For those aiming to dine out in New York, securing a restaurant reservation has become increasingly difficult. Over the past three years, getting a seat at the city’s trendiest spots has transitioned from challenging to nearly impossible for many food enthusiasts.
“There are some restaurants that people just can’t get into,” said Joel Montaniel, CEO of the booking platform Sevenrooms, in a recent interview with Bloomberg. “I’ve spoken to restaurateurs, we’ve hosted them on panels and asked for tips, and they simply don’t have any.”
The competition for dinner reservations has become so intense that the New York state legislature recently voted to ban third-party booking sites like Appointment Trader. These platforms allowed users to resell their restaurant reservations for $200 or more, a practice once common for concerts and sporting events.
Melissa Fleischut, President & CEO of the New York State Restaurant Association, hailed the legislation as a significant win for the hospitality industry. She believes it will reduce competition for reservations and protect restaurants from costly cancellations.
Despite these legislative changes, the demand for exciting, trendy, and luxurious activities in recent years has far exceeded their availability.
“Post-COVID, I’m sure you’ve noticed everything is booked up. Every plane, every restaurant, every hotel,” says travel advisor Jaclyn Sienna India. “So how do you navigate getting people into restaurants, hotels, yachts, and experiences that are already fully booked?”
India, who has run the concierge and travel planning service Sienna Charles for 16 years, caters to ultra-wealthy families with incomes exceeding $100 million, including notable clients like George W. Bush and Mariah Carey.
Despite her impressive client list, India emphasizes that access to the most exciting and popular restaurants (or hotels, yachts, or other luxury experiences) depends on a few key factors: understanding customers’ desires and building strong relationships with the venues.
“People have really moved away from fine dining. We rarely have clients wanting to sit through a tasting menu,” she explains. “The shift over the last three years has been towards trendy restaurants where the focus is not necessarily on food. It’s about the experience and the bragging rights of having gotten in.”
For those seeking their own bragging rights and willing to persist in securing a reservation, read on to discover which New York restaurant tables are the hardest to book, according to Sienna Charles.