Some of DCs hottest restaurants refuse to take reservations, forcing patrons to stand in long lines or drown their sorrows next door to pass the two-hour wait. Why put your diners through this? We asked three of the best-known culprits and learned they believe it actually helps serve their customers better.
Logan Circle's Estadio, one of the first restaurants in town whose no-peak-time-reservations policy attracted attention,is often forced to turn away would-be diners with an apologetic "we're full for the night." GM Justin Guthrie explains that their policy is mainly inspired by the nature of their small-plates menu: "Some guests will just order a couple of plates andbe done in 45 minutes; others treat it like a multi-course meal." To accommodate all possibilities, taking reservations would require them to allot at least 2 hours per group. But if the group leaves quickly, Estadio would be stuck with an empty table until the next reservation shows up.
Justin tells us there's a second reason: the high rate of reservation no-shows. He observed the problem during his time at Michel Richard's Central, where they had many empty tables on a regular basis due to cancelled or blown-off reservations. He believes it happens so often because there aren't repercussions. Turning away walk-ins for reservations that fail to show up so often just didn't make business sense.
Toki Underground manager Joe Ostrosky cited similar concerns about no-shows to explain their taking reservations during off-peak times only. "Our goal is to serve the most people possible on any given night." The popular ramen shop's small size means that every empty seat counts, and the number of diners that would have to be passed over in order to save reserved tables isn't worth it. But they do their best to soften the blow of the 2-hour-plus waits that can result. They'll send you a text when your table is ready, so you can grab a drink (or three) at one of the many neighboring H Street bars.
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