How to Get the Ungettable Table

The Wall Street Journal's written an article on how to get highly desired reservations. It even comes with a handy little chart. It's a fairly interesting article, though I admit that I didn't find it really helpful. As some of you may have learned, it's pretty hard getting reservations to certain restaurants these days. (Some websites are even scalping reservations. But I prefer the nice ppl on Chowhound who give reservations up for free if they can't make it.) Well, I guess some of you may not know, since I'll bet the vast majority of you give up and head somewhere else. Perhaps you are the truly wise ones. So I'm one of the crazies who sits around trying to get reservations. (but hey, I do this to get Red Sox tickets, too, which is why I have Green Monster tickets and you don't). And admittedly I have a lot of time to kill. But then the you just ride my coat tails to yummy meals while reading about the trials and tribulations of getting a reservation on my blog.
As you know, my recent conquest was Mozza (dinner there in 3 days!), but after reading the WSJ article, I gotta say that for many of the places listed, I haven't found it that hard to get a reservation. Maybe it's cause they chose to make a reservation at 7pm, but I've certainly learned to eat early (or late). In addition, I've walked into a few places with no reservations at all and gotten seated (Nobu Malibu). So here are my tips for making reservations:

1. Open Table usually sucks. I know in the article that they say that most restaurants don't hold back table from the Open Table system, but I think that's an outright lie. I think most do hold back tables. I've always found it easier just to call the restaurant and make the reservation with a person. Then you're also not sitting there trying to reload Open table when you figure out that 2ppl at 7pm doesn't work. You can let the reservationist figure out a better time/date.

2. Be flexible. With time and date.

3. Go with just 2 ppl. You run into problems with bigger parties. Like at Enoteca in Del Posto. They'll only give reservations for large parties at certain times. (like 8:45pm).

4. Do some research. Go online. Use Google. Use Chowhound. And figure out when the reservation lines open up. This can be a pain in the butt, but it's often worth it. Like No. 9 Park is exactly 30 days in advance. Del Posto is day of at 10am. Per Se is 2 months in advance. The French Laundry is 6 months in advance.....Why most places don't just give this information to you on the website is beyond me.

5. Just show up. Maybe not at peak times on a Friday/Saturday night. But what about 6pm on a Sunday night? Or 9pm? That often works.

6. Eat at the bar. A lot of times you get the same menu. And bar seats are usually up for grabs. Like at Mozza and Lupa. Though I guess if you're in for the full dining experience, you'd skip this step.

7. Call me and make me do it. Yes, it happens. No charge, but gifts are appreciated.