Charles Campion has written about food and restaurants for the London Evening Standard for over a decade, he has appeared on various foodie television programmes and written a number of cook books. He also writes Charles Campion's Guide to London Restaurants - supported by Tio Pepe and published by Profile Books, £8.99.
Every day thousands of hopeful diners ring The Ivy (and a long list of other hot restaurants) to ask for a table and every day a great many are turned away. The Catch 22 is that the good restaurants are all too often the ones that are full and they have such a loyal band of regulars no one else gets a look-in. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it's not much consolation that it's much easier to get a booking in a second string restaurant.
Hopefully the credit crunch will bring some realism to the marketplace and free up space, but if you want one of the hard to get tables here are some tips:
Ask for a table early or late - 90% of diners want to eat at 8 o'clock or 8.30 and there just isn't room - try 6.45 or 9.45
Ring on the night, there are always cancellations and restaurants will be grateful for a chance to fill them
Offer to “eat at the bar” where there are bar tables, the food will be just as good
If you have to cancel, you owe it to the restaurant to do so in good time. In New York diners employ a particularly selfish tactic; they book tables at five different restaurants and decide which one to go to on the night.
Try to build a relationship with the receptionist when you call, restaurant staff are human too and their goodwill can be beneficial