Restaurant Reservation Guides for NYC and SF
How many reservation guides does SnagRes have?
SnagRes publishes more than 50 guides covering the hardest restaurants, neighborhoods and cuisines in New York and San Francisco, plus how each booking platform releases tables. All of them are listed on this page.
Which cities do the guides cover?
New York City and San Francisco. The guides break down by neighborhood, by cuisine, and by individual restaurant, and every availability figure is measured from live tracking rather than estimated.
Do the guides tell me the exact release time?
Where it is confirmed, yes. Each restaurant guide states the platform and the exact time tables drop when that has been verified against the restaurant's own listing, and leaves it blank rather than guessing when it has not.
What is the fastest way to actually get a hard table?
Set an alert. Most openings at the hardest rooms are cancellations that surface at random hours, so being told the moment one appears beats refreshing the app by hand.
Start here: the essentials
How to get into a specific NYC restaurant
- Carbone 10 AM Resy drop, 30 days out, and it still shows 0% open.
- Torrisi Major Food Group on Resy, sitting flat at 0% bookable.
- Don Angie 9 AM on OpenTable, 7 days out, effectively never open.
- Lilia 10 AM Resy, 28 days out, open 53% of days but 4% at prime time.
- 4 Charles Prime Rib 9 AM Resy drop, 21 days out, claimed in seconds.
- Tatiana Kwame Onwuachi's room at Lincoln Center, 0% open on Resy.
- Semma Michelin Indian in the West Village, 9 AM Resy, 0% open.
- The Four Horsemen Williamsburg natural-wine room, 7 AM Resy, 0% open.
- Cote Korean steakhouse, 10 AM Resy, 30 days out, 47% open.
- Le Bernardin Monthly 7 AM Resy drop, open 71% of days, hard only at prime time.
- I Sodi The Via Carota sister room, 0% open on Resy, cancellations only.
- The Polo Bar Ralph Lauren's Midtown room, 0% open on Resy.
- Una Pizza Napoletana Anthony Mangieri's LES pizzeria, 0% on OpenTable.
- Jungsik A two-Michelin-star you can actually book, 80% open on Tock.
- Dhamaka Unapologetic Foods on the LES, 0% on Resy, 7-day window.
- Monkey Bar Graydon Carter's Midtown room, 0% open on Resy.
- Jeju Noodle Bar Michelin Korean ramyun, 0%, midnight Resy drop.
- Raku East Village handmade udon, 0% on Resy.
- Le Veau d'Or Revived historic UES bistro, 0% on OpenTable.
- Chez Fifi Buzzy Upper East Side French, 0% on OpenTable.
- Red Hook Tavern Billy Durney's dry-aged burger in Brooklyn, 0% on Resy.
- Adda Unapologetic Foods' East Village Indian, 0% on Resy.
- The Ambassadors Clubhouse Unapologetic Foods in NoMad, 0%, midnight Resy drop.
- The Eighty Six Hyped GV speakeasy steakhouse, 0% on SevenRooms.
How to get into a specific SF restaurant
- Benu Prepaid Tock tickets at 10 AM, about 30 days out, 0% open.
- Saison OpenTable, next-month dates on the 1st, realistic at 43% open.
- Lazy Bear Tock tickets at 10 AM on the 15th, gettable at 67% open.
- Quince SF three-Michelin-star on SevenRooms, realistic at 43% open.
- State Bird Provisions SF Fillmore small plates on Tock, 0% at the noon drop.
- Kokkari SF's Greek institution, 0% on OpenTable, cancellations only.
- Niku Steakhouse SF wagyu steakhouse, 0% on OpenTable, cancellations only.
- Cotogna Quince's casual sister, 20% open on SevenRooms.
- Boulevard Nancy Oakes' Embarcadero institution, 0% on OpenTable.
- Zuni Cafe SF Hayes Valley institution, 0% on OpenTable.
- Angler Saison's Michelin seafood on the Embarcadero, 0% on Tock.
- Rich Table Michelin Californian in Hayes Valley, 0% on OpenTable.
- Four Kings Buzzy Chinatown Cantonese, 0%, noon OpenTable drop.
The hardest tables by neighborhood
- West Village Six rooms at 0%, from 4 Charles Prime Rib to Semma.
- East Village ADDA, Bungalow, Naks, Raku and Ramen By Ra all at 0%.
- Lower East Side Ha's Snack Bar and Una Pizza Napoletana lead at 0%.
- The Mission, SF San Ho Won is the hardest here, but SF openings beat NYC.
- Nob Hill, SF The Big Four leads, and a seat is realistic if you stay flexible.
- Greenwich Village Carbone, Somssi and The Eighty Six all sit at 0% open.
- Tribeca No room at 0%. Musaafer tightest, Jungsik and Au Cheval far easier.
- Williamsburg I Cavallini and The Four Horsemen at 0%, Lilia and Laser Wolf catchable.
- SoMa, SF Benu and Niku at 0%, Saison and Enclos more open.
- The Fillmore, SF State Bird is the one hard table; the rest book easily.
- Jackson Square, SF Kokkari at 0%, plus Verjus, Cotogna and Quince on SevenRooms.
The hardest tables by cuisine
- Hardest Italian in NYC Six Italian rooms at 0%, ranked, plus the ones you can book.
- Hardest French in NYC Chez Fifi and Le Veau d'Or at 0%, up to Minetta Tavern.
- Omakase, NYC and SF Raku at 0% up to Akiko's at 83%, ranked by counter.
- Michelin-star tables The platform and exact drop time for the starred rooms.
- Hardest Korean in NYC Jeju Noodle Bar at 0% up to Jungsik at 80%, ranked.
- Hardest American in NYC Eight rooms at 0%, from 4 Charles to The Polo Bar.
- Hardest Indian in NYC Adda, Dhamaka, Semma, Bungalow and Ambassadors all at 0%.
- Hardest Chinese in SF Four Kings and Z & Y at 0%, Mister Jiu's more open.
- Hardest American in SF Benu, Boulevard, Jules, Rich Table and State Bird at 0%.
How each booking platform works
Timing, strategy and tactics
- Prime-time (7 to 8 PM) tables Why prime slots vanish first, and the 5:30 or 9:30 workaround.
- How far ahead you can book Windows range from monthly drops to just 7 days out.
- Large-party reservations Big tables are rarely released online. Call the private line.
- New-restaurant reservations Find the platform, hit the drop, and alert the cancellations.
- How to get NYC reservations The full playbook for New York's hardest rooms.
- How to get SF reservations The full playbook for San Francisco.
- Do reservations cost money? Deposits, card holds, no-show fees and prepaid tickets explained.
- When a restaurant is fully booked The playbook: alerts, waitlists, flexing time and party size.
- Getting a table without a reservation Bar seats, walk-in timing, and pairing it with an alert.
- Reservation etiquette How to cancel, what a no-show costs, and being late.
- Solo dining reservations One seat fits gaps larger parties can't. How to book for one.
Reservations for big occasions
Alerts vs the alternatives
What are the most common reservation questions?
Every SnagRes guide in one place: the hardest tables in NYC and SF, how to book specific restaurants, and how Resy, OpenTable, Tock and SevenRooms work.