Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
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It’s not the criteria. It’s the reality of running a restaurant.
A portion of seats are available for established regulars and those who join them. A portion are opened to the general public on Tock.
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Because youre being ridiculous at this point I’ll just troll you with a meme:
https://ifunny.co/video/find-mfs-like-you-real-interestin-realboneduck-if-EkXNuJATA?s=cl
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This is fair!! Love this post regardless of my opinion
You’re probably the only person on FTC that thinks that but oh well…
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Amen to this. We ate at Osteria Francescana one of the years it was “Best in the World” and it wasn’t the best meal we had within a 24h period (Piazza Duomo, in the height of White Truffle season, which blew away OF).
I remember another time getting into El Cellar - I’d simply emailed them and said “hey, we’re around, these are our dates, let us know if something comes up” - one of the times it was “Best in the World”, and being thoroughly underwhelmed. Certainly compared to many of the other Spanish places.
We had a lovely meal at Mirazur the year it was “Best in the World”, and while I remember enjoying it, I could not for the life of me tell you a single dish we had.
But ask me about the time I spent 3 months working in the Costa Rican rainforest, living off of dang gallo pinto mostly, and then finally got a cheeseburger … THAT was a meal 
I don’t mean ANY of this to be humble-bragging or whatever, only to totally agree with @JLee - restaurants come and go, all of the rankings and such are mostly bullshit, and personally speaking I find myself far more often fondly recalling single, simple bites versus over-the-top meals.
FWIW, I haven’t been to Hayato. I’m sure I’ll go at some point, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it, but quite literally no restaurant on Earth is worth this level of angst and gnashing of teeth (again, just IMO).
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I got the bento box twice and it was lovely.
I went to Hayato for dinner once and it was lovely. One of the best meals I’ve ever had. Thanks to a kind person on the board who helped with reservations.
I hope I can go to Hayato for dinner again one day.
At the end of the day it’s just food. Very tasty delicious food. The whole Tock reservation process is no different than a lot of other “elite” things like Nike sneaker releases, Taylor Swift tickets and exclusive craft beer drops. You win some, you lose some (most of them actually).
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Ah yesss…that BS Pellegrino ranking. Tell me about it. 
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I posted my experience because I don’t consider myself a regular. I know people who go almost every other month or more than once a year. If you think I’m a regular because I managed to get reservations in 2019, 2022 and 2023 let me tell you. I am not a regular. Does Brandon remember me? Probably not. Is it elitist? The whole world of fine dining or eating meals above $50 per plate is elitist for anyone who barely makes minimum wage or only works part time. There’s places that you can’t even reserve online. There’s places that unless you know the chef or know someone who has a special connection with the restaurant then good luck getting a seat there. Hayato at least has some seats on Tock where anyone with an account and money can get a reservation. I started to post about Hayato because I understand how much of a privilege it was to go to these type of restaurants and how lucky I was to find his restaurant before he got super famous.
Is it hard and difficult to get reservations? Yes! I tried multiple times for many months for several years to get reservations. I have failed more times than I posted or mentioned or talked about in the threads for Hayato on FTC. I don’t ask Brandon or his team to give me a spot cause I don’t consider that an option to me. I don’t spend enough to be a regular and I don’t make enough.
Does he have space to seat more of 7 people? Yes, but he doesn’t want to do more than 7 seats a night. I asked this question the second time I went. He said point blank that he can’t control the environment for the client (diner) as ideal as the counter seat is. This and among other reasons are probably why people love his restaurant. His standards are sky high. He could go completely exclusive and say “no, unless you are truly a regular. The general public cannot make reservations with us” he literally wrote on tock “due to bots and other issues no one can transfer reservations.” He has the clients to become exclusive, but he won’t (at least for now) because he wants first timers to come to his restaurant.
I also posted how to get reservations at Hayato on FTC too. Literally pick one day. Be logged in. Have your info saved into the Tock system. Refresh 3-5 seconds before it hits 10a on like 3-5 devices. Do I get reservations every time? No. I got lucky and I got a seat once through the waitlist. I waitlisted myself for every day they were opened. Made myself completely flexible because I wanted to go and I signed up for the waitlist every month I couldn’t get a reservation. Out of the numerous times I waitlisted myself, I got one seat once via the waitlist.
I managed to get seats this month, and although I’m not a first timer my guest is. I agree with you that it’s elitist, but I also agree with the others that if you don’t get reservation don’t be stressed out or angry about it. Keep trying. I’m envious of @PorkyBelly every time 
I recommend going to Japan as @JLee said. There are so many places to go to in Japan and it is cheaper than going to Hayato.
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people that give up after 8 tries don’t deserve to go to Hayato.
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Lol that’s a lot of tries!
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I guess I used all of my luck earlier since I couldn’t get a reservation this time. 
I was nearly able to get it a few months ago when my friend got into the 10 minute booking window of Tock, but she had a work meeting right afterwards, so she couldn’t fill her payment info.
I’ll start saving up for my solo Japan trip in a few years.
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Just put yourself on waiting list. You will get in eventually.
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yes yes, of course, the regulars. Nothing to do with the fact that the restaurant is closed for two weeks in April, nope, not one bit.
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you’re so right, how sad some people are deprived of their 13th time going to hayato because of a two week break. So deprived!
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I hope you eventually get to experience a dinner at Hayato because the impeccably balanced dishes will show you the overwhelming amount of salt contained in this post.
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how many times have you been cat dad? Perhaps I will be one of the snobs going 15 times with my privilege
show me on the doll where Hayato touched you
(I’ve only managed to get in once myself btw, but what the actual hell, man)
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