rbh

Has anyone found out if any restaurants are extending RW deals into next week?

According to their web sites, Butterfield 9 and 21P are.

Ugh.  We've made last minute plans to go out with another couple on Thursday night and I'm in charge of the dinner reservations.    I volunteered, totally forgetting what week this was.  What a dope.  Any suggestions?  We're going to the 11pm showing of King Kong at the Uptown (this was most assuredly not my choice) and my first thought was Dino. 

Edit:  I've already tried Firefly and they're booked.  Sigh.

Indique. I went to Spices on Friday, and was not overly impressed - it's been a few years, since I'd been there, and I don't eat sushi. Same problem I have w/ a lot of pan-asian places; I expect it to be as good as a Chinese place or a Vietnamese place, etc. But then usually come away disappointed.

BTW, I don't think there's a 11pm shoing at the Uptown on Thursdays. Only on Friday and Saturday nights! 8pm show on weeknights.

FYI - Lucky Three is owned by the same folks as New Fortune in Gaithersburg.

Addie's up on Rockville Pike would definitely work - but it's up in MD. Not intimidating at all - good selection of food, almost all of it excellent. I think the Firefly recommendation is also very good - act fast to get that Saturday night reservation though!

Along the same lines as OE/Clydes is Chef Geoff's - I know it's not the most popular of places on these boards, but I've always had a good meal there, and have taken my parents successfully for the Mother's Day Brunch there.

You may also want to think about a place like DC Coast or Ceiba - places aren't intimidating, a "nice dinner" place, good food and drink.

According to my agreement with my provider, I can only use the credit card for providing actual goods & services.  This leaves openb the question of chargebacks.  I would need to send a form and get the customer's signature back to have any leg to stand on.  Without a swipe of the card, there is a good chance I will lose any dispute.  A chargeback takes me time to process, and asking the 19 people who reserve and show up to fax me an agreement is a lot of work to punish the one who doesn't show up.  Not to mention the bad will it may cause those customers who would never dream of no showing. 

I can just imagine the difficulty of proving that a reservation was not cancelled.  The customer, who remember has made a reservation and not shown up for it, will just lie to the cc provider and say "Oh I called and left a message on their phone."  There is no way I can prove otherwise.

Fighting a chargeback required me digging out the original sales slip.  Since this happend usually 30-60 days after the charge is incurred, there is a hassle factor.  I guess I would file all this info separately if I was going to actually charge no shows for ease of future reference.  Lastly, if I do incur a chargeback, there is a fee associated with the chargeback.

The point still remains: it is a sad commentary on today's world that some adults think themselves so self important that they behave in this manner.  How a business chses to deal with it aside, it is the no shows who are boors and imposing costs on the rest of you fine folk who keep your word.

I am a person who stongly believes in my word.  I cannot remember a time where I deliberately did not follow thru on something I have said I would do.  If I forget something, I take it on myself to make amends.  I don't wait for the world to punish me for my lapse.

Is a restaurant's arrangement with Visa/MC/AMEX/etc different than hotels - if you no-show on a guaranteed reservation at a hotel, you'll get billed (or at least, that's the threat, usually I'll call beforehand) for that one night. In Vegas, they even bill you the first night when you make the reservation, to be applied to your final bill or refunded when you cancel on a timely (48 hour) basis.

OpenTable regularly asks for credit cards for large reservations - and clearly states what my penalty is if I no-show. This happened to me one time - DC closed a 2-block radius near the restaurant I was going to for a suspicious object and was evacuating all the buildings - so needless to say I didn't make it and couldn't reach anyone at the restaurant..... I called later and ensured with them I wouldn't be charged and I wasn't , but it did still show up as a no-show on OT.