Here at RJMetrics we build software to help our clients make data-driven decisions. Sometimes, we get the itch to peek at data from other companies to learn a little bit about how they work. Earlier this year we turned our sights to OpenTable.com, the online restaurant reservation system, and discovered that these restaurants are home to the most sought-after tables in New York City:
- Carmine’s Midtown
- The Little Owl
- Per Se
- Eleven Madison Park
- Kajitsu
- Le Bernardin
- ABC Kitchen
- Minetta Tavern
- Casa Mono
- Gramercy Tavern
As a group, these ten restaurants have received 14 Michelin Stars and 38 OpenTable Diner’s Choice Awards. All are Zagat rated. Six are considered by OpenTable to be among the most expensive restaurants, with a meal averaging over $50 per person.
We checked several times per day, and, for many of these restaurants, found fewer than ten different reservation slots open during our 34-day sampling period – and those were quickly snatched up. For comparison, of the 1,301 different restaurants that we checked, the majority had over 230 different reservation slots open at some point during our sampling period.
Restauranteurs take note: New York City residents can’t get enough fine dining. Demand for these dining experiences is so high that our friends over at PrimaTable.com created tools to help diners find open reservations at these and other highly sought-after restaurants.
How did we generate this list?
For every dinner reservation on the half-hours between 6pm and 9pm from January 3rd to February 17th 2012, we checked OpenTable every six hours starting two weeks before the reservation. We ignored Sunday and Monday because many restaurants are closed or do not take reservations on these days.
