A table for two was open on 47% of dates, so booking ahead works.
Last updated . Source: SnagRes availability record, 1,320 checks of Merchant Roots through 19 October 2026. How we measure. Open dataset.
Book a Thursday on Tock: a two-top has shown on 75% of the Thursdays we have checked, against 47% of dates overall. For a weekend, watch the date; cancellations are rare.
Tock, with a calendar about a month deep.
Thursday, at 75% of checks for a table for two. Monday has never shown one.
8:00 PM most often. 52% of openings are in prime time and 48% before 6 PM; none have been at 9 PM or later.
No. SnagRes watches the calendar and alerts you by email or text the moment a table appears. You book it yourself, in your own account, at the restaurant's own price. We never hold, resell or charge per reservation.
On the nights it serves, no. Across 1,320 availability checks, Merchant Roots has shown a bookable table for two on 47% of the dates in its window and a table for four on 47%. That average hides a short week: a two-top has shown on 75% of the Thursdays we have checked, and Monday has never shown one. When Merchant Roots is open, it is open.
Over the whole record, 44% of dates opened at some point, and we have recorded 1 release events. A Tock tasting room's calendar fills and stays filled on its busy nights; the quiet nights stay open.
Open rate, party of two: 47%. Party of four: 47%.
Thursday, party of two: 75% of checks. Monday: 0%.
Merchant Roots books on Tock, with a calendar about a month deep. We have not measured a single release hour from the record, so we do not publish one. Tock rooms usually sell reservations as prepaid tickets, and people who have paid rarely give a seat back, so the cancellation route is thin.
At the sittings, split between early and prime. The seating we have seen open most often is 8:00 PM, 52% of recorded openings fell in the 7:00 to 8:30 PM window and 48% before 6 PM. Nothing has opened at 9 PM or later. When a seat comes back here, it is at the hour you wanted.
Before 6 PM: 48%. Prime time: 52%. 9 PM or later: 0%.
Book a Thursday on Tock, which at 75% is a seat you can get this week at a normal dinner hour. For a Friday or Saturday, let something watch the date for the rare cancellation. Party size makes little difference: 47% of dates for four against 47% for two.
Try Thursday. 75% of Thursdays have shown a two-top.
Ask for 8:00 PM or the early sitting; nothing opens late.
No, and that is deliberate. SnagRes watches Merchant Roots on Tock around the clock and tells you the moment a table appears, by email or text. You book it yourself, in your own account, at the restaurant's own price. Nothing is reserved, held or resold on your behalf.
Because you cannot say any of the above about a directory. SnagRes tracks 284 restaurants across New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago, with 61,530,416 logged availability checks between the rooms with a full record. Nothing watching tens of thousands of restaurants can tell you that one SoMa tasting room is 75% open on a Thursday and never on a Monday, because nothing is watching it closely enough to count.
Keep reading: Merchant Roots live availability · The hardest tables in SoMa · How Tock works · How to get a Michelin-star table · Saison, the SoMa heavyweight · How we measure availability
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Merchant Roots's calendar runs about 30 days deep. At the last check a table for two was bookable on 47% of the dates in that window, so book at the release for a weekend and watch the date for a weeknight.
SnagRes watches Merchant Roots, along with 283 more hard-to-book restaurants in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago, and alerts you when a table opens. Watching one is free and no card is needed: watch Merchant Roots free, or SF dinner reservations, live, or last-minute tables in SF tonight.