Pok Pok - prepaid reservations: annoying or ok

I’m definitely on the fence. I’d love to hear the thoughts of the masses. Maybe you’ll help me decide.

I don’t prefer it but it is better than having to buy a ticket for a complete prepaid meal. $20 to guarantee a reservation is not terrible. I my self had a very enjoyable meal at Pok Pok LA.

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is it closed on both sundays and Tuesdays ??? anyone know ???

I know that the fast-food stall of Pok Pok was open on Sunday, but Pok Pok restaurant was curiousy closed on Sunday.

But on Tues, Pok Pok stall was closed, but I didn’t think to check out Pok Pok restaurant on Tues.

thanks guys.

thankd wieners.

They are closed on Monday & Tuesdays…
http://pokpokla.com/index.php?id=faq0

Many high end restaurants request a credit card for deposit incase you don’t show. I just don’t think it’s common practice in L.A. My question is, do they accept walk ins? I’m allergic to reservations.

–Dommy!

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Yes, I’m familiar with fine dining establishments who do this. It seemed unusual to me that they’d take an actual deposit at the time though. I understand Trois Mec charges up front and that’s fine, it actually saves the hassle of paying for it at the time. Assuming you show up.

We loved the PDX one. We timed it so well - Sunday afternoon at 3 - that there was zero wait. People actually wait for up to 2 hours to get in there.

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Though we leave an ample amount of tables available to our walk-in guests, Pok Pok LA offers reservation tickets for lunch and dinner services through Tock, an online reservation management app. Tickets are priced from $15-$20 per person, non-refundable and are applied to the balance of your group’s bill at the end of your meal.

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Yeah. I’ll do a fucking walk-in. I’m pretty fucking erratic.

I think it’s a reasonable solution to the problem of diners skipping out on reservations.

i’d agree, though it occurs to me that tardiness could be as much an issue as skipping out altogether. tardiness forces a place to risk displeasing someone one way or the other - hold the table and risk inquiries as to why tables are open, or release the table, only to incur the wrath of customers who were legitimately delayed? if you’re late for an appointment at an HMO, they take the next available patient and you slide down the appointment list.

Guess their ticket system didn’t work out. This from Eater LA today…After debuting with a Tock reservation system that took in a nominal amount that was later applied to your bill, Andy Ricker has announced that Pok Pok LA will now use OpenTable, which makes free reservations. The 200-plus seat restaurant takes reservations but still accepts walk-ins.

Even if PP had the greatest thai food in LA (which it doesn’t)
AND
even if he had a dope TV show (does he?)
I don’t see how it could stay busy with sooooo much space.

And upon that announcement, I made one!

Open Table has been offering pre-pay options on select reservations I’ve made. Give them your card in advance, see the check, no credit cards come out on the table.

This is typical at many high-end restaurants in Japan (and Urasawa here), which use expensive, perishable ingredients. It makes less sense at a Thai restaurant (though possibly some sense if the issue is opportunity cost of table). If the restaurant double recovers by taking the cancellation fee and sitting another party in the cancelling party’s spot, it may be unlawful.

I get ticketing for places like that, where you reserve well in advance, and are possibly going to force the restaurant to lose a large sum of money on ingredients… but yeah, it really made no sense at all for Pok Pok to do.

It’s only justifiable if all tables are full that night at the restaurant except for the cancelled table, which the restaurant couldn’t fill due to the late cancellation. It would be a good hypo in a law school class on contract law. Penalty clause or liquidated damages? Does the “ticket” concept matter or is it form over substance? Duty to mitigate?