A table for two was open on 40% of dates, so booking ahead works.
Last updated . Source: SnagRes availability record, 229,890 checks of Raf's through 19 October 2026. How we measure. Open dataset.
Come for lunch or a Sunday: 64% of openings are before 6 PM and Sunday shows a two-top 38% of the time. For a weekend dinner, watch the date and catch a cancellation. It books on OpenTable, not Resy.
OpenTable, with a calendar about a month deep. It is not on Resy.
1:30 PM most often. 64% of openings are before 6 PM, 14% in prime time and 13% at 9 PM or later.
Sunday, at 38% of checks for a table for two. Monday has never shown one.
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.
For dinner, yes. For the rest of the day, no, and Raf's is an all-day room, so the rest of the day is most of it. Across 229,890 availability checks, Raf's has shown a bookable table for two on 40% of the dates in its window, and the same for a party of four. But 64% of every opening we have recorded fell before 6 PM, across a service that starts at 10:00 AM, and the slot that opens most often is 1:30 PM. The 7:00 to 8:30 PM window accounts for 14%.
Open rate, party of two: 40%. Party of four: 40%.
Openings before 6 PM: 64%. In prime time: 14%.
Raf's books on OpenTable, with a calendar about a month deep. We have not measured a single release hour from the record, so we do not publish one; the 58 release events we have recorded are spread through the window. It is worth knowing the platform: the Musket Room next door, from the same owners, is also on OpenTable, and neither is on Resy.
Daytime, and Sunday. Openings run from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM, with 64% before 6 PM, 14% in prime time and 13% at 9 PM or later. Sunday is the room's most open day for a pair at 38% of checks, which fits a bakery-restaurant whose Sunday is a long brunch, and Monday has never shown a table.
Before 6 PM: 64%. Prime time: 14%. 9 PM or later: 13%.
Easiest day: Sunday 38%. Monday: 0%.
Come for lunch or a Sunday, and Raf's is a table you can book this week. For a dinner on a weekend, watch the date and take the cancellation; the dinner hour is the scarce thing here and the only thing worth an alert. Party size makes no difference: two and four sit at the same 40%.
Come before 6 PM. 64% of openings are daytime.
Try Sunday. 38% of Sundays have shown a two-top.
For a weekend dinner, watch it.
No, and that is deliberate. SnagRes watches Raf's on OpenTable 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, which is the line New York's 2024 reservation law draws and the line we stay on the right side of.
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 NoHo bakery-restaurant opens 64% of its tables before 6 PM and on Sundays more than any other day, because nothing is watching it closely enough to count.
Keep reading: Raf's live availability · The hardest French tables in NYC · Roscioli, down the block · How OpenTable works · The easiest night to book, measured · How we measure availability
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Raf's's calendar runs about 30 days deep. At the last check a table for two was bookable on 40% of the dates in that window, so book at the release for a weekend and watch the date for a weeknight.
SnagRes watches Raf's, 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 Raf's free, or NYC dinner reservations, live, or last-minute tables in NYC tonight.