Most expensive dinner?

I use it constantly.

We've been going out less, so I've been picking better restaurants. I've already made reservations for the next three Saturday nights.

Love it. The iPhone app is good too.

I've never used the points. I know I have a bunch. How so they work?

 

You get 100 points for every reservation you show up for. Lots of bonus nights for 1000 points, usually weeknights when things are slow. At 2000 points, you can redeem a $20 gift certificate, 5000 points gets you $50, I think there's one at 10k points. You request the certificate online, they mail it. Use it when you pay the bill at any OpenTable place. Easy and discreet.

Especially good if you travel, find places to eat before you get there, all price ranges.

 

We use Open Table a lot.

Serious money being made by OT, based on an article I read recently.

Ran in City Pages in MSP.

I'll see if I can find it online tomorrow and link it.

 

Desta and Russell Klein, the owners of Meritage in St. Paul felt that Open Table wasn't aiding their restaurant enough to be worth its exorbitant cost, roughly $15,000 to $18,000 a year. They wanted to be able to offer their customers the ability to make online reservations, but they didn't really need Open Table's marketing services.

So a couple of weeks ago, Meritage dropped Open Table and switched to another reservation system...and a lot of other local restaurants may soon be following suit. Here's why:

http://blogs.citypages.com/food/2011/07/meritage_and_he.php

 

Open table rocks.

 

Yeah, restaurants have a real love/hate relationship with it.

They feel like they need to be on there, but it is expensive. There's been a lot of talk about cheaper alternatives, but OpenTable is so dominant, I'm not sure they have a good option.

If I decide to go out during the week, I'll check Open Table. If a restaurant is wide open, I'll just walk in instead of making a reservation in order to save the restaurant a little money.

But, for a hot place, you need a reservation and Open Table is the best way to find and make them.

 

When I lived in Manhattan, I used Open Table all of the time. Made life easier -- but i'm surprised it is so expensive.

Our favorite place in Jersey uses them and they only have 50 or so seats in the dining room. Seems like a waste.

 

I like Open Table just fine but not all restaurants, including some of my favorites, do not offer points for reserving through Open Table.

Ragu, I have not been to Masa, so I can't compare but I have been to Sushi Yasuda. Still expensive but not in Masa's price range and fresh sushi with great service, especially if you sit at the bar. Yasuda was my sushi chef the night I was there, and I pretty much let him make what was most fresh based on my tastes. Simple sushi, no frills. But outstanding.

 

Open Table is not solely used for reservations. It's also a "host" system that has many, many applications for internal restaurant use. It tracks customers (in ways you cannot even fathom), works as an excellent resource for floor plans and table configurations, and is basically an archive system for every single reservation made, either via Open Table or on the phone with a customer not utilizing OT. It is actually incredible software, and very user-friendly. I worked as the sales and marketing manager at a Capital Grille, and it was probably the most important tool in the entire restaurant, for every position from the chefs to the servers to the bussers.

 

$30. I had a gift card for the place. I think the most expensive dinner I've ever had where I actually had to pay for it all was $20.

 

The most important tool at Capital Crille is the person with the recipe for the kona rub.

 

No shit. Porcini rub, too.