Your table is now…open
Friday, July 29, 2005 17:45A: So I’ve been using Open Table for a while now. For those of you who haven’t visited, it’s an online reservation website that allows you to browse through a number of restaurants, search places that have reservations for your time-frame, and gives you a $10 for every 10 reservations that you make using their site. It just so happens that one of my favorite places, The Bombay Cafe, is hooked up to their online reservation system. The maitre d’ at Bombay Cafe saw that I had used Open Table and thanked me, saying that not a lot of people used Open Table and that it saved the restaurant some time. I think it’s a great and fast way to make reservations, plus, being a grad. student, I’m a sucker for their $10 gifties. The only problem with Open Table I’ve noticed is that sometimes they show no reservations open for a restaurant when there are openings available…well, that and their selection of restaurants is limited.
Do you use Open Table? Have you had good/bad experiences?
A: We're a newly-married couple that lives in West Los Angeles. We're both graduate students at UCLA. Alison is a medievalist-in-training and Kevin is working on his Ph.D. in Computer Science. We both have developed a love for cooking and exploring the amazing culinary landscape of Los Angeles.
Jonah says:
July 29th, 2005 at 7:31 pm
I have used Open Table a few times, including for a large party at Luna Park on a Saturday night, it worked great. I haven’t used enough to get the gift cert yet though.
Pauline says:
July 29th, 2005 at 7:36 pm
I used Open Table for Luna Park, too! Can’t make reservations there w/o Open Table. Since I’ve only used it twice, I never got a gift cert either, but even if there were no benefits, I would still recommend Open Table.
SoCalorie says:
July 30th, 2005 at 12:08 am
I use Open Table when I’m meeting with people who are from out of town and/or I don’t know too well. That way all the info is in an email and I don’t have to give half-witted driving directions.
A couple weeks ago I booked a lunch and my colleague had to move the reservation up by half an hour. I found that it was harder for me to change the time in Open Table than it was to just call the restaurant and fix it over the phone. But they too were thrilled I had used Open Table.
I have yet to reap any freebies, except as I mentioned, the tidy package of dining details and mapping material automatically emailed to all the parties involved.
I was also happy to see that Providence has just been added to the list of OT restaurants. As with any resource I think the more it’s used the more full featured it will become.
Brad says:
July 30th, 2005 at 5:30 pm
Open Table is truly a great service even w/o out discounts, pts etc.. It now takes 2 mins. to find out what restaurants have availability in your area and even better it takes 2 seconds to cancel!
I use it regularly and only wish more restaurants subscribed.
SoCalorie says:
August 10th, 2005 at 12:53 pm
OT subscribers got this info today. Check out the top ten restaurants booked through Open Table last week:
1. Yamashiro - Hollywood - Asian
2. Roy’s - Newport Beach - Hawaiian
3. Luna Park - Los Angeles - American
4. Madre’s - Pasadena - Cuban
5. The Lobster - Santa Monica - American
6. Asia de Cuba - Los Angeles
7. Ruth’s Chris Steak House - Irvine
8. Water Grill - Downtown - American
9. Campanile
SoCalorie says:
August 10th, 2005 at 2:44 pm
I forgot to include the link, which by the way, only displays 9 of the Top Ten Restaurants, although it’s billed otherwise.
http://www.opentable.com/topten.aspx?m=6&ref=741
Sartaj S Bedi says:
March 17th, 2006 at 5:09 am
Hi,
how is open table used for crm Aactivity. Would anyone know.