Guide to OpenTable Reservations

1. Not all restaurants are on OpenTable – While it’s easy to rely on OpenTable’s over 12,000 restaurants throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Japan for every time you go out, you would be missing out on many other great restaurants if OpenTable was your only source for dining inspiration.
2. Don’t fall for the restaurants that have a number in their name – Like the plumber that chooses the name “aaaplumbing” to show up first in the Yellow Pages, many restaurants do the same. A prime example of this is NYC restaurant “1 Nocello,” a restaurant that would be lost in the shuffle if not for that “1″  in front. Strange that there is no 1 in front on Nocello’s website.
   
3. Beware of confusingly similar restaurant names -  These are three totally different restaurants with varying levels of quality: Baraonda, Barbarini, and Barbounia.
4. OpenTable goes beyond your home city – Take advantage of OpenTable when traveling to other cities, both domestically and abroad.
5. Maximize points by using the OpenTable site – Always make reservations on the OpenTable.com website or mobile site, if you reserve using Open Table on a restaurant’s website, you will most likely not get points for your reservation.
6. If it seems too good to be true, it usually is - Be careful with 1,000 point reservations (1,000 points is equal to $10). While these reservations are compelling and the points add up to valuable reward certificates faster, the restaurants that offer these points tend to the ones that will do whatever it takes to fill up tables. They also tend to be pricier places.
7. Get every reservation you can - Don’t forget to make last-minute reservations with the Open Table mobile app. Even if you are around the corner from the restaurant and you know there will be plenty of tables, it doesn’t hurt to put in the reservation and cash in on the points.
8. OpenTable is not the only source for reviews – Cross reference with other review sites – While OpenTable has done a good job amassing reviews, there are plenty of other sources for valuable reviews, including jaysnycrestaurantreviews.com, Zagat, Grub Street, Eater, etc..
9. Let your preferences be known – Be sure to put your preferences in the form when making your reservation, whether it’s someone’s birthday and you would like a candle in the cake or you would like a particular table, it can’t hurt to write it in.
10. Ignore calls from restaurant hosts and hostesses - I never have understood why restaurants have their hosts and hostesses call you a few days before to confirm your Open Table reservation. When you make a OpenTable reservation, you are doing it because don’t want to deal with (and should have to deal with) time-wasting calls. So, if a Friday call comes in midday from an unfamiliar 212 number, it’s most likely your restaurant calling with an unnecessary confirm. You ignore it. With that said, be sure to actively manage your reservations on the OpenTable site.

Do you have any more tips?  Please comment below.