Inside the House is a DCist feature offering an insider's view of fine dining issues by the hostess at a D.C. restaurant.

By DCist contributor Nadya S. Nikiforova

It’s probably been awhile since you wrote a check -- because you pay all your bills online. You look up directions on MapQuest instead of looking at a paper map all the time. You might have even met your sweetie on match.com. So, it's no surprise that when it comes to making reservations, you double-click instead of dial. OpenTable, anyone?

The subscription-based OpenTable online system connects diners to restaurants that opt to become available for online bookings. To begin, restaurant management compiles a list of open slots at fifteen-minute increments -- let’s say five parties of two, three parties of four, and one party of eight -- based on the number of tables in the dining room and on what they think the kitchen can handle without breaking out in hives. After the list is submitted to the OpenTable, it becomes available for web-based reservations. In addition to booking tables, users have a nifty option to note any special requests for a particular kind of table, their dietary preferences and anniversaries or birthdays.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? And because it's so simple, OpenTable works best if your reservation is a routine booking. But for anything remotely special, complicated or in need of human intelligence or special accommodation, your best bet is still to call and talk to an actual, live, breathing person. And as a hostess, I'll tell you why.

Hold the Mayo

Although any establishment will try its hardest -- within limits -- to respect your dietary preferences, some of them are easier to work with than others. In practical terms, that means that OpenTable comments such as “allergic to peanuts” and “does not eat pork” are fairly common and easy to accommodate -- and that they will, in all likelihood, get a brisk, familiar nod from the person reading your notes on the other end.

On the other hand, requests such as “all five people in the party are vegetarian, two are allergic to butter AND oil, and the host can’t stand shellfish” are best discussed on the phone -- because the restaurant may only have one vegetarian dish on the menu, use butter liberally in all preparations, and include shellfish in dishes you may not expect. And you will want to know that before you make your reservation. And OpenTable won’t be any help in letting you know all this. So, go ahead and dial that number.

May I Have a Nice Table?

That same rule is even more important when you want a table that’s anything other than ordinary. The thing is, OpenTable will allow you to request a nice table, but it can’t tell you if your request for that nice table can be accommodated.

You want a booth? I might already have five requests for the same. Or I might not even have a booth designed for the number of people in your party. A quiet table? Absolutely. Except my dining room may have an open floor plan that spreads the decibel level evenly across all tables. Or the only quiet table in the room may already be booked. A table by the window with a nice view? What if the dining room is window-less to begin with?

You see, a reservationist will be able to advise you on these things immediately. And if she’s any good, she might say, “I don’t have anything by way of a quiet table, but I do have a really nice corner booth on the second floor I can book for you.” And OpenTable can’t do that. Don’t you want to know exactly what the restaurant can do to make your anniversary or birthday as special as you want? OpenTable can’t do that.

Sometimes a No is a Maybe

You click and click, and all OpenTable tells you is that “no tables available for your chosen time.” No need to weep just yet. Try calling the restaurant first and asking nicely.

Your reservationist can and will use her judgment to decide if she can fit your party in regardless of what OpenTable says -- because she can override its limits and add a few more slots to the list. She knows how to squeeze a few more in, how to transform a table for seven into a table for nine or two tables for four, or how to unblock the blocked slots. She could say, for instance, “I don’t have anything for eight o’clock in the dining room, but we serve the same menu at the lounge, which should be open around eight, and if anything comes up, I’ll be happy to squeeze you into the dining room.” In other words, she'll tell you if what you want is really possible -- because OpenTable is no match for human flexibility, creative thinking and intelligence.

On particularly busy nights, such as during Restaurant Week, the restaurant may even deliberately block a few slots on their list -- precisely because management wants the flexibility to decide how it uses the extra space. So using OpenTable won’t help you. But calling and asking -- very nicely -- very well might do the trick. Not during the dinner rush, of course -- but you already knew that?

What’s in Your Record?

The side of OpenTable few diners know – or think about – is that it creates a record of your history with the restaurant to let the waiters and reservationists know what to expect from you. You see, the restaurant’s version of this program has a nifty comment field as well. “High maintenance when drunk,” “very nice man and regular diner,” “cheapskate,” “prefers full-bodied red wines,” and “threw a conniption fit the last time he came” are just a few samples of useful intelligence to be pulled up from that well. You might want to keep this in mind before you offload the stress of your day on your waiter. And it’s nice to know someone notices when you’re on your best behavior, isn’t it?