Saturday morning around 11am we arrived at Hot Chocolate, $10 A la Card coupon in hand, for a much-anticipated pre-Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus brunch with our girls.
"It's going to be a 45 minute wait," said the hostess. We looked at the packed lounge area and tried to envision keeping our children occupied and happy for 45 minutes before our meal even started. They're well-behaved kids, but they are still kids. We'd actually tried calling Hot Chocolate the day before to make a reservation, but the restaurant has a no-reservations policy for smaller parties.
We knew better than to risk it, so we walked down Damen to Silver Cloud Bar & Grill, a step down cuisine-wise, but a solid lunch and perfectly kid-friendly.
Which got us to thinking: are no reservations policies inherently anti-parent? Being awakened at 6am by young children has certainly enabled us to beat the rush to other breakfast hot spots, but we avoid places that don't honor reservations when lunching or dining at popular (read: normal) hours. We also avoid no reservations restaurants for date night. If we're paying a babysitter by the hour, it simply isn't worth it to spend half our evening in the bar, waiting for a table.
So why is it some trendy/foodie places take reservations and some don't? It doesn't seem to any way correlate with how popular the place is or how highly rated their food is. If all of the tables are full of paying customers, does it matter how many hungry people are hanging out in the entryway or freezing their butts off outside? Or does management figure they are better off scaring those pesky parents and their crayon-toting children away.
4 comments:
This weekend we tried to book brunch reservations someplace with a similar policy, near Union Station, so we could meet my elderly parents downtown and then get them to their train station.
I've dealt with this when the baby's with us before, but it was especially difficult with my parents, who can't wait around in a lobby, standing room only, either due to disabilities and age. They have some of the same restrictions as toddlers & need to eat on a bit of a schedule, too.
I hate these policies!
This is an interesting subject and one I have given some thought lately. We went to Urban Belly this week-end and had a b-plan if it was too busy to wait for a table on a Friday night with three kids in tow. Everything (especially the dumplings) turned out fine, but the experience had me thinking about similar things and then I read your post here.
I decided as much as I love exposing my kids to a vast array of culinary experiences, I'd only consider a restaurant 'anti-parent' if they refused to give me a reservation because I had kids in my party. The reality is, if my husband and I wanted a reservation for two at a no reservations restaurant, like Hot Chocolate, we couldn't get one either.
Actually, I'd be surprised if restaurant proprietors would view a "no reservations" policy as anything other than inclusive, casual, and hip. Anyone (kids included) can eat there on any given day as long as they can hang for an hour. A front of the house frenzy creates an appealing fare forward vibe and suggests the food will ALWAYS be worth the wait and that is restaurant gold.
Huge expenses on the restaurant side are associated with operating a reservations desk. Honestly a restaurant can spend close to 150K/per year employing folks to handle a reservation book and services that dovetail with having a reservation based establishment. Even then, restaurants run the risk of turning fewer tables in an evening had they not taken reservations at all. Not to mention the the increased risk of no-shows. Unless you are an Alinea or French Laundry, it doesn't make financial sense to tie up your time and money in that way.
The parent in me totally wants to slide into a reserved table with my well behaved children in tow at high volume culinary hot spots all over the city, but the chef in me would embrace a totally different philosophy.
I think it's not so much an anti-family policy as it is an anti-flake policy. Unless their CCs are going to be charged, I'm sure that people are likely to blow off a rezzie if they're hungover, tired, get a better offer. Plus, as the previous commenter said, it's tough to run a rez board.
But I feel you. That sucks. But Silver Cloud was a solid choice! Have you tried Bluebird in that 'hood for date night?
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