For anyone planning a food-focused night out, making a reservation has become less about choosing a restaurant and more about decoding where that restaurant lives online. According to the report, diners in New York City increasingly have to remember which booking platform each place uses, then jump between apps, websites, Google search results, and email announcements just to check availability. A simple dinner plan can turn into a frustrating scavenger hunt.
The article describes how this problem has grown as restaurants continue moving among reservation systems. Some spots remain on Resy, others have shifted to OpenTable, and a growing number now use DoorDash Reservations through SevenRooms. In some cases, the booking method is buried in an email or only visible after a search, making it harder to find a table even when one exists. The result, the report says, is that diners must keep a mental map of which platform each restaurant uses before they can even begin to book.
That confusion is part of a larger competition among reservation companies. OpenTable drew a wave of restaurants in late 2024 after promising updated technology and, according to rumors cited in the piece, financial incentives. DoorDash entered the reservation business in September 2025 after acquiring SevenRooms, and its platform has since added several sought-after New York restaurants, including the Unapologetic Foods group. Meanwhile, Resy has expanded too, with Amex folding Tock into its network earlier this year and adding thousands of venues. The report also notes that Amex is moving to acquire Europe’s TheFork, a deal that could strengthen its global reach.
Even with the growing number of platforms, the article suggests that the biggest winners are not necessarily diners. The competition has made reservation systems more complicated, not less, especially for people trying to book popular restaurants in major food cities. For culinary travelers, that means the challenge is no longer just finding a table at the right time, but figuring out where the table can be found at all.
Source: eater.com