I've meant to post this awhile ago when it happened. Anyway next weekend I am taking my wife to NYC for her birthday. Opera one night, whatever art museums she would like, and much fine dining. I tried for Per Se, no luck. I spent a half hour on hold listening to a recording telling me to be patient. I was as patient as I could be but since you must call two months prior at 10AM which turned out to be a day I was at work, I needed to get back to work. Next I tried Babbo (she really wanted to try it) which requires a call at 10AM one month in advance. This was far worse. For an hour sraight I kept hitting redial and kept getting a busy signal. At least at Per Se you think somebody may at some point take your call. Now I am well aware that these are both very small and very popular restaurants and you are going to be very lucky to secure a reservation at either one. But there has to be a better, or at least less frustrating way to get a reservation. I certainly would have understood if they had a recording saying something along the lines of "we took your call at 10AM and 6 seconds therefore you are out of luck, try again 5 seconds earlier tomorrow." Let me know if I am wasting my time, or at least get a second phone line that puts you on hold. To think in a one hour time frame in which I must have called Babbo well over 100 times that I never once got through in all that time is hard to believe. Sorry for my long winded rant but it was so annoying to go through this. THERE MUST BE A BETTER WAY. Oh wait, there is, I went on Open Table and secured reservations at Del Posto and Le Bernardin, so it's all good. Though I still feel Keller and Batali should both retool their policies.

Hahahahahhah.

The French Laundry is basically the same.

If you want to eat at restaurants with celebrity chefs, this is the game.

As for re-tooling, I'm not sure how unless they expand their space.

That's why I use OpenTable when I travel. Ties up too much time trying to score the hot reservation, especially long distance.

this is why i dont waste my time at places like that...too many other options right now. why should i deal with runaround like this to spend my money to eat at their restaurants - no thanks. people who eat there just encourage these practices.

pay the $0.95 and have the phone company automatically redial for you. Then you can atleast sit on hold for 2 hours without needing to hit the redial button.

Locally, you don't even get the busy signal anymore, just the "The line is busy, for $0.95 we'll call you when the line is open" message.

go to babbo at 5. doors open at 6. you'll get a table. a cramped little table by the bar, but you'll get one.

That is discouraging! We have a NYC foodie friend who makes reservations for us most of the time.

Re Per Se, did you ask about lunch? It's the same menu, and definitely a foodie experience not to be missed.

Actually I was looking for lunch at Per Se. Opera is from 8 to 11 which kind of precludes any nice dinner on Friday. So I thought what about a great lunch? We are going to Le Bernardin instead. As I said earlier I perfectly understand the supply-demand equation for these restaurants and would understand if I couldn't get in. Just answer the damn phone and let me know one way or another. Also I have heard that the bar area tables at Babbo are not exactly the place to enjoy a nice dinner so that was never really going to be an option.