a fair point, but try saying that to ray liotta in ‘goodfellas’ face…
i hear you. we’re not all by ourselves with seemingly unlimited time, disposable income and metabolism that we can
sit ourselves down at the bar at 10:30 p.m. at restaurant wherever.
Yah, that’s one more reason I’m not a fan of Bestia. I’m not paying a surcharge to buy a reservation for a restaurant; feels underhanded and yet one more way they want to make money / gouge the customer.
Just drop by and walk in.
Not sure how people don’t get this little factoid…
However, outside of Bestia, I wonder how these table hawking services even work? Where else is popular enough that people will buy tables? I would buy one for, say, N/Naka, but that is one of the few places you can’t buy one at oddly enough.
Agreed. It’s such a dick move and makes me never want to go back there.
You people act like you HAVE to pay for a table lol
But if ya’ll wanna hate on reserve, their descriptions of restaurants are hilarious:
https://reserve.com/metro/los-angeles
Apparently Status Kuo is a “New School Izakaya”, and Sunny Spot serves “California Cookshop” cuisine.
I wonder who gets paid to come up with this stuff?
Well my bad, what about it suggests that it is an izakaya at all?
I still find how a lot of these things sound hilarious
HI @Aesthete,
You’re right that people could try the walk-in and wait method (for limited seating at the bar area). I think that works fine for 1 or 2 people, but what if your party has 3 - 5 guests? Trying the walk up and wait method can turn it into a long wait.
In addition, not everyone wants to eat at 10 p.m. Oftentimes we have plans after dinner, so that’s why those prime dinner reservation slots are so valuable. And unlike places that churn out food super fast with long lines (pop-ups, festivals, etc.), waiting on a table to open up can take far longer (as the food is coursed out, people linger, drinks, dessert, etc.).
That’s why some people buy their tables with those apps. They’d rather spend some money and score that table at a trendy / hot restaurant than wait forever, or not even have a table (if they were a larger party that couldn’t accommodate the first come first serve bar area).
So yah, Bestia with 4 friends at a normal dinner hour? Pay or try 3 months down the line usually. That’s just too frustrating for me.
in my opinion, and i of course include myself here, i’m not sure anyone on an
internet food board has any credence when it comes to criticizing somebody else’s food writing.
of course, they have every right to, but…just sayin’.
“umami hipster savory umami hype savory umami hipster hype hype”
While I agree that the word “umami” has been a overused/misued in the online food zeigeist, I also feel that the word “savory” is legitimately used when specifically describing a more salty (or non-sweet) taste in food.
Having eaten there since SK’s inception, I would agree in principle with that assertion.
BUT the new alcohol license, in conjunction with the recently revamped SK menu, which does indeed contain small format, izakaya-like plates to be shared, perhaps push the concept into the “new school” territory?
Kind of a stretch, I agree. But marketing-wise, maybe the catchphrase brings in new foot traffic…
i hear you and politely disagree. i find it consistently mis- and over- used.
not as bad as “hype,” mind you, but still…bad.
Ahh quit overanalyzing stuff into minutiae - that is soooo hipster. 
aw, hon, this isn’t overanalysis or minutiae.
it’s just a chat.
Hon? Oooh! Be still my ventricles, septum and atria…
I can’t speak for the others, but we’ve never had to pay to reserve Hinoki and the Bird. They take phone reservations, and we’ve always been able to get a Saturday night table without issue, calling them on Tuesday or Wednesday to reserve.
Before you go to Bestia, you know a lot about Bestia. You know that it’s a restaurant that is high up on Jonathan Gold’s list of LA’s best restaurants; you know that it’s loud and that it’s downtown in an area where restaurants like Bestia didn’t used to be; and you certainly know how long it took for you to get a reservation. So much fuss.
But for all the fuss, what you don’t know until you visit is that Bestia is a surprisingly fuss-less restaurant. The food is bright and delicious; the staff is friendly and approachable; and the loudness of the space is a hum that energizes your meal, in a space that is modern yet comfortable.
It seems that a group of four is the perfect party size for Bestia. We were able to try a bounty of dishes and keep the bill down to point that almost made you feel like you got a good deal. Or maybe that was the influence of the fantastic drinks, inducing euphoria.
Here’s what we had to eat:
I understand why some are turned off by reservations being booked out for months on end (and definitely agree that I would not pay for a table). But I would caution the wait time tainting your perception of Bestia as a restaurant, because, in the end, there is a reason that so many want to go. I also feel like there is something to be said for being ok with delayed gratification - especially when the gratification is oh so gratifying.
So make that reservation for three months down the line, and go on about your life with something to look forward to! Or, as others have mentioned, go at a time when walk-ins may be more achievable. Or don’t go. There are a lot of great restaurants in LA. And Bestia is certainly one of them.
Thanks to all who gave recommendations!
Very sensible. post, excellent.
I’m kind of just taking the piss a bit, but a bit of this thread is started to have a feel of those Yelp reviews that go “I never ate here, it was too hard, 1 star!”
Like you said, no requirement to eat at Bestia, tons of other great places in LA; but Bestia is amongst the best once you get in. To me personally, it is it better to review a restaurant in terms of the food, and what goes on while you are actually eating there, not in terms of how hard it is to get in.
But that is, of course, just my opinion. 
