Have you ever been frustrated by trying to get a reservation at a popular restaurant only to find all the tables were booked after 5pm and before 9pm?
Well, I have, more than once.
The last time was when we wanted to have dinner at Alo, (during the height of the pandemic), a restaurant which is arguably contending for one of the first of Toronto’s Michelin stars.
It was only by accident that we were able to reserve at Alo as I lost a hard fought battle with their booking system (temporarily) due to a duel with someone else trying to book the same time slot. This shouldn’t have happened, but it did.
Fortunately an email to the manager resolved the issue and in fact we were given a reservation time that was at least closer to when we normally ate.
And after Alo?
This time it was to reserve a table at Osteria Giulia.
The restaurant, at the Avenue Road location, opened in October, 2021 and had received very favorable reviews since its opening, so no wonder. But I knew of the owner, Rob Rossi, as I had seen some of his early shows on TV, and I also thought I’d seen him in some Italian travel/cooking shows. Anyway, I liked what he cooked so I thought I would give it a try.
We had actually walked over to the restaurant one evening (yet another neighborhood restaurant) thinking that we would be early enough at 6 pm to just grab a seat at the bar. This is an old Florida trick that we have used many times before with great success. Well, no. Not only were the tables booked weeks in advance, but so were the bar stools at the bar!
And so the saga…
I turned to Open Table, not the app, just what is available to everyone to book a table in a restaurant online. Of course nothing was available inside of two weeks, as we were warned, and they refused bookings that were beyond two weeks.
Then I started googling to see if I could request to be put in a waitlist using Open Table. There’s lots of information on this topic, including YouTube videos showing you how to, but it appears that the restaurant owner has to participate in this option by adding their floor plan and allowing guests to add their names to a list for a specific table, time, date.
I don’t think that many restaurants allow access to this feature, even if they create floor plans, and they likely have their own restaurant app to manage reservations and wait lists, rather than using Open Table.
But I did stumble upon an Open Table app, so I downloaded and installed the app. It’s free, it requires an account setup, and after all this, I was not sure what I was going to gain, but I now I wonder?
So what happened?
As Osteria Giulia has their reservation quirks as well, including new bookings becoming available at midnight for two weeks out, and no restaurant is worth staying up until midnight to try to book a table, this was not part of my plan. Still, I marveled how two weeks out, on a sliding scale, I was getting only the before 5pm and after 8 or 9 pm availabilities.
Until, the day after I downloaded the Open Table app. Coincidence?
I was prepared for the normal 5 and 9 availability and the ‘We only accept reservations 14 days in advance…’ when I was presented with a 6 pm and 8pm table for two and for a date exactly two weeks from the date that I was looking at. I grabbed it, and we had a confirmed reservation.
So what’s it like?
The restaurant is totally understated from the outside. In fact, there is only a very discreet sign on the window, positioned sort of waist high, but there is no signage on the front of the building. This would be the address in the above photo with the sand colored exterior and orange curtains and is the store front sandwiched between one of the 4 or 5 flower shops on the left and a design shop called Busatti on the right.
This “in cognito” look is almost a message to would be walk-ins, “if you don’t know about us, you’ll never see us, so just keep walking”. Or as one of their servers said, the owner wants the restaurant to be a destination place.
Well, it is that, as you certainly can miss it if you are walking by.
And inside?
It is pretty, light, busy, and it’s notable to add, that the servers all seem busy and happy as well. You do see this in high-end restaurants, but not at your normal eatery.
Better restaurants seem to have a philosophy where the customer is to be served, and if you as the server can make that customer experience a good one, then whether you are a wine steward, a food runner, a busser or whatever else is required to make the experience a good one, you pitch in. I really like this thought process. From my own perspective, this keeps everyone busy and engaged, and so happiness all around.
What we ordered…
As usual, I ordered and wished I had ordered what my husband had. He has a knack, or just plain reads the menu and listens to the specials. I on the other hand, walk in with pre conceived notions of what I would like to eat and pre-select my main meal from the restaurant’s on-line menu. Unfortunately, my dish was seasonal and not available when we went.
We split a carpaccio to start. A little different, drizzled with olive oil and served with an olive oil and lemon imulsion with lots of black pepper.
As my pre selected dish was out of season, I ordered ravioli, which was delicious.
My husband ordered one of the specials, a sous vide pork chop. It sounds ordinary, but oh my, it was tender, full of flavor and to die for. This is definately the dish to order, if it’s in season. We had started our dinners so the photo does not do justice, but still….
In the meantime, it costs nothing, but you too might get a reservation at a restaurant that seems out of reach, if you download the Open Table app. And then again, it may have been just a coincidence that I did.
