Sorry, We're Fully Booked

Don't you just hate it when you hear the words "Sorry, we're fully booked" when trying to book a table. Melbourne may be one of the food capitals of the world, with so many varities of food on offer. And the people of Melbourne have fully embraced going out to eat, which is a good thing as it means more restaurants will open and the quality gets better due to competition. However, the downside is that its so hard to get a table at a good restaurant unless you plan well ahead, and I'm talking up to a month here sometimes. Its descriminatory to those like myself who don't plan more than a few days in advance.

My latest episode involved trying to get a table at Movida, for like the 6th time all up for a hit rate of 1, not a good result. I was really good this time and rang a whole week in advanced, still to no avail. I wish I knew someone and could have name dropped like the people who Mellie sat next to at Movida. I wouldn't drink till I vomitted though. Anyway I digress. Small popular places like Movida mean you have to book so far in advance it's not funny. Some of us, mainly myself and my friends, are just not organised enough to book way in advance and then guarantee we can make that date. The last time, we tried really hard and had to book a whole month in advance for Movida. It was worth the wait though.

Its so hard to just spontaneously go, "Lets eat here this week". You have to plan out everything to ensure that you get a table at most good restaurants. Recently, I've had trouble trying to get tables at quite a few places, here's a few I can remember:

*Crown Conservatory - a week and a half I rang in advance and still no table. The best they could do was 3 weeks later, which was past the occasion that I wanted, hence didn't book.
*Horoki - Rang a week in advance and could only get a table for 9pm the second time round. First time there, told to come and there "should be a table", upon which we waited about 40 minutes until nearly 9pm before there was a table.
*Rumi - first two attempts were totally booked. Third attempt, rang a week in advance and got a table at 6pm, "sharp" they said.
*Shira Nui - Third time lucky, got a table there by just rocking up early on a weekday.
*Bar Lourinha - Full but told if I turn up late, there might be a table, a 50 minute wait followed until we got seated.

There are other places I haven't been able to get a table to yet and am still trying. I know one place I definitely won't be getting a book at is Tempura Hajime.

These long waiting list take all of the spontaneity out of life. I guess I just have to plan far in advance and convince all my friends to also plan far in advance. We then need to lock in dates to our calendars and uphold to those promises so that we can go eat at some of these restaurants.