How you can get in to an in-demand restaurant on short notice or even if you walk in without reservation

#1 · January 12, 2022, 10:33 am

This works even if your dating style is not about 'wining and dinning' (mine isn't).
These are two social hacks to get into a restaurant even if you didn't book a table. Making a restaurant reservation the day of, and the place is usually quite busy and booked especially on short notice.
Imagine that you have a date that you want to take to THAT restaurant and no other, and you know they day before that the date is on. You call, and they tell you (of course) that they are fully booked.

Option 1, when you have time: do research ahead of time

Find the manager. It's usually as simple as googling "restaurant name + general manager (GM)". Also try linkedin.
Then tell the hostess that you know the GM from her previous spot (that you now know from your research ☺ )
You: "Hey so I’m actually buddies with Moritz, he used to take care of me all the time at the Giant Steak House in Kudamm when he ran it."
This will get you a table 90% of the cases.
When you are there if you get to talk to the person that took your call, give her a good tip.

Option 2: when you don't have time
Imagine you are already there. It was not your plan to go to the restaurant, you just walked in. The hostess says it's not possible to get a table.
You: "I know you are to say no..." (this is fundamental; enable them to say no; challenge their power)
... But it would be great if you would find us a table, maybe a last minute cancellation, because (insert reason here) Mary here just heard that she got a job after 4 months of interviews and we are cellebrating
See what happens next. And let me know if any of these options worked for you 🙂

#2 · January 12, 2022, 12:38 pm

Quote from leaderoffun on January 12, 2022, 10:33 am

Option 2: when you don't have time
Imagine you are already there. It was not your plan to go to the restaurant, you just walked in. The hostess says it's not possible to get a table.
You: "I know you are to say no..." (this is fundamental; enable them to say no; challenge their power)
... But it would be great if you would find us a table, maybe a last minute cancellation, because (insert reason here) Mary here just heard that she got a job after 4 months of interviews and we are cellebrating
See what happens next. And let me know if any of these options worked for you 🙂

I don't doubt this is far better odds of getting a seat than just simply showing up and listening to what's available.

But it's not something I'd either do or advice.

And that includes dating effectiveness.

It's especially harmful for long-term dating, but also for short-term dating.

There will soon be a case study in Seduction University with a similar situation where the man lied and it later came back to hurt his chances.

Check the forum guidelines for effective communication.
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#3 · January 12, 2022, 4:42 pm

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on January 12, 2022, 12:38 pm

It's especially harmful for long-term dating, but also for short-term dating.

There will soon be a case study in Seduction University with a similar situation where the man lied and it later came back to hurt his chances.

Oh, agreed. I don't suggest you lie: just tell the reason, any reason, you want the table. The social hack is using 'because', not the actual reason. I think it was Langer, 1977. The experiment went something like this:

The set up was skipping the line in the photocopier at an university.
The reasons they tried after 'because' varied,
1. Version 1 (request only): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”
2. Version 2 (request with a real reason): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I'm in a rush?”
3. Version 3 (request with a fake reason): “Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I have to make copies?”
The effect was that people who formulated the request with 'because' got more compliance

Option 3 is a senseless reason to use the copier. Still, it performed well, at well as a real reason. (60, 94, 93 percent respectively).

That's the second part of the hack. The first one is "I know you are going to say no". I think that comes from "never split the difference" (Chris Voss https://blackswanltd.com/our-team/chris-voss/ ). But not sure