How to get a reservation at that hot new restaurant in your city

You know the rub: after months of back-and-forth the big deal has closed and the boss wants you to choose a spot to celebrate; or maybe you’ve been working late for weeks and your anniversary has suddenly crept up on you. You read your local city magazine, you know the current hot spots that are worthy of such a momentous occasion, but click after click on the “reservations” button on their websites yields nothing but “we’re sorry, there’s no availability at your chosen time.”

It’s disheartening, true. But all too many diners take this as the end of the voyage instead of the opening bid. In Vancouver, at least, diners actually have it pretty lucky: the city doesn’t yet have bots snapping up reservations to resell for profit like you’d find in New York or L.A. (The Vancouver entries on the reservation reselling site Appointment Trader are laughably thin.) And even the city’s hottest spots are quietly confessing to having more space in 2024 than they did in 2023. So trust us: there’s no need to give up and slink toward your nearest Moxies for a night of sweet potato fries and aioli—just follow our how-to guide to help you on the path of culinary nirvana.

Adjust your time

We’ll start with the obvious. Everyone wants to eat at 7 p.m. (a time that’s actually quite early by global big-city standards), but an adjustment up or down can open up a world of opportunities. There’s an unexpectedly wonderful feeling that comes with finishing your dinner at 8 and heading out for a nightcap or a stroll. Conversely, hitting a wine bar for a glass before your 8:30 reservation also has its own continental charms (and you’re also helping the restaurant by filling out its table roster).

Pick up the phone

It seems unbelievably quaint in this day and age to actually call, but you’d be surprised by how effective it can be. For starters, not even the most buzzworthy spot reserves every single table, even on a busy night. There are almost always a few tables set aside for VIPs (Drake is not on OpenTable weeks before he arrives in town), friends of the owner/chef, industry people and so on. Don’t call during the dinner rush (calling between 4 and 5 p.m. is a good bet), explain your situation and you might get lucky. They want you to be happy and return frequently and if your ask is easy to accommodate, you’re in.

Email

When step one doesn’t pan out, take it up a small notch. Almost every website has an email that can be located with the most cursory search, but if you dig deeper you’ll be amazed at how much intel you can glean. To home in on a couple of Vancouver faves as an example, a careful website scan of Kitsilano’s AnnaLena will uncover GM/owner Jeff Parr’s email, and while downtown’s Elisa only offers up an info@email, the site does tell you that the GM is Ricardo Ferreira—address your email to his attention and, again, even the busiest of them will likely do all they can for you.

Social, baby

Cambie Street’s Elio Volpe might be the coveted slot in Vancouver right now, but if you were on their Instagram during the first round of the playoffs you would have seen a tip that “walking in tonight will be a breeze.” On another night, their FB page announced: “early walk-ins welcome.” Increasingly, restaurants are using their social channels to keep their customers informed on all things—and that includes when space becomes available. St. Lawrence announces when their reservations go live both via Instagram and through their mailing list (a smart thing to sign up for).

Waiting list

Unfortunately, the West Coast is notorious for urchins who make rafts of reservations and then choose the one they want on the day of, giving scant cancellation notice to the trusting restaurants. While this is certified dirtball behaviour, it does mean that there are usually tables that avail themselves. Both Tock and OpenTable have a Join Waitlist option that very few people ever take advantage off. DINR, an Eastern Canadian app promising last-minute reservations, hasn’t made many inroads here, but St. Lawrence and L’Abattoir are on it. Or better, when you make your phone call or email, offer to go on the waitlist if they happen to be full. It shows you’re committed to the endeavour and not just a reservation collector.

Just show up/sit at the bar

Obviously this is a dicey proposition on your anniversary, but a lot of the top rooms want to make sure their spots have a casual vibe and encourage such by deliberately keeping seats open for walk-ins. Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson of Vancouver’s Published on Main has always done this even in the heady days of being named Canada’s Best Restaurant. And the Volpe twins—Elio and Savio—likewise always make it their practice to have seats set aside for walk-ins. And even when all the tables are spoken for, there’s very frequently a spot at the bar. (Suyo is great for this—if you don’t mind eating on a stool.)

Zen it out

The reality is that, if you persevere, you can probably get in where you want within close proximity of when you want. But here’s a thought—if you’re doing this because you’re such a foodie, maybe think about not pouring your money into whatever the current hot spot is and instead revisiting a place that’s still great but where the glow has cooled—a shift that has little or nothing to do with the cooking and everything to do with people’s desire to be first at something. Take Barbara, in Vancouver’s Chinatown. When the Michelin stars were first announced two years ago people were pulling their hair out to get a table. It’s still the same quaint, quirky, amazing place; it’s just easier to get a table, which is a good thing for the consumer. Or try Burdock & Co, another lauded quaint spot creating exceptional and deeply personal cuisine. If you care about food, maybe lean into quality and away from buzz.