Don’t worry, you can still get a table tonight
For the Fat City reader who neglected to make a dinner reservation for tonight — Valentine’s Day — or maybe just found that one true meaningful love over the last 48 hours (I mean, it does happen, I’ve heard), it’s not hopeless. “Does bribing a host or hostess help get a table on a crowded night?” a Fat City reader asked. I’ve never known that gambit to work in Kansas City, but I’m sure there are exceptions to that rule.
The best advice I can give is to just go out and see what happens. Valentine’s night is one of those holidays where customers have been known to reserve a table at two or three different restaurants, pick one at the last minute, and then neglect to cancel the other reservations. That leaves tables empty on one of the busiest restaurant nights of the week. Waiter, author and blogger David Hayden says he wished there had been Valentine’s-night walk-ins at the busy Plaza restaurant where he was working a year ago: “We could have used two or three walk-in customers at 7:15 p.m.,” he says. “The reservations on the books never showed up.”
I experienced this myself on at least two holiday nights at a midtown boite. A couple took a gamble and walked in — without reservations — on Valentine’s night. They were stunned when they were told they could have a table at that very moment.
“Aren’t we lucky?” the gentleman said, unfurling his napkin.
