California Grill - does counter or lounge need a reservation?

[Brygida]

Question: I want to dine (1 person) at the California Grill on an upcoming business trip, but cannot score a reservatin for the days I am there! Does anyone know if the counter and / or the lounge are also by ADR or do you sign up for those at the podium on floor 2?

Alternately, what are the chances I will be able to walk-up and score a table (1 person only) on February 8th?

 

[Art 1]

If there is room at the bar they will take you up and give you a seat. We have done this a few times and have never had a problem.

 

[OhThePain]

I wouldn't count on getting a table for yourself as a walk up. A table for 1 uses the same table as a table for 2. But hey, you never know. Just go in expecting to wait a bit for a bar seat, anything better than that is just a bonus.

 

[Brygida]

If there is room at the bar they will take you up and give you a seat. We have done this a few times and have never had a problem.

I will hope for a seat at the bar.... I thought this might be the case. Since I am only 1, I think I have a good shot.


And if not, I'll just go somewhere else.... getting a 1 person walk-up in the slow times should not be too difficult.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

You don't need a reservation to dine in the lounge, however, every time we have been to CG we have found the lounge to be PACKED because people that are waiting for their buzzer often occupy the lounge. We always find a seat (if we can) and have a drink.

I think your best bet would be going as close to opening as possible. The later it gets the busier the restaurant is going to be!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I agree about trying to go there when they open however there is still a chance they might say no about going up there, because who knows how busy they will be on that specific day.

 

[bunnyfoo]

I've found the crowds tend thin out right after Wishes is done.

 

[Art 1]

I will hope for a seat at the bar.... I thought this might be the case. Since I am only 1, I think I have a good shot.


And if not, I'll just go somewhere else.... getting a 1 person walk-up in the slow times should not be too difficult.

You can often find a seat along the sushi-bar. We have a lot of fun going to CG at the last moment. We have always found a place to sit.

 

[Uncleromulus]

The only danger in not having any reservation is that if they are really busy, they may not let you up at all.
And if they do let you up, you may find (as we have on many occasions) there are no seats available at the bar or in the small lounge. This last trip we HAD dinner reservations and were let up early (with a 35 minute wait beyond our reservation time). Found no place to sit, anywhere.
I sort of "cruised" near the bar and by a stroke of luck, 2 people got up and left! Almost unheard off before Wishes. Anyway Mrs U and I rushed to claim the seats, then asked the bartender if we could order a full meal then and there instead of waiting 25 more minutes for a table. Answer was yes! And that's what we did!!
Would be easier if you could just make a reservation FOR the bar /lounge and be guaranteed a seat. But not aware that can be done at CG.

 

[bubblefactory]

I wish they would stop serving food full stop in the lounge area. It's not nice having to prop the wall up waiting for your table. If food was supposed to be served there they would have proper dining tables and chairs not sofas and coffee tables.

I think they should make a new bar/lounge on the second floor where you check in and only take you up in the lift when your table is ready or if a seat at the sushi bar opens up. Then you could wait in comfort and have a pre dinner drink if you wanted instead of feeling like you were in the way standing in the restaurant.

 

[Art 1]

I wish they would stop serving food full stop in the lounge area. It's not nice having to prop the wall up waiting for your table. If food was supposed to be served there they would have proper dining tables and chairs not sofas and coffee tables.

I think they should make a new bar/lounge on the second floor where you check in and only take you up in the lift when your table is ready or if a seat at the sushi bar opens up. Then you could wait in comfort and have a pre dinner drink if you wanted instead of feeling like you were in the way standing in the restaurant.

Why do you wish this, you can do it as well. My wife and I do it often, we spend 2 or 3 hrs and have a good time drinking and eating. We have met some nice people and the waiters are nice and treat us well.

 

[bubblefactory]

My wife and I do it often, we spend 2 or 3 hrs and have a good time drinking and eating. We have met some nice people and the waiters are nice and treat us well.

So book a table then and leave the sofas free for people waiting to be seated !

 

[ElizabethB]

Dining at the bar or in the lounge is very common here in NYC. Many people prefer the bar -- they can interact with the bartender and others sitting at the bar. We always enjoy dining at the bar at Gramercy Tavern.

In other words -- the bar and lounge are not just places for people to sit while waiting for a table! And, why would a restaurant ever leave a sofa for an idle person waiting for a table, when they could fill it with someone actually ordering their dinner? It makes no economic sense. Prime real estate is expensive and a seat at CG at fireworks time is prime real estate.

Now, as for dining at the bar or in the lounge at CG, I wouldn't bother. There are so many people standing around waiting for tables, so many agitated people who haven't gotten their window seat for the fireworks, so many kids on theme park highs running around, that dining at the bar or in the lounge would be miserable, IMO.

It wasn't always that way at CG. Dh and I used to love the CG lounge area for drinks and appetizers. But, the internet has changed everything. There are other places with much nicer ambience these days.

 

[bubblefactory]

Sitting a the bar with an appetizer and a glass of wine etc I get, but a family of 4 squeezed onto a sofa balancing 4 dinner plates on a coffee table while people have to stand around waiting for tables I just don't get. Serve drinks and nibbles maybe but if you want a 'meal' get a dinner table.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I just should add that we always try to eat at the bar in any restaurant that we can...
At the CG we found it sort of a refuge from the kids and agitated families. Not that it wasn't busy or hectic--it was. Our bartender/server was busy from start to finish. But with no kids running around, it was worth it (I felt).

 

[Art 1]

Sitting a the bar with an appetizer and a glass of wine etc I get, but a family of 4 squeezed onto a sofa balancing 4 dinner plates on a coffee table while people have to stand around waiting for tables I just don't get. Serve drinks and nibbles maybe but if you want a 'meal' get a dinner table.

We have never sat on a couch at CG, and my wife and I are only 2. We don't make reservations, for us it's a last second thing. You may want try try sitting at the bar or sushi bar sometime, it's a lot of fun. And it's fun going last second for us.

 

[TDC Nala]

I don't make reservations anymore, I just eat in the lounge. Of course I'm just one person. But I have seen groups of 4 or even more eating there. No rule against it.

If CG wanted to discourage it, they wouldn't permit ordering from the full menu there. And the servers in the lounge have been great whenever I've been there.