Reservations

Why don't restaurants take reservations anymore? Seriously. Why is it okay for them to make us wait? I do not like to have to wait. I understand why they want us to wait: it's better for them. It's better for all sorts of reasons (we'll order more drinks and perhaps appetizers in the bar / lounge, it creates the idea / illusion of demand, it enables them to plan better etc.), but it's not better for us, and we're the customers. Since when do the customers not come first?

What happened to customer service? As far as I can tell, it's gone the way of the dodo.

I, for one, do not wait for service in restaurants or bars / clubs. I will typically go elsewhere. I live in a big city, there are plenty of places to go. I am not a slave to being hip, and thus do not need to go to all the 'cool' places with all the tragically hip people. I go where I like the food. I do not line up. So why do people wait?

Clearly the restaurants have stopped taking reservations because they can get away with it. If the customers demanded it, the restaurateurs would go back to taking them, but clearly, not enough people are as crusty as I am. I'm not really ranting here. I'm seriously asking a question: why are people willing to wait up to an hour to get a table at a restaurant? Especially in Toronto (or fill in any other large, cosmopolitan city of your choosing). There really are plenty of good restaurants out there.

The reason I bring this up is that I'm hosting a bachelorette party this weekend and I can't find anywhere to go that will take reservations on a Saturday night for dinner. I would like to be able to make a reservation because there are several of us and we have an itinerary for the rest of the evening. We can't be hanging out in a restaurant for too long, waiting to be seated. We will be trying to have a bachelorette party and that just doesn't work well in a lobby or waiting for dinner. We have things to do! Places to go! People to see! The closest I could get was a 'call-ahead-waitlist'. What the heck is that? Well apparently at Milestone's, you can call them about twenty minutes before you're coming and ask them to put you on their waitlist so you don't have to wait too long once you get to the restaurant (only another twenty minutes or so depending on the time). Isn't that considerate of them? Yes, I am being sarcastic.

Anyway, I think that's enough for now.