Last updated . Source: SnagRes availability record, 61,530,416 checks across 284 restaurants through 19 October 2026. How we measure. Open dataset.
On our 19 October 2026 reading, Buvette (0%), the share of dates in the current booking window with a bookable table for two. The four hardest are Buvette (0%), Le Veau d'Or (3%), Per Se (40%) and Raf's (40%).
Ask for Sunday, take an early seat, and let something watch the calendar for you. Sunday runs at 38% of checks at Raf's against 31% on Thursday, and Monday returned 0 open readings in 33,060 checks. Its most frequently open time is 1:30 PM, and 64% of the 1,857,105 open slots we have recorded fall before 6 PM.
Le Veau d'Or opens 14 days ahead at 9 AM on SevenRooms, and we have logged 270 release events there across 58 days. It showed a bookable two-top on 3% of dates, 1 of 30, from 234,709 date checks. Tuesday runs at 15% and Saturday at 1%, and 63% of what opens is 9 PM or later.
Chez Fifi opens 21 days ahead at 10 AM through SevenRooms, with 102 release events recorded across 53 days. It opened on 43% of dates for two and 57% for four. Monday is its most generous night at 56% against Friday at 14%, and 87% of its open slots are 9:00 PM or later, with 10:45 PM the most frequent time of all.
The most open, from the top: Bridges (63%), Le Bernardin (61%), Chez Fifi (43%) and Minetta Tavern (42%). Read the hour as well as the headline: 0% of Minetta Tavern's open slots and 1% of Le Bernardin's fall between 7:00 and 8:30 PM, so both are far easier for lunch or a late seat than for a normal dinner hour.
Neither one on its own. Raf's at 40% books on OpenTable, Le Veau d'Or at 3% and Chez Fifi at 43% book on SevenRooms, Buvette at 0% and Le Bernardin and Bridges and Minetta Tavern book on Resy, and Per Se books on Tock. Watching one app alone means never seeing some of the hardest rooms open at all, which is why we track all four platforms together.
Often it is easier. Minetta Tavern opened on 42% of dates for two and 77% for four, Chez Fifi on 43% and 57%, Le Bernardin on 61% and 74%, Le Veau d'Or on 3% and 3%. Bridges runs the other way, at 63% for two against 43% for four. When inventory drops in one burst, the tables left standing are the ones fewest people asked for.
Le Bernardin on a Tuesday, at 95% of 92,773 Tuesday checks, and Minetta Tavern on a Wednesday, at 98% of 79,426. Among the harder rooms, Chez Fifi runs 50% on a Tuesday against 14% on a Friday. Buvette is weekdays only for a two-top: Friday and Saturday returned 0 and 0 open readings.
By re-checking the same calendars around the clock on Resy, OpenTable, SevenRooms and Tock. Open share is the percentage of dates in the current booking window with at least one bookable table for two, dated 19 October 2026. The check counts are cumulative, and the wider study behind these pages covers 61,530,416 availability checks across 284 tracked restaurants.
No. SnagRes watches these calendars and tells you the moment a table opens, by email or text, and you book it yourself in your own account at the restaurant's own price. We never hold or resell a reservation. Services that charge per successful booking or resell tables outright are the practice New York's 2024 reservation law was written about, and an alert sits on the other side of that line.
On our 19 October 2026 reading, the hardest French reservation in New York is Buvette (0%), the share of dates in its current booking window with a bookable table for two. The next hardest are Le Veau d'Or (3%), Per Se (40%) and Raf's (40%). Those readings rest on hundreds of thousands of date checks at these rooms, not on a reputation.
The rest of the list is nothing like a tie. We track eight French rooms in New York across four platforms, and their open share runs from Buvette (0%) to Bridges (63%). Open share here means one specific thing: the percentage of dates in the current booking window that had at least one table for two you could have reserved. A lower number is a harder room. It is not a measure of how full the dining room is, because a restaurant can be busy every night and still leave a calendar you can book from.
These are measured figures rather than repeated ones. SnagRes re-checks the same calendars around the clock on Resy, OpenTable, SevenRooms and Tock, and the study behind these pages now covers 61,530,416 availability checks across 284 tracked restaurants. The percentages below are a point-in-time reading of the current window, dated 19 October 2026. The check counts are cumulative and only grow.
Here is every room, with the platform each books on and how a party of four fares against a party of two.
Buvette (West Village, Resy): 0% of dates open for two and 0% for four. 638,846 date checks.
Raf's (NoHo, OpenTable): 40% for two and 40% for four. 229,890 date checks.
Chez Fifi (Upper East Side, SevenRooms): 43% for two and 57% for four. 268,743 date checks.
Le Veau d'Or (Upper East Side, SevenRooms): 3% for two and 3% for four. 234,709 date checks.
Bridges (Chinatown, Resy): 63% for two and 43% for four. 633,710 date checks.
Le Bernardin (Theater District, Resy): 61% for two and 74% for four. 647,744 date checks.
Minetta Tavern (Greenwich Village, Resy): 42% for two and 77% for four. 562,048 date checks.
Per Se (Columbus Circle, Tock): 40% for two and 100% for four. 3,545 date checks.
Two rooms on this list share a shape: a short window and nights that fill at the release. Buvette's Resy calendar opens 14 days ahead, and Raf's calendar reached 14 days out at our last reading. A two-week window funnels two weeks of demand into each release instead of spreading it over a month.
Buvette is a weekday-only proposition for a two-top. Across 638,846 date checks, Friday returned 0 open readings in 91,243 checks and Saturday 0 in 91,687, while Tuesday ran at 11%. What does open is mostly early: 75% of its 1,671,464 recorded open slots fall before 6 PM, from as early as 8:00 AM.
Raf's has its own missing night. Monday returned 0 open readings in 33,060 checks, which is what a night the restaurant is not taking two-tops looks like in availability data rather than evidence of extreme demand. Sunday is its most generous night at 38%, and 64% of what it opens falls before 6 PM, most often at 1:30 PM.
Put together, a table at either room is an early weekday problem far more often than it is a Saturday-at-eight problem. Knowing which one you are attempting changes the method entirely, and it is the sort of thing nothing watching tens of thousands of restaurants can tell you about any of them.
Buvette, Friday: 0 open readings in 91,243 checks. Saturday: 0 in 91,687.
Buvette, Tuesday: 11%, its easiest night.
Raf's, Monday: 0 open readings in 33,060 checks.
Before 6 PM: 75% of Buvette's open slots and 64% of Raf's.
Moving your dinner by one night can change your odds more than any amount of refreshing does. Every figure below is cumulative across all the checks we have run at that restaurant, not a reading of this week.
The pattern is not uniform, which is why a single ranking is not enough on its own. Le Bernardin runs at 95% on a Wednesday and 36% on a Saturday, so the same room is easy or hard depending only on the night you ask for. Bridges has the flattest week of the group, from 67% on its best night to 57% on its worst.
Chez Fifi is a room where flexibility pays. Monday runs at 56% against Friday at 14%. If your French dinner is negotiable on the night, this list tells you which night to ask for before you start trying.
Chez Fifi: Monday 56%, Friday 14%.
Le Veau d'Or: Tuesday 15%, Saturday 1%.
Le Bernardin: Wednesday 95%, Saturday 36%.
Minetta Tavern: Wednesday 98%, Saturday 46%.
Per Se: Wednesday 75%, Friday 3%.
Mostly late or early. New York's French rooms hold their prime hour back hard, and the tables that survive into public view are mostly the ones nobody is asking for. At Chez Fifi, 87% of every open slot we have recorded is 9:00 PM or later, and its single most frequently open time is 10:45 PM. At Le Veau d'Or, 63% of its 21,840 logged open slots are 9:00 PM or later, and nothing later than 9:30 PM is offered at all.
The strangest reading on the list belongs to a room that looks easy. Minetta Tavern opens on 42% of dates, but of 2,198,992 recorded open slots only 0% fall between 7:00 and 8:30 PM. What Minetta actually sells you is lunch and a nightcap: 79% of its inventory is before 6 PM and 10:30 PM is its most frequently open time. A 42% restaurant and a bookable 8:00 PM Saturday are two different things, and this is exactly the gap a coverage-first directory cannot see.
Le Bernardin behaves the same way. It opens on 61% of dates and it is genuinely bookable, but only 1% of its 756,964 open slots are prime hour. Its most frequently open time is 10:30 PM. Per Se puts 7% of its openings in the prime band and Bridges 25%.
So the useful question is not which French restaurant is hardest but which one is hardest for the table you want. If a 5:00 PM or a 10:30 PM seat works, most of this list opens up. If you need 8:00 PM on a Friday, several of these rooms barely sell it at any price of patience.
Share of open slots between 7:00 and 8:30 PM: Per Se 7%, Bridges 25%, Raf's 14%, Buvette 9%, Le Veau d'Or 5%, Chez Fifi 3%, Le Bernardin 1%, Minetta Tavern 0%.
Most frequently open time: Chez Fifi 10:45 PM, Le Bernardin 10:30 PM, Minetta Tavern 10:30 PM, Bridges 10:00 PM, Le Veau d'Or 9:30 PM, Raf's 1:30 PM, Per Se 4:45 PM.
Share of open slots at 9:00 PM or later: Chez Fifi 87%, Le Bernardin 78%, Le Veau d'Or 63%, Bridges 44%, Minetta Tavern 21%, Raf's 13%, Buvette 10%, Per Se 14%.
Latest time offered: Le Bernardin 11:00 PM, Chez Fifi 10:45 PM, Minetta Tavern 10:30 PM, Bridges 10:00 PM, Le Veau d'Or 9:30 PM, Raf's 10:00 PM, Per Se 9:00 PM.
Earliest time offered: Buvette 8:00 AM, Minetta Tavern 11:00 AM, Per Se 4:30 PM, Le Bernardin 12:00 PM, Raf's 10:00 AM, Chez Fifi 5:00 PM.
Often it is easier, which surprises most people. At seven of the eight French rooms we track in New York, a four-top is the same or a better bet than a two-top. Minetta Tavern opens for two on 42% of dates and for four on 77%. Chez Fifi goes from 43% to 57%. Le Bernardin goes from 61% to 74%.
The reason is structural rather than generous. When a room releases its inventory in one burst and the first minute is a scramble, the tables that survive are the ones fewest people are asking for, and most people are asking for a two-top. Larger tables also come out of a smaller, more separable pool, so they do not get picked over in the same way.
Bridges runs the other way and is worth knowing about before you plan a group dinner in Chinatown. It opens for two on 63% of dates and for four on 43%.
Minetta Tavern: 42% for two, 77% for four.
Chez Fifi: 43% for two, 57% for four.
Le Bernardin: 61% for two, 74% for four.
Le Veau d'Or: 3% for two, 3% for four.
Raf's 40% and 40%, Buvette 0% and 0%, Per Se 40% and 100%.
Bridges: 63% for two, 43% for four.
Decide which table you actually want first, because the method follows from the answer. An early weekday seat at Buvette or Raf's, a late seat at Le Veau d'Or and a Monday at 10:45 PM at Chez Fifi are among the most gettable seats in New York French dining, and each is a different project from an 8:00 PM Saturday in the same room.
For the rooms with a clock you can set, be early and be logged in. Le Veau d'Or opens 14 days ahead at 9 AM on SevenRooms, and we have recorded 270 release events there across 58 days. Chez Fifi opens 21 days ahead at 10 AM on the same platform. Bridges opens 20 days ahead at noon on Resy, and Minetta Tavern 30 days ahead at midnight, with 220 release events recorded across 56 days. Have the party size chosen and the account logged in before the clock strikes, because every second spent typing is a second someone faster is booking.
After the drop, what a real diner catches is a table someone else gave back. Cancellations do not arrive on a schedule. They surface at random hours as plans change and parties shrink, and they cluster in the days just before a date as people who booked two weeks earlier let their seats go. A table released at 3:00 PM on a Wednesday is invisible unless something is watching for it, and nobody can refresh four platforms every few minutes for two straight weeks.
SnagRes watches all of these calendars continuously and emails or texts you the moment a table opens, including the returns that appear long after the morning drop has gone. We tell you about the table. We do not book it, hold it, or resell it. You book it yourself, in your own account, at the restaurant's own price, which is worth stating plainly in a category where some services charge a fee for each reservation they secure and others resell tables outright. New York's 2024 reservation law was written about that practice. An alert sits on the other side of that line, and that is the side we intend to stay on.
Le Veau d'Or: 14 days ahead at 9 AM, SevenRooms. Ask for Tuesday at 15% rather than Saturday at 1%.
Chez Fifi: 21 days ahead at 10 AM, SevenRooms. Ask for Monday at 56% rather than Friday at 14%, and take a late seat if you can.
Bridges: 20 days ahead at noon, Resy. Compare the two-top and four-top readings before you choose a party size.
Minetta Tavern: 30 days ahead at midnight, Resy. Ask for lunch, which is 79% of everything it opens.
Buvette: 14 days ahead, Resy, weekdays only. Raf's: an OpenTable window with no published release hour. Treat a cancellation as the plan, not the backup.
Le Bernardin (1st of month at 7 AM) and Per Se (1st of prev. month at 10 AM): plan on the release rather than a daily clock.
Every number on this page is a count of something we watched happen. The 638,846 date checks behind Buvette's 0%, the 2,198,992 slot sightings behind Minetta Tavern's missing prime hour, and the 220 release events behind its midnight roll are all observations on the live calendars, not descriptions borrowed from a listing.
That is only possible because the list is short. SnagRes tracks 284 restaurants, 84 of them in New York and 60 in San Francisco, and the 283 with a measured record carry 61,530,416 logged availability checks between them. A service advertising tens of thousands of restaurants is describing a directory. It cannot tell you that Chez Fifi runs at 50% on a Tuesday and 14% on a Friday, or that Minetta Tavern sells almost no 8:00 PM table despite opening on most dates, because nothing is watching those two rooms closely enough to know.
So we will say the unhelpful thing plainly. If the French restaurant you want is not one of these, a broader service is the better fit and we are not going to pretend otherwise. If it is one of these, this is the closest thing that exists to a record of what those calendars really do.
If your French dinner is happening on the other coast, the same measurements exist for San Francisco, where the French rooms run from Verjus (10%) to Jou Jou (77%). The SF Chinese and Japanese lists are worth a look alongside it, because they show the same pattern from a different angle: the availability headline and the bookable hour are two different facts, and only one of them is usually published.
New York's French rooms ranked by measured open share, with the night and the hour that actually opens at each, the party-size effect, and the release clocks.
Keep reading: The hardest French tables in SF · How to get a Le Veau d'Or reservation · How to get a Chez Fifi reservation · The hardest reservations in NYC · How to get a Le Bernardin reservation · How to get Michelin-star reservations
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SnagRes checks 284 hard-to-book restaurants across four cities and alerts you when one opens. Watching one is free and no card is needed: watch a table free in New York City, or last-minute tables in NYC tonight, or see the hardest tables right now.