Photo by George Mahe
Tony's in Clayton takes reservations for its patio, thanks to having a lovered roof, overhead heaters, and even heated tiles underfoot.
Why don't restaurants reserve their patio tables instead of them being first-come, first-served? —Christine R., St. Louis
This is another one of those “it’s complicated” questions. Generally, if restaurants could take reservations for outside tables, they would. The issues are the weather and the fickleness of the dining public.
In temperate months, should it get windy, rainy, or unexpectedly cold during service, there is nowhere for patio customers to go if the dining rooms are at capacity.
Years ago, Brant Baldanza, managing partner of OG Hospitality Group (owners of The Corner Pub, The Tavern, and The Shack) joked, “Every one of our managers is now required to have a degree in meteorology…and those folks are only right half the time!”
Baldanza has learned to never book a full restaurant and patio at the same time. “It’s a question of greed versus experience,” he says. “Once you’ve experienced 60 soaking-wet customers standing in aisles, hallways, surrounding the front desk, and expecting you to come up with seats—and towels!—for every one of them right now, you look at the situation through different eyes.”
At Billy G's, home to one of the metro area's busiest restaurant patios, co-owner Billy Gianino says the staff watches “a lot of Doppler” and only occasionally gets caught not having seats for patrons seeking cover.
As the odds of inclement weather increase, savvy managers will stop seating tables in the inside dining rooms—if they can—knowing they might come in handy if the skies open.
Having to deal with unpredictable weather is one reason that most restaurant operators don’t take reservations for uncovered outside seating, preferring to seat those tables on a first-come, first-served basis.
For that reason, places with enclosed or partially enclosed patios sometimes take reservations, but expect a confirmation call—or two—since guests often don't bother cancelling their reservations, which costs restaurants money that they won't get back.
Courtest Edera
That said, as more and more covered outdoor areas popped up last fall and winter, grabbing a reservation—on a patio, inside a tent, an igloo, a mini-greenhouse, or, in the case of Edera in the Central West End, a holiday chalet—became a lot easier. Restaurants invested heavily in these structures last year. Look for them to reappear in the coming months.
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