Complaining about Portland, restaurant reservations, and so on.

[cyc wid it]

Thanks for the recs!

I already have a res for Canlis and Ms CWI has bookmarked some of those sandwich places and raw bars. I'll go through the rest of them later today.

Regarding Portland: the people were pretty rude overall, the weather sucked and the entire town seems to have an allergy to reservations and loves waiting in said **** weather.

 

[eglbc]



Thanks for the recs!

I already have a res for Canlis and Ms CWI has bookmarked some of those sandwich places and raw bars. I'll go through the rest of them later today.

Regarding Portland: the people were pretty rude overall, the weather sucked and the entire town seems to have an allergy to reservations and loves waiting in said **** weather.

The no reservations thing drives me insane. Seems like a pdx specific thing to have this aversion to reservations. On the plus side its made me a much better home cook.

 

[Meis]



The no reservations thing drives me insane. Seems like a pdx specific thing to have this aversion to reservations. On the plus side its made me a much better home cook.

No it's pretty common. Most places in my neighborhood here in Chicago don't take reservations.

 

[thedavidmurray]



The no reservations thing drives me insane. Seems like a pdx specific thing to have this aversion to reservations. On the plus side its made me a much better home cook.

I just moved here in November, and the no reservations thing is strange. I don't know that it's PDX specific so much as PDX has just taken to it the next level. Chicago had quite a few places with no reservations but not to the extent we're seeing here. That said, I've had great meals at Nobel Rot, Paley's Place and Imperial, and Biwa that were all reservations. Hopefully someone comes along and convinces the folks here that reservations can be a good thing.

 

[justridiculous]

I just moved here in November, and the no reservations thing is strange. I don't know that it's PDX specific so much as PDX has just taken to it the next level. Chicago had quite a few places with no reservations but not to the extent we're seeing here. That said, I've had great meals at Nobel Rot, Paley's Place and Imperial, and Biwa that were all reservations. Hopefully someone comes along and convinces the folks here that reservations can be a good thing.

Imperial is awesome. Make sure to check out Paley's Place on NW 23rd, that's Vitaly Paley's upscale restaurant.

 

[cyc wid it]

No reservations = **** this. Some Bay Area places do it too, others hold some tables for walk ins to prevent reservation bots claiming everything, but there are so many good places to eat that won't test my patience. If I really care that much and no reservations are possible or available I'll hire a goddamn task rabbit to wait in line. Food better be next level though.

 

[ryewo[i dmfsOZI490w]



No reservations = **** this. Some Bay Area places do it too, others hold some tables for walk ins to prevent reservation bots claiming everything, but there are so many good places to eat that won't test my patience. If I really care that much and no reservations are possible or available I'll hire a goddamn task rabbit to wait in line. Food better be next level though.

No reservations sounds good to me - I won't have to lie to my wife anymore, when I forget to make them.

 

[cyc wid it]

It's so easy now between various apps, restaurant sites, the select few that still require phone calls. Infinitely more convenient for planning.

Nothing says a fun night out like standing around for 2 hrs in ****** weather.

 

[BLAUGRANA]

I loved Portland and there's a ton to see and do in the surrounding area. People were fine too. Food depended on where you went though and there can be waits. I loved Screen Door and fortunately we beat the rush by about 10 minutes which meant no waiting for a table as opposed to nearly an hour wait. Worst thing was one place that refuses to answer it's phone. We're not talking about a preference for an e-reservation either. They simply didn't answer the phone!

 

[cyc wid it]

Thought Screen Door was pretty overrated TBH. Tasty and Alder, Pine Biscuits, etc. were better.

 

[scanner]

Oregon is full of redneck hippies that seem to get a pass for everything from ******** in front of a crowd in the street to having a bonfire outside of an opera. And you can't pump your own gas, **** that place.
Tax incentives are nice though.

 

[ahjota]

Omg all this PDX talk. I want some Pine State now.

 

[Cary Grant]



The no reservations thing drives me insane. Seems like a pdx specific thing to have this aversion to reservations. On the plus side its made me a much better home cook.

As a restaurant/bistro/shop owner the past two years - I now have a whole new appreciation for not taking reservations.
Our no-show rate is 80%. People are booking 3-4 different places any given night then choosing the one they want at the last minute.
It's happening all over the country.

 

[cyc wid it]

Take a credit card down and put a limit for late cancellations then. I have no problem doing that.

PS co sign the lack of diversity in Oregon.

 

[cyc wid it]



You're suggesting charging their cc for cancelled reservations? I bet the ppl would write bad yelp reviews if that happened.

It's built right into Opentable. Some restaurants require a CC to hold the reservation and you have until 48 hours before the resrvation time to cancel or they charge a certain amount per head.