar, is one of the few restaurants that actually gets both groups in large numbers....

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Lupa's in this group too, I think.

[slkinsey]

That's probably true of any place associated with Batali -- except, interestingly, Esca (which I think is one of the top 2-3 fish places in the city).

[oakapple]

That's probably true of any place associated with Batali -- except, interestingly, Esca (which I think is one of the top 2-3 fish places in the city).

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Esca and Del Posto are both on OpenTable, but Babbo is not, which tells me that the first two sometimes have tables to spare, while Babbo seldom does.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

We've had little trouble booking a table at Rao's. They did require the same kind of attention to detail and perserverance that does snagging a table at French Laundry or Quince or L'Astrance or Gagnaire. At the time we used to do Rao's, Frankie orchestrated the dining room. And the food was right for what it claimed to be, straight-forward Italian American stuff: sparkling seafood salad, excellent marinara sauce, proper pasta, zesty lemon chicken and the Strega bottle left on the table during coffee service. These evenings are some of our favorite memories of NY.