No reservations — toughest tables in the U.S.

For either a $450 or $600 annual fee, PrimeTime Tables claims it can get you that 8 p.m. table at Babbo or Per Se tomorrow night (or other hot tables in the Hamptons and Philadelphia). Clients browse a list of pre-booked tables along with restaurants that will give them a table every night. Another service, Weekend Epicure lists tables for two for the following Friday and Saturday nights at popular New York restaurants such as L’Atelier du Joel Robuchon and Il Mulino for a flat $35 fee. Another service, Sorted , offers two memberships: roaming for frequent visitors ($1,500 a year) and resident (a higher fee, undisclosed). For that price, members get unlimited reservations at top restaurants (founder and restaurant reviewer Heather Tierney claims a 95 percent success rate) as well as suggestions, news updates and ordering advice.

How do they do it? It’s a closely guarded secret, but one hint may be contained in PrimeTime Tables’ original policy, still in effect with certain restaurants but phased out in others: you’re given an alias for your reservation (ie. it’s not made under your name), suggesting that reservations are made in advance and stockpiled, then resold. Mostly, though, the owners of these services maintain that the key is their longstanding industry contacts.

But perhaps the fairest approach to getting a tough table is offered by the always booked New York restaurant The Little Owl . Rave reviews for chef Joey Campanaro’s Mediterranean dishes combined with the restaurant’s intimate size (28 seats) means that it’s almost impossible to get a table. But according to one of the restaurant’s owners, Gabriel Stulman, that’s not always true. Because they want to be a neighborhood favorite and allow regulars to come in frequently, they only take reservations for seven of their 10 tables. The other three are for walk-ins, and if they’re occupied, they’ll take your cell phone number and call you when a table opens up. “So there’s always a possibility,” he says. “Seven nights a week.”

We called ten of the toughest tables in the country to try to land a reservation. There were a few happy surprises — read the slideshow for the responses.

How To Score A Tough Table
1. Learn a restaurant’s reservation policy and the time of day the phones open. If it’s 30 or 60 days ahead, clear your calendar and man the phones the minute those lines open.

2. Find out if the restaurant keeps a waiting list. And find out what time they confirm their reservations. Call a minute later.

3. If a restaurant books 30 days ahead, find out if it’s listed on OpenTable.com and get onto the web site at midnight 30 days ahead.

4. Personal contact can mean everything. Make a point of befriending the staff; go into the bar several times and get to know them. And be nice — politeness goes a long way. Being demanding usually gets nothing.

5. Don’t lie. Bragging about your relationship to the chef or lying that you only have 5 days to live won’t get you anywhere, except perhaps permanently blacklisted.

6. Try to be flexible … and avoid the 7-7:30 slots when restaurants generally have the fewest tables available.

Ciao, Sonoma Fine dining, delicious wines make region a popular draw

7. Unless you’re out for a romantic evening, don’t always go out in twos … sometimes tables for four or six will be more available than one for two.

8. If it’s essential to dine at a certain restaurant that night, pick one with the most tables; obviously there’s a greater chance that one might become available.

9. Tipping a maitre d’ handsomely to get a table works sometimes, but not always. If there really isn’t a table, it won’t help. But if you pick a place with a greater number of tables, one might open up and the maitre d’ will most likely respond favorably to a thank you tip.

10. If your own efforts fail, go to the experts, particularly if you’re trying to score a table in New York. Prime Time Tables (primetimetables.com), Weekend Epicure (weekendepicure.com) and Sorted (sortednyc.com) specialize in that city’s toughest tables. PTT and Sorted are membership only; Weekend Epicure sells reservations on a flat fee basis for tables the following Friday and Saturday nights.

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