Nobu Reservation

[Hoshe]

Hey everyone. I just heard about this today and am fairly certain my friend wasn't pulling my chain.

My friend is heading to Vegas this weekend and is trying to make a Monday reservation for 8 at Nobu. The hostess informed him over the phone that for parties of 6 or more, a reservation contract needs to be signed to confirm the reservation. Apparently the reservation has a penalty clause of $25/person for a missed reservation and specifies that they are to be seated at their designated time and may only stay for a maximum of two hours to allow for the next seating. The contract has to be returned signed via fax.

I've run into this "maximum seating time" before and have found it incredibly off-putting. I understand the need to turn tables, but if a party is actively still ordering food and drink I don't think it's right to kick them out. I had one experience 2 years ago where I was with a large group and we tried to order three bottles of wine and another round of dishes and the waiter actually said they can bring them out but everything needed to be consumed and paid for in the next ten minutes. I guess restaurant policy is policy but it was a bit unnerving.

Is this a normal policy for a reservation? I've seen the maximum seating time before in NYC, but I've never heard of an actual contract. Has anyone else run into this?

[jsmeeker]

Hey everyone.  I just heard about this today and am fairly certain my friend wasn't pulling my chain.

My friend is heading to Vegas this weekend and is trying to make a Monday reservation for 8 at Nobu.  The hostess informed him over the phone that for parties of 6 or more, a reservation contract needs to be signed to confirm the reservation.  Apparently the reservation has a penalty clause of $25/person for a missed reservation and specifies that they are to be seated at their designated time and may only stay for a maximum of two hours to allow for the next seating.  The contract has to be returned signed via fax.

I've run into this "maximum seating time" before and have found it incredibly off-putting.  I understand the need to turn tables, but if a party is actively still ordering food and drink I don't think it's right to kick them out.  I had one experience 2 years ago where I was with a large group and we tried to order three bottles of wine and another round of dishes and the waiter actually said they can bring them out but everything needed to be consumed and paid for in the next ten minutes.  I guess restaurant policy is policy but it was a bit unnerving.

Is this a normal policy for a reservation?  I've seen the maximum seating time before in NYC, but I've never heard of an actual contract.  Has anyone else run into this?

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I've run into it before for large parties, but usually the number for a "large party" is higher than 6. Typically 8-10.

But yeah, this can be a challenge when setting up a large group dinner. Really, what seems to be the biggest issue is special group menus. When everybody in the party is paying their own way, they tend to want to have a bit more control over what they can order. And really, who can blame them? Also, it's not unusual for their to be fairly wide differences in what people within a group are willing to pay for a meal. Not everyone out there is like a typical eGullet society member.