How to Get into the Best Restaurants Without Having Reservations

Frances has a tiny bar. Hope for the couple seats facing the kitchen. (Bittermelon on Flickr)

There's something that my husband, a longtime restaurant industry person has taught me: When going out to dinner, have no fear.

Before I met Joe, I would never in a million years have attempted to go to the most popular restaurants in town, on say, a Friday night—with no reservations. But he never thinks twice about it. His attitude is, it'll work out, and it almost always does.

In fact, in the past couple months, we've dined at Frances, A16, Range, Flour + Water, Locanda, Bar Agricole, and Absinthe with nothing to show for ourselves except a nice smile and some patience. (Should you think it's because I'm recognized as a food writer, I will swear to you that in all of these instances, no one had a clue who I was.) In fact, for most of them, we just walked right in and took a seat. At a few, we waited maybe 15 minutes.

The beauty of this kind of guerilla dining is that you can base where decide to go on your whims and cravings—not necessarily on an izakaya restaurant reservation you've been committed to for two weeks when you're now jonsing for pasta and a glass of red.

A few tips:

1. Every restaurant holds tables. They also often have a table or two that they've deemed inferior and are saved for last. Often, they're not so bad at all.

2. Dine as a couple. Any more than that and you're requesting that a host find you a four-top table or larger to occupy.

3. Dine at the bar. This is the real key to success. For some reason, most people wait for a table over the bar, but almost every bar allows you to order the entire menu. Plus, as I've written before, bars rule.

4. Be nice. There's no way that you're going to get past a host if you're rude. They're the keeper of the table.

5. Dine later. San Francisco might tout itself as a late-night dining town now, but the truth is that restaurants start to clear out early on, especially ones without full bars.

6. Choose wisely. Go to a part of town where there are a few desirable restaurants within walking distance. If you don't succeed with the first one, try try again. Because we all know that finding a good parking space is a bigger bitch than getting a good table.

Now go be spontaneous tonight.

Great fun blog
you say your husband is a genius, I think you are the genious ..Sara
who are some of these idiots

By Anonymous (not verified) on July 23, 2011

Call and ask about a reservation on the day of or a couple days prior. Some of the hot places that get booked up weeks before, will magically have open tables on the week of. People horde reservations. Plans change. People cancel. While the article provides plenty of great tips, it still never hurts to check for a reservation before heading out.

By Anonymous (not verified) on July 22, 2011

I agree that dining at the bar is the way to go, but, with the exception of a few restaurants, San Francisco is not conducive to late-night dining. My advice would be to get there early. I find that if you can hit a restaurant right when it opens, your chances increase tenfold (even if it's just to be the first person on the waiting list).

By Michele (not verified) on July 22, 2011

Great article.
Your husband is a genius and you are 100% correct - Bars Rule!

Confused by Mike C's comments, but like me, anyone can post.

By DPrince (not verified) on July 22, 2011

Hi Mike C,

I'm all ears and eyes. Please tell me where the errors are in this blog and I'll fix it right up. As you know, blogging is a guerilla style of writing, for better or for worse. Unlike print, we don't have the luxury of sending it through a copyeditor. It's just me and about a 45 minute countdown to post something brilliant.

Thanks for reading.

By Sara Deseran on July 22, 2011

There are several restaurants open "late" that's not Thai or burgers.... Oola, globe, nopa, braisenhead, hog & rocks, are all places serving until 1 am :-) which yes if you're from NYC or Europe that's still pretty early but hey we've come a long way from grubsteak and mels diner!!!!

By Mk (not verified) on July 22, 2011

Hi Anon,

That's a great idea. We've written about late-night dining but not since last year. For now, take a look at this. http://www.7x7.com/eat-drink/last-call-sf-ultimate-late-night-dining-guide I'll make an effort to update it!

By Sara Deseran on July 22, 2011

I don't think this article is particularly reflective of the San Francisco restaurant scene. New, hot restaurants generally do not have stand-by, empty tables. Yes, occasionally someone will cancel their reso, so you *might* get lucky. But the restaurants quoted above have all been around for months (while I consider them great restaurants, they are not exactly new/hot on the block), so the same rules apply there as with any other good, established restaurant. 15 - 45 minutes depending on what time you arrive and a little bit of luck. That might work if you take a buddy on a man-date, or if you're with your very relaxed spouse; but trying to impress a new girlfriend, that's still a pretty big gamble, especially as you might end up with the table by the bathroom.

And sure, dining later is an option, but that's like saying, eat out on a Monday. If you're avoiding peak dining hours, of course you're going to have an easier time finding an open table.

One additional nitpick: It might be nice to have someone proofread these articles. There's a bunch of errors that detract from its readability. Apologies in advance for any spelling or grammatical mistakes in my comment; then again, I don't get paid to write articles... ;-)

By Mike C (not verified) on July 22, 2011

I have to concur with the first Anonymous post that SF is NOT a late night dining town. Mostly all places are closed by 11 and if you're just coming out of the club on a Fri/Sat night...your only bets are the 1. Dirty Dog carts 2. McDonald's (which closes by midnight in most spots too) 3. Millennium Thai 4. the Original King of Thai across from Ambassador

Otherwise...you're just SOL. Hey, here's a suggestion...how about an article that lists all the late night spots that are opened past midnight?

By Anonymous (not verified) on July 22, 2011

To say that San Francisco is a late night dining town is a joke. I'm from New York City, and my wife is from Buenos Aires, and we've had to significantly change our dining out habits to accommodate this early-to-bed-town (not that we don't like it here, though).

By Anonymous (not verified) on July 22, 2011

Thank you for your blog! I really like what you’re providing here.
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By north face jacket (not verified) on July 22, 2011

"Dine at the bar"

Hear, hear! I don't think I've sat at a table in at least two years. Highly recommend.

By Brock Keeling (not verified) on July 21, 2011