We do have plates like this, but we do not accept reservations.
The other day, one of my wife's few friends was coming from Shizuoka, so I tried to reserve a seat for her, but other than that, there are almost no irregularities. For the owner's friends, there are no irregularities.
Now then…
It seems that friends often get together around the New Year, so we receive a lot of inquiries about reservations.
There were some people who had probably never been to the restaurant before, asking, "We're a group of eight on a Saturday afternoon, is seating only on the first floor?" and I didn't know where to start.
(*We do not allow groups of 5 or more to enter the restaurant due to the restaurant's atmosphere.)
By the way, on that Saturday afternoon that was requested...
It's full, and there are customers waiting outside...
There was a long queue. I was surprised.
We do state on our store information page and on Tabelog that we don't accept reservations, but it seems like that information hasn't really spread...
So, I decided to write an article about it again...
For ease of searching online, the word "cafe" is often used, but it is actually closer to a "pure coffee shop."
The cost per person is not high, so if we start accepting reservations, it will be difficult to run the business unless we review the menu and price range.
That's the most basic premise. Even chain coffee shops and out-of-the-way coffee shops don't accept reservations. You can think of it as the same thing.
However, there was a short period when they first opened where they took reservations. The plate in the photo is a remnant of that time.
As mentioned above, I was starting to think that reservations weren't really beneficial for the business, when something happened that made me decide to stop.
Save the Curry Incident (2011)
A customer who came in for lunch said, "I'll be right away, so please save the table and three servings of curry for me!", but there was no word from them until the restaurant closed. Afterwards, the couple ate the remaining three servings of curry with funeral-like expressions on their faces.
This was an incident that was not good for my mental health.
It's going to be tough if it continues like this...
Well, it's just a normal last-minute cancellation, but we've had several of them in just a short period of time, so I think it's something that other restaurants are probably struggling with as well.
Personally, I think that if someone cancels on you without any notice, it's okay to post their name and phone number on the internet.
I recently saw a news story online about a restaurant canceling a reservation for 25 people at the last minute. It's a truly frightening story.
For these reasons, we are currently not accepting reservations. Thank you for your understanding.
See you soon.
