Okay, Who’s Refusing to Take Michael Wolff’s Reservations?

By Nicole Cliffe March 12, 2013

If you’ve missed Michael Wolff’s intense rant in GQ UK about how hard it is to get a table at a nice restaurant in New York, here’s the precis:

Dinner. Dinner is the “oh-f***” moment of the day. Unless you have an assistant who has expertly troubleshot your social life, or you are an out-of-towner who has diligently reserved the most ecstatically reviewed spots a year in advance, or you have an in, you’re totally screwed for any day-of plan. In New York, there are no reservations between 7pm and 9pm. Anywhere. Even a dreary spot. None. Call ten places. Call 20. Nothing. Nobody even calls any more. Instead, you call someone who might know someone who, hope against hope, can swing it.

Now, here’s the question: a friend hopped on OpenTable today to look for tables for five diners tonight between 7pm and 9pm, and found the following options before he got bored in the ‘G’s:

Annisa
Babbo (9:15, admittedly)
all the BLTs
Blue Ribbon
Bouley
Cafe Boulud
Colicchio and Sons
Corton
Daniel!
Del Posto
Felidia
Gramercy Tavern

So. Is there a reason Michael Wolff and/or his assistant can’t get a table? Anyone have instructions from management they’d like to share with us? And, honestly, if your table isn’t directly next to a urinal, does anyone who isn’t Patrick Bateman pay attention to where he’s seated?