No Reservation? No Problem.

I spent last weekend dining around some of NYC’s most impossible-to-get-into spots. This is what I learned.

Tatiana, 4 Charles, and Coqodaq…all in the same long holiday weekend? Let me tell you right off the bat that this wasn’t an intentional stunt or some sort of flex. It wasn’t some “prove I can get into the hot place(s)” challenge like I’ve done before.

I merely wanted to cross a couple of spots off of my list of restaurants I’ve been wanting to try, plus my partner wanted a good meal before watching the fireworks on July 4th.

But I did learn a few things, and figured I should pass on that info so you can increase your own chances of sampling these hot spots and decide which places are worth braving the queue for—or not.

Tatiana

I’d heard the hype, of course; we all have. Pete Wells of The New York Times named Tatiana the number-one restaurant in all of NYC; if reservations were difficult to come by before, they’re now truly impossible. But I had tickets to a performance at Lincoln Center, and I figured it would be a great time to try my chances in the famously lengthy queue for walk-ins at the restaurant. (Learn from my mistake: Don’t do this. Only try to get in if you don’t have any performance tickets or other time constraints.)

The Uber ride there took much longer than expected, and by the time we joined the queue at 4:25, we were people number 49 and 50 in it. The line grew to far more than twice that length by the time the restaurant’s doors opened at 5.

The first ten people on line got in right away; a few more trickled in soon thereafter. And then about every five minutes, a host would come out and pluck a group out of the line to enter. I noted the first two groups picked from the line were groups of four, and I muttered to my partner, not entirely joking, that we should quickly befriend the couple behind us and go in as a four-top. And so when, a few minutes later, the staffer came around asking how many people in our party, we said two but added, gesturing to the couple, “but we could be four if we need to,” with a laugh to indicate I was at least somewhat joking, in case the other couple wasn’t into it.

That couple immediately agreed, though (it turned out they’d noticed the same thing and made the same joke amongst themselves), and we were swept into the foyer inside, where the four of us introduced ourselves and made small talk until we were seated about 20 minutes later, at 5:40pm, at a table on the outdoor patio. (I noticed that even groups who apparently had 5pm reservations were kept waiting in the foyer for just as long as we were; the restaurant operates on island time, it seems.) The couple we sat with turned out to be very nice. Dining with total strangers was a gamble, but it worked out in this instance.

The dishes we tried were bursting with creative flavor combinations; the cocktails (Don Lee designed the program, and yes, his Benton’s Old Fashioned is here) were also delightful. Is Tatiana in fact the very best restaurant in the city? That’s a wildly subjective superlative, and I personally wouldn’t name it as my top choice, but it’s certainly worth a visit.

The takeaway: If you do want a shot at getting a table, my suggestion would be to either join the queue by (or possibly before) 4pm or to go as a group of four (and still be on line by 4:30), or else you’ll likely find yourself cooling your heels elsewhere for quite some time; I suspect those who weren’t in the queue by 5 didn’t get seated that night. Don’t go on an evening when you have time constraints, in case you’re kept waiting longer than you expect.

Is it worth it? I’m glad I went, and would certainly consider going again, but I probably wouldn’t try it again on a day with temperatures topping 90 degrees (or similarly inclement weather of any sort); time moves very slowly when you’re standing in a massive, unmoving queue, and any frustrations get magnified.

4 Charles Prime Rib

4 Charles is, according to people who track such things professionally, currently the toughest reservation to land in all of NYC. Even if you’re lucky enough to spot an available time on Resy, I guarantee it won’t be before 10:30pm; that’s been the case ever since the restaurant first opened in 2016. I’ve already told you how to score a table there as a walk-in, but doing so isn’t 100% guaranteed, and you may end up waiting several hours for a table if you do indeed end up getting one. But if you’re craving one of the restaurant’s famed double-patty burgers and nothing else will do, there’s a workaround: 4 Charles offers takeout.

There are caveats aplenty for this. You miss out on the whole 4 Charles experience of the tiny, clubby room and the (in my experience) highly opinionated and occasionally hilarious servers. You must order at least a day in advance. (I’ve witnessed people who’ve overlooked that fact trying to fetch their orders before the appointed day; it worked only for the guy whose wife was actively in labor at the hospital. “But she’s giving birth right now!”) The price, once the mandatory 18% service charge and some other fees are added on, is egregious; these are essentially burgers for the 1% (a single burger, sans fries, costs about $50 with bacon as an add-on—and believe me, you want that bacon). Really, the whole thing is so exorbitantly, absurdly expensive that I almost feel bad for suggesting it as an option.

And your culinary experience may vary. On my first takeout experience, several months ago, I was left waiting for about half an hour past the appointed time before my meal was ready, but I didn’t mind; the weather was nice and the staff were pleasant and chatty, and those burgers and fries (and salad and crab cakes) were freshly made and truly the best burgers you can get in all of New York City.

This past weekend, in contrast, I showed up eight minutes early, expecting to have to wait, but my food was brought out to me promptly; it clearly had been sitting under heat lamps for god knows how long. The bottom buns on the burgers turned out to be soggy, soaked through with meat juices; the fries were lukewarm and no longer crisp. (The salad was still fantastic, however.) Even with a soggy bun, the burger was still perhaps the best to be found in New York; the fries reheated well in a toaster oven. But still, for that price, I’d expect food that had been freshly made.

I wonder if the difference was that previously I’d ordered for a weekday pickup, whereas this recent pickup was for prime time on a holiday weekend. Ultimately, it shouldn’t matter; a restaurant should know how to handle its busy times and provide consistently good food.

The takeaway (somewhat literally, in this case): You need to order at least a day in advance, but it’s absolutely the easiest way you’ll be able to taste 4 Charles’ sublime burger (add bacon; add fries). But mentally prepare yourself for it potentially not being of the same quality you’d get if dining in-person.

Would I order again? Yes, but if I’m given old, soggy food again, it would be the last time.

Coqodaq

Coqodaq is highly hyped and deservedly so. But adding to the usual near-impossibility of landing a reservation, parties of fewer than four people apparently are only allowed to make reservations for the first or last seatings of the night. (So here, again, you might want to consider buddying up to get a table.) Duos or solo diners generally have to queue for a chance at seats at the bar.

I was once again on line for walk-in seats at 4:25; we were the third party in the queue. At about 4:40, a host came outside to take our names, and she informed us we’d be seated promptly at 5. A few minutes after that, staff came around with cups of “cherry tart mint lemonade” for those of us waiting, and by 5:00 we were in the door and on our bar stools. The line was nowhere as crazy as it was at Tatiana; I’d bet you could even show up at a quarter of 5 and get seated when the doors open, but I’m glad we didn’t chance it. I will say that it seemed at certain points during our evening as though you could show up at any old time and have a decent chance of getting seated quickly, and I might give it a try at some point.

How was it? Well, as my dining companion commented to me afterward, it’s rare that a much-ballyhooed place actually lives up to its hype, much less surpasses it, but Coqodaq did.

The food was fantastic. We went for the “bucket list,” which for $38 per person gave us two rounds of fried chicken (I think there were 10 pieces, total, for two people; certainly a sufficient amount for most diners), plus banchan, cold noodles, and a small cup of froyo. We added on fries, a great way to further enjoy the various sauces that accompany the chicken. (The cacio e pepe sauce on fries is a revelation.)

The cocktails I tried were all incredible, and they clearly were created with a sense of humor. For example, the White Pine Rust not only employs the underappreciated-by-Americans flavor of black currant but is also named for the disease that caused the fruit to be banned here in the States for centuries (the ban was lifted a few years ago).  

The takeaway: Sure, you’ll likely have to queue for walk-in seats, but the line is a manageable one, and you probably have a good chance at getting seated reasonably quickly no matter what time you drop by in the evening. And for $38 per person for what’s essentially an all-you-can-eat fried-chicken feast, it’s definitely worth the effort.

Would I return? Absolutely, and I probably will soon. A better food deal can’t be found in New York, and I want to finish drinking my way through the entire cocktail menu.