Several popular restaurants that have long been first come, first served are now offering reservations.

Good Food on Montford announced recently that you can now make dinner reservations for the small plates restaurant using Resy. Reservations are available for parties with six or fewer guests, and walk-in seating will still be available in the bar area.

N.C. Red, another restaurant owned by Good Food restauranteur Bruce Moffett, is also now taking reservations on Resy. N.C. Red is a combination of Southern fried chicken and New England seafood house, a representation of Moffett’s adopted home of Charlotte and upbringing in Rhode Island. When booking a table, diners can select to sit in the main dining room or on the restaurant’s heated patio. Moffett says he decided to take reservations across his restaurants — which also include Barrington’s and Stagioni — to ensure people who were paying a sitter for a night out didn’t have to spend that valuable time waiting on a table.

Another popular destination that has never accepted reservations is also now allowing guests to reserve tables: NoDa restaurant Haberdish, as well as sister restaurant and neighbor Crêpe Cellar. The restaurants will be using reservation system Wisely.

Diners can pay $2 per seat on weeknights and $3 per seat on weekends to ensure a table is waiting for them when they arrive. Owner Jeff Tonidandel says the fee is in place to help prevent no-shows, a common problem for restaurants. The option is available for parties up to eight people.

“The change is driven by our guests and their persistence for us to add reservations,” Tonidandel said in an announcement. “We love the causal vibe and flowable nature of our restaurants and we have been looking for a system to keep this intact while offering more options, like reservations, to our guests.”

Those who don’t wish to pay for a table can also get on the Wisely waitlist, similar to the now-defunct NoWait but available on each restaurant’s website. When you reach the top of the waitlist, you’ll have 10 minutes to claim your table. Haberdish and Crêpe Cellar will each be setting 25 percent of the tables aside for reservations, meaning there will still be plenty available for walk-ins, too.

Soul Gastrolounge, which formerly used NoWait, and new sister restaurant KiKi also use Wisely’s waitlist option to help shorten guest wait times. It seems to be getting harder to convince diners to wait an hour for a table with so many restaurants guaranteeing a good meal — and a seat. —Kristen Wile

Unpretentious People Say...

Other Articles You Might Enjoy