Advertisement
This is member-exclusive content
icon/ui/info filled

foodRestaurant News

You won’t believe it, but it’s almost impossible to get a reservation at some Dallas restaurants

Hot restaurants are still hot. But there’s more at play here.

Last week, a friend asked for Dallas restaurant advice: Where should she go for date night on Saturday? All her favorite restaurants were booked.

That seemed impossible. We’re in the throes of a pandemic, and Dallas County just ended its deadliest week so far. Public health officials across the country tell us not to dine inside restaurants or drink at bars, and government officials have limited dining rooms in the county to 50% occupancy. Bars that don’t serve food are still closed.

Surely my friend could have her pick of excellent Dallas restaurants, even during prime time on Saturday night, right?

Advertisement

It isn’t so simple.

Restaurant News

Get the scoop on the latest openings, closings, and where and what to eat and drink.

Or with:

(From l to r) Kelsey Phillips, Saylor Phillips, 10, Chandler Phillips and Ford Phillips, 11,...
(From l to r) Kelsey Phillips, Saylor Phillips, 10, Chandler Phillips and Ford Phillips, 11, prepare to check in with Daniela Vazquez as they make their way inside Shinsei Restaurant to celebrate Ford's birthday on Tuesday, January 26, 2021 in Dallas. (Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)
For Dallas chef-owner Kent Rathbun, some of his restaurants are doing better than others....
For Dallas chef-owner Kent Rathbun, some of his restaurants are doing better than others. The hot seat in the Rathbuns' restaurant portfolio is Shinsei, a longtime sushi spot in Dallas operated by Rathbun's wife, Tracy Rathbun, and restaurateur Lynae Fearing. "Lynae and Tracy have done a fabulous job of building a clientele there," Kent Rathbun says. Loyalty matters more than ever right now.(Brad Loper / Staff Photographer)

A host of variables are sending Dallas diners to restaurants right now, eating up the smaller number of available reservations. Some diners may have been vaccinated; others may have COVID-19 antibodies from contracting the virus already. Those two groups may feel safe in restaurants. Some foodies, stuck at home for months without a great restaurant meal and fatigued by a seemingly never-ending pandemic, are choosing to leave home even without a vaccine. Still others may not care about statewide public health protocols at all.

Greg Katz, a 20-year restaurant operator who currently owns Beverley’s on Fitzhugh Avenue in Dallas, puts a number on it: 90% of his guests wear masks when they enter the restaurant, and they are flexible about sitting at any table. They are generous tippers and loyal customers.

Advertisement

“But we do have that 10%,” he says. “Here’s another thing we have to spend money on: We have to keep a stack of masks at the door. Literally yesterday, somebody asked me, ‘Why do we have to wear a mask?’”

Katz says being a “policeman” has made the job significantly harder.

It’s hard to quantify how many Dallas diners are eating in restaurants, but the fact that some high-end restaurants are sold out on a Saturday night proves it isn’t a small number. At restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth that use the reservation app Resy, average covers per restaurant were higher in January 2021 than they were in January 2020, according to a Resy spokeswoman. That data matches a trend in other major cities since the coronavirus pandemic started, that “more restaurants [are] embracing reservation platforms and/or requiring reservations,” the spokeswoman says.

Advertisement

There are also variables among restaurant owners — all of which affect how hard it is to snag a table: Many are filling 50% of their seats. Others are filling less than the allowed 50%, to ensure a safer experience, which makes reservations more scarce. Still others are seating diners heavily outdoors, where reservations are available and operators are not confined to the 50% occupancy rule. And some restaurateurs are filling as many seats as possible, rules be damned.

Whether you’re one of the diners clamoring for a table or shaking your head at those who do, many of Dallas’ hottest restaurants are still hot. Even during a pandemic.

Where it’s hard to get a table in Dallas

To test the theory that some reservations are unattainable, I spent an hour or two trolling OpenTable and Resy, the two reservation companies that book the majority of the restaurant reservations in Dallas.

On Saturday morning, many of Dallas’ finest restaurants were booked that evening. In a normal year, trying to get a same-day reservations at Dallas’ hottest spots would always be tricky. But during a pandemic? It would have been a cinch six months ago.

I found no seats between 6 and 9 p.m. at 12 well-liked restaurants in a variety of Dallas neighborhoods: Uchi, Terilli’s, Paradiso, Georgie by Curtis Stone, Hillstone, Gemma, Homewood, Beverley’s, Tulum, Catbird and brand-new downtown Dallas restaurant Hawthorn were all booked up. Many of those restaurants, like Italian restaurant il Bracco, had seats if I wanted dinner at 4:30 p.m. Most people wouldn’t, though the pandemic has encouraged us to dine during off-hours.

But the city had tons of seats open elsewhere. Casual restaurants like Dream Cafe in Lakewood, Sundown at Granada on Lower Greenville, Mesero at Inwood Village or in Preston Hollow, or Lake House Bar & Grill near White Rock Lake were all available.

So, seats at fancier restaurants in Dallas are hard to get during peak times on weekends. That’s true today. That’s true pre-pandemic.

Advertisement

There’s still more going on.

The problem with the elusive 7 p.m. reservation

You want to sit down at Beverley's restaurant in Dallas at 7 p.m. on a Saturday? Not gonna...
You want to sit down at Beverley's restaurant in Dallas at 7 p.m. on a Saturday? Not gonna happen.(Brandon Wade / Special Contributor)

Many diners want to eat at 7 or 7:30 p.m., Katz says. But reservations aren’t available at either of those times at his restaurant right now.

“That’s not how our guests eat,” he says. Reservations start at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m., and the rest of the evening is calculated from there. For those who arrive at 6 p.m. — or worse, 30 minutes late — they’re likely spending two hours at the table. The next time that table can be used again is 8 or 8:30 p.m.

Advertisement

Managing reservations is a “puzzle,” as Katz explains it: Seat people where they want to be seated. Try to match the time they desire (or try to make them happy if or when that time isn’t available). Then sit the diner at the right-sized table: Putting two people at a four-person table doesn’t work and the restaurant will lose money, says Dallas chef Kent Rathbun. He operates a catering business with a barbecue component, plus sit-down restaurants Lovers Seafood and Market, Republic Texas Tavern, Imoto and Shinsei.

All of those moving parts make a table harder to come by during a pandemic.

No-shows are ‘economically crushing’ for restaurants

The run on restaurant reservations is exacerbated by people who no-show their reservations, Rathbun says.

Advertisement

“I don’t think people understand how economically crushing it is,” he says. “Or people who make three or four reservations at the same time, then cancel all but one at the last minute.”

This happens all the time, pandemic or not, he says. But with half as many seats, repeated no-shows could ruin a restaurant’s ability to succeed.

“It hurts worse than ever, now: at 50%,” Rathbun says. They’re already operating at half the revenue — or less — because they’re half full.

Advertisement

How long is dinner? It matters.

Every week, Katz talks to people who are dining inside a restaurant for the very first time during the pandemic. It’s an exciting evening for them, to be sure, and it’s important to Katz that they feel safe. But it also can create a problem:

“Because people are not getting to go out as much, when they do go out ... they’re spending a lot of time,” he says.

The upside to that is they’re willing to splurge on an expensive steak or a bottle of wine. The downside is that diners don’t watch the clock. Two and a half hours slip by, and now the next flux of customers with an 8 p.m. reservation can’t sit down on time.

Advertisement

While it’s fair to say that restaurant customers shouldn’t have to manage their own time while they’re paying for a meal, it’s worth understanding that lingering diners create a ripple effect for the restaurant: Hard-to-get reservations feel useless if restaurant owners continually can’t guarantee a table will be ready. And during a pandemic, diners want that security.

A phone call could be an easy fix

Rathbun hopes Dallas diners will consider calling a restaurant for a reservation instead of using OpenTable and Resy. Just like third-party delivery companies take a bite out of restaurant profits, reservation software companies charge each restaurant for each reservation.

Fachini, a high-end Italian restaurant in Highland Park Village, is accepting reservations...
Fachini, a high-end Italian restaurant in Highland Park Village, is accepting reservations only by phone right now, not via OpenTable.(Ben Torres / Special Contributor)

OpenTable and Resy provide a meaningful service — booking reservations without human contact — and it’s worth paying for, most restaurant owners say. But booking online can feel fleeting. It’s easier to no-show, especially since most Dallas restaurants do not require a credit card number to hold a reservation.

Plus, most restaurant owners keep tables open for walk-ins and call-ins. If a restaurant is booked on Resy, it might still have a seat if you call. (And walk-in seats do exist, even during the pandemic, Katz and Rathbun confirm.)

Advertisement

“A lot of the time, I’d prefer we talk to the guests on the phone,” Katz says.

What about all those restaurants not on the ‘hot’ list?

Diners who choose to eat in restaurants should also remember that the 12 or so restaurants cited in this story are not the only options.

Advertisement

Neighborhood restaurants, ones that are not so high-end to require a reservation, probably have a seat available on a Saturday night. They almost certainly have one on a Monday or Tuesday night.

Public health officials would suggest that skipping the reservation altogether is the safest option. Restaurants of all kinds have patio dining, takeout or curbside.

“Every single day, it’s a challenge,” Katz says. “We’re constantly changing things, shifting things, evolving things, adding things. No day is the same. Every day is a different day. We’re just doing what we can to create revenue and make sure we can get as many reservations as possible.”

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.

Connect with needs and opportunities from Get immediate access to organizations and people in the DFW area that need your help or can provide help during the Coronavirus crisis.