reservation at per se?

i turned 50 in september and decided that i would treat myself to an extravagant dinner at per se. i have been trying for a wednesday or thursday reservation since august but have yet to have any success. call at ten am, wait for the girl to tell me there’s nothing left. is there something i’m missing here?
i’ve been there a few times over the years, but never had this much difficulty.
thanks

call them and tell them this story. aslo, try opentable?

apparently opentable gets only 3 specific tables per night and it doesn’t match what i need.
and i did call and tell them my story, but to no avail. i’ve known the somm since cru days and thought he might help me out, but again, no luck.
think i’ll let amex platinum give it a go.

You may want to consider a lunch reservation as well. I’ve had an easier time getting those.

Can you put yourself on a waitlist? sooner the better… odds are someone cancels…

been on the waitlist 8 times so far…one time even on the vip waitlist, whatever that is, courtesy of an acquaintance with an in there.

joe, i think lunch is only weekends and i’m trying for midweek.

Got in fairly easy a couple of years ago on Wednesday or Thursday night for a later seating (10pm-ish?). Meaning only called 2-3 weeks in advance and 60 days in advance for a Saturday night for 2 years straight at 10am for The French Laundry.

Maybe try for Monday or Tuesday? Wednesday and Thursday may already be peak nights?

Mark – Any luck with the Platinum card? I’ve always wondered how useful it is for tough restaurant reservations.

haven’t reached out yet. will post when i do, and get the result.
thanks

I’ve always found AMEX to do the trick.

called them this afternoon for 1 of 3 dates in november
fingers crossed

Fingers crossed

I think AMEX has a special team that deals with Per Se/French Laundry

wilfred
the rep told me they have a couple of tables per nite for amex cardholders.
we shall see…

Very interesting. Thanks Mark and good luck.

a brief update
amex concierge tells me that per se will not allow a reservation for 1 person. the only way i can get it is if there is a cancellation.
i’ve been on the phone with per se at least 5 times since august basically begging, and not once did anyone tell me of this policy.
wtf?

I wouldn’t ordinarily question the source, but people dine alone at laundry all the time. That sounds way weird.

Why not just eat in the salon? Supposed to be outstanding.

been there and done that. while the salon is indeed very nice, it is just not the same as the full experience.

i was thinking that maybe the deal amex has with them doesn’t support solo diners.

Tell you what: buy me a plane ticket, pay for dinner, and we can make it a 2. Simple. Seriously, I know of another gentleman who now just books for 2 people, and when he goes to be seated, he just says his date didn’t show up.

A lot of restaurants do this type of thing, quietly, without anyone outside the staff knowing. I know a restauranteur who places a very strict limit on the number of “parties of 3” for instance, he will accept. (Because, of course, he is getting only 75% of the income for a table of 4 and if the place is in demand, why should he accept 75% when he could make 100%). The public doesn’t know about this but, for instance, if you put in “3” as your group on OpenTable for his restaurant, you likely will not find a table available. Put in “4” and all of a sudden, tables pop up.

Long story short, restaurants do this a lot but don’t talk about it because it appears unseemly.

so, like merrill said, make a reservation for 2 and show up as a solo?

i get the math, of course. someone once told me that if you dine at per se as a solo that you are automatically treated as a vip. sounded like a pretty nice 50th present to myself, and frankly my wife doesn’t appreciate a lot of this kind of food so i figured it will be 1/2 price
guess chef keller feels the same way