LA restaurant criticizes missing customers on Twitter
Mar 26, 2013, 2:07 PM | Updated: 2:08 pm
A Los Angeles restaurant publicly scorned reservation no-shows on Twitter last Sunday.
According to NBC News, Noah Ellis, managing partner at Red Medicine restaurant, tweeted the names of seven customers who missed their dinner reservations from 7:30 to 9:30 on Saturday.
“The a–holes who decide to no-show, or cancel 20 minutes before their reservation (because one of their friends made a reservation somewhere else) ruin restaurants (as a whole) for the people who make a reservation and do their best to honor it,” Ellis told Eater. “Either restaurants are forced to overbook and make the guests (that actually showed up) wait, or they do what we do, turn away guests for some prime-time slots because they’re booked, and then have empty tables.”
While numbers have been unaffected by the comments thus far, Ellis explained that the restaurant will continue taking reservations because the benefits still outweigh the burdens.
And even though no-shows can throw a wrench into the works, Ellis says reservations still do more good than harm. “Especially on busier nights, I think that guests like to know whether or not they’re going to be able to sit down at a specific time, versus showing up and waiting 45-plus minutes,” he says. “It’s also very helpful to have a sense of who and how many people are coming through the door in advance.”