When you make a restaurant reservation, do you make any requests? Such as, do you let them know you are dining there to celebrate a birthday, or an anniversary? Should you?
Last weekend my wife and I went to a nice restaurant here in Chicago to celebrate our wedding anniversary. It’s a place we’ve been to several times before. I made the reservation on OpenTable (which I use a lot), and when you do so, there is a box where you can type in any requests. I mentioned we were celebrating out anniversary. We did get a glass of Cava from the restaurant.
Is this rude? Am I subliminally trying to get a freebie?
Good restaurants like to know that you’ve chosen them for a special occasion I think. It’s part of providing good hospitality to do what they can to make sure you have a very nice experience. And I think this is particularly true of places you’ve been to a few times.
Paul, I see zero problem with letting the restaurant know if there is a special occasion. The good ones will even ask (if you are making the reservation over the phone). I’m pretty sure they want to know. They want to ensure the diner has the best experience possible.
If you read the NYT, you would know that top end fine dining places love gathering this metadata to fine tune the experience for regular visitors. You are certainly not imposing upon them, and if anything don’t be surprised if you receive an email from them a month or two before your big day next year soliciting a repeat.
I do it especially if I want a special table. Or not a particular table. I also use it to request specific waiters. And sometimes I will point out the special occasion and how much we enjoy returning to their restaurant.
This. The more info that restaurants have about you and your preferences enables them to serve you in a better way with minimal effort. On the other hand, if you are a difficult patron (or a bad tipper), that info goes on your profile, too…
I find the purpose of reporting a special occasion to a restaurant to be a way to enhance the guest of honor’s experience. I look at this sort of thing as asking the restaurant to help me make an evening better for my guest, so I feel like the restaurant and I are doing something nice, together.
I am happy to pay extra for those niceties, so I look at it as a chance for me to make the restaurant look good…and vice versa!
My overall take is that the places I have gone to actually enjoyed being part of a special event.
I always do it for our anniversary dinners. The only extra I’m really looking for is something that says “Happy Anniversary” but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised on more than one occasion.
And a special shout out to our wonderful waitress at Marea during our last anniversary dinner who noticed we didn’t order any chocolate desserts so when she sent out an extra it had no chocolate. She has a special place in our hearts.
I never say yes, but mostly because we don’t like sweets, and that’s what will almost always arrive for free if anything does. The restaurant where we got engaged knows we return every year at that time, and they always remember, but have never done anything more than a special “welcome back.” That suits us just fine.
Thanks for the responses. Again, I think my real reason for doing so is mostly to assure a nice evening, and to not get the crappy table on a special evening.
That said…
I just recently saw a friend post on FaceBook (why on earth he would do so is beyond me, but…) that EVERY time he makes a reservation, he tells the restaurant that he and his wife are celebrating their 20th anniversary. He wants to ensure that he gets to see and observe the restaurant at its best. He feels justified in this because afterwards he plans to post a review, and in order for him to make the best review, he needs to see the restaurant at its best.
I was a bit shocked reading his FB post, for a variety of reasons.
