Why don't some of the restaurants take advance bookings?

[imbrennan]

I think it would be much nicer if you could book a table at a restaurant - even if you had to pay a deposit by credit card to secure it.

One year when we were in The Villages we wanted to book a meal for Christmas Day (which we can usually do at home in the UK no problem, though of course the meal is more expensive as they have to pay the staff higher wages).

We couldn't find anywhere in The Villages who would take a booking....... We finished up queueing at Katie Belle's, got there three quarters of an hour before they opened and the queue was huge - we were told it would be at least an hour and a half before we could get seated.

We then drove to Tierra del Sol (at least I think that was where it was as it was a long while ago). They had the same story.

My husband was just not prepared to stand outside in a queue for his Christmas meal so we finished up going home and cooking pork chops and fries!

We don't have any children and were new to The Villages at the time so had no-one to make up a nice Christmas party for dinner but I am sure this must be the same for other people.

We mentioned this in Up the Creek once and were told that sometimes in the past (before they came toThe Villages) restaurants have had experience of people booking a table and then not turning up (which is disgusting and very inconsiderate). However if they were charged a reasonably large sum to reserve the table (and that was taken off their bill at the end) then I am sure they would arrive for their meal.

What do you think?

[swrinfla]

imbrennan:

The inability to reserve a table has long mystified me. In "season" I find that you must either eat dinner around at 4:30 or 5pm (that's drinking time, not eating time, imho) or at 8pm (by which time all the drinking ruins the eating :joke:), or else sit and wait and wait and wait!

I think I can comprehend the restaurant's reasoning, but I'm very inclined to think your fee-for-advance-reservation might not be too bad an idea!

SWR

[Barefoot]

We mentioned this in Up the Creek once and were told that sometimes in the past (before they came toThe Villages) restaurants have had experience of people booking a table and then not turning up. However if they were charged a reasonably large sum to reserve the table (and that was taken off their bill at the end) then I am sure they would arrive for their meal. What do you think?

Good idea. They were actually doing this at a Golf Club .. I think Palmers .. at Christmas. Or maybe it was Lopez at Thanksgiving. Whatever. :dontknow:

We have managed to make a reservation at Up the Creek several times by personally going there, making a reservation, and then taking in Happy Hour at LSL while waiting. Works for us. ;)

[sschuler1]

Quite a few restaurants have started doing call ahead seating. You tell them what time you would like to eat, they put your name on the list and tell you to be there 15 minutes early. They promise that you will be seated within twenty minutes when you arrive. Sometimes they tell you they can't accomodate you at the time that you would like, then at least you have the option of going somewhere else or taking a later dinner hour. It has worked much better in the Detroit area. No more waiting for an hour to 2 hours for a table on the weekends.