An interesting trend is emerging in New York City's fine dining restaurants. Paying before you go in. You pay for your McDonald's food before you eat it, why not pay for your fish cheeks with seaweed butter and heirloom garlic first, too?
Bloomberg critic Ryan Sutton today notes that Worth Street's tiny taste emporium Atera has joined Brooklyn Fare in charging diners in advance of their reservations. Two's a trend! And once you get used to the idea, it makes a certain (business) sense. After all, Atera only has 12 seats for its multi-hour prix fixe dinners, so if you don't make your reservation they lose out big (a dinner for one there costs $209 after tax and tip).
According to Atera's chef, Matthew Lightner, the new system—which is about six weeks old—has so far been met with no problems with diners, "unless they are trying to cancel last minute." Which is why Sutton is pushing the restaurant to adopt a reservation-swapping system similar to the one used at Chicago's Next restaurant.
Meanwhile, we like the fact that Atera doesn't force a 20 percent gratuity on diners' pre-payments. Instead they charge just 18 percent. As Lightner explains, the lower than usual auto-tip is "because the service has not yet been rendered. And if they get exceptional wine beverage service then it’s up to the guest to tip accordingly."
