Ready for Prime Time: Paying For Reservations
Proving that everything has a price, the launch of website PrimeTime Tables.com has attracted a bit of attention. PrimeTime Tables sells those hard-to-get reservations to hot restaurants - like let's say 8PM at Eleven Madison Park (since the website uses an Eleven Madison Park photo) - for anywhere between $30 to $45 a pop or $35 and under if you purchase a $450 yearly membership. And we can already see big corporations that need to wine and dine clients at swanky joints signing up...and Valentine's Day is just 23 days away!
While we're not totally sure how PrimeTime Tables works, we are guessing they either have some sort of software solution that nabs tables via OpenTable or a room of monkeys that calls up restaurants for reservations 14 and 30 days later. One Eater reader likens it to using a scalper, but given that you're not supposed to mention that PrimeTime Tables hooked you up makes us wonder about the service. That and the fact that reservations will be bitch to get - forget credit cards, restaurants will start scanning in your license when you dine there.
Thrillist has a referral code to use if you sign up - "gastineau99." And we remember when people only spent ridiculous amounts of money to get someone to wait in line for them for the Public Theater's free tickets to Mike Nichols's star-studded staging of The Seagull.
