dealing with online ressies

[pickles]

I have been able to book some dining ressies online, and a kind person here taught me how to cancel what i didnt need. But I got to thinking was i using the online ressies to its full potential. My trip is just 3 weeks away so i assumed that when i put in a restaurant and a time and date and it spits back one answer and some alternative places, that, that was the only available time on that date at that restaurant..is that right? or should I be checking hour by hour? or is there some special way to get ALL available times for that day to come up?

I also did the date ranges and often it would just show one date and time..is that all there is available or?

 

[rflorek]

I have been able to book some dining ressies online, and a kind person here taught me how to cancel what i didnt need. But I got to thinking was i using the online ressies to its full potentil. My trip is just 3 weeks away so i assumed that when i put in a restaurant and a time and date and it spits back one answer and some alternative places, that, that was the only available time on that date at that restaurant..is that right? or should I be checking hour by hour? or is there some special way to get ALL available times for that day to come up?

I also did the date ranges and often it would just show one date and time..is that all there is available or?

With the online system: let's say I wanted a 6pm ressie. I searched for 6 and it came up with 7:15 and later, plus a bunch of alternatives. I re-search using 5:30pm and suddenly 5:55 pm came up at the restaurant I want (but 5:55 didn't come up when I entered 6). Sometimes it pays to play around a little to get a time you want.

 

[Missytara]

I like the online system, because it does suggest alternative times and suggestions all at once; something talking to someone on the phone cannot do.

I weighed the actual experience vs. the time factor in the two ressies I couldn't get.

One was all about the experience, so I opted for an early dinner hour; the other made a suggestion that I would have never thought of and I was thrilled beyond my wildest dreams.