Restaurant booking refused

[Grusa]

7 hours ago, Pilotman said:

and people go there why? I wouldn't set foot in the place. Plenty of restaurants have good food. 

It's a "must go" place for the foodies/poofs around here. 

[Speedhump]

3 hours ago, marcusarelus said:

Markup on dinner?  Average restaurant profit 3-5% https://pos.toasttab.com/blog/average-restaurant-profit-margin

 

You really going to mess with it?

Don't understand your comment. Although I meant to type 'if they can prove'. I'm sure there are people that would baulk at paying a cancellation fee. It's clearly proven by other comments here. 

 

And, this average, I wonder which country, type, standard of restaurant it refers to. Just an irrelevance. 

[Speedhump]

1 hour ago, Grusa said:

It's a "must go" place for the foodies/poofs around here. 

Poofs? Careful man, your knuckles will get skinned if you walk too far. ???? 

[NanLaew]

8 hours ago, Grusa said:

There is a restaurant in Pattaya where if you appear without a booking, you WILL be turned away - even if the place has ten empty tables.

If you are so lucky as to get a booking, and make any complaint about food or service, you get a tongue lashing from the chef/owner, and a ban from ever returning.

That said, the food is very good.

Oh really? I thought that Canterbury Tales on Chaiyaphoom was under new management.

[NanLaew]

5 hours ago, Pilotman said:

Some restaurants in the UK take a credit card for a booking, with a sizeable deposit, that is returned as part of the cost of the meal, given back if you cancel outside say 24 hours of the booking,  or forfeit if you don't turn up at all.  Sounds a  good solution to me. 

An easier solution is to simply not accept advance bookings, especially for large groups. No credit cards, no refunds, no forfeits.

 

I mean what's the worst thing a suitably declined prospective diner can do? Beyond posting on a forum or making a bad 'review' on tripadvisor or just refusing to ever go there I mean?

[NanLaew]

35 minutes ago, Grusa said:

It's a "must go" place for the foodies/poofs around here. 

Oh... sorry, I must have gotten it wrong as there's no poofs at Canterbury Tales.

[direction BANGKOK]

16 hours ago, fruitman said:

How would a restaurant do that? So you call them to make a booking and they'll say please Paypal us 2000 baht right now to make your booking? And if you don't show up within 30 minutes after the booked time you'll loose the 2000.

 

That won't work.

You would walk in. 

[lkn]

On 4/15/2019 at 4:00 PM, fruitman said:

And it's too hot today to tell the forummembers what those 'eating habits' are? Why is it that my sidedishes are served (to get cold) before i get any rice?

When going out to eat with friends, you normally order dishes for the table which everybody then shares.

 

So the kitchen does not consider it portions for specific people or to be served at specific times (starter vs main).

 

Say you are in the mood for steamed fish, are you going to eat an entire fish by yourself? And as I assume not, do you want all dishes to be delayed with the time it takes to prepare the fish? Better to serve a few other dishes and sample these while waiting. So the way they do it makes sense, though assuming that you order for the table.

 

That said, I’ve been to a handful of Thai places with my girlfriend where they asked if we wanted it served “prom-gan” (พร้อมกัน), and also a few finer places with a group of people where, while dishes were ordered for the table, they came simultaneously and in two servings: first the “snacks”, and then the mains.

 

[lkn]

On 4/13/2019 at 7:35 PM, Oxx said:

They refused.  They would let me book for 6 p.m., but said that at 7 p.m. they only accepted walk in customers.  This seems very strange to me.  Is it common practice? What's the logic?

Think it has already been answered, but not overly common, though definitely happens.

 

Mostly popular places, and often the “no reservation” is only enforced at peak hours or special days (like weekends, student graduations, or similar that would increase the number of walk-in customers).

 

Popular restaurants have a queue system for walk-in customers, and it’s not unusual having to wait for your table (as a walk-in customer), this means the restaurant is basically 100% full during every minute of the peak hours, so an (empty) reserved table would be lost profit, and it probably would also look weird to the people waiting in line if several tables are empty, but “reserved”.

 

The reservation deposit has been mentioned in this thread: This is done by some restaurants, but I have only seen it done by the finer restaurants with set menus where you would normally spend 3-5 hours. It makes more sense for them, because they sell you a table for the entire evening, where your typical Thai restaurant may have customers seated, served, and leaving in 30 minutes.