{"id":395682,"date":"2025-11-21T23:35:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T23:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/395682\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T23:35:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T23:35:17","slug":"nyc-diners-will-wait-57-minutes-for-a-restaurant-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/395682\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC diners will wait 57 minutes for a restaurant table"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Yorkers aren\u2019t ones to shy away from lines. We line up for sample sales<\/a>, limited-edition drops, even a pumpkin-and-rice cronut<\/a> that sold out\u00a0five years\u00a0ago. You name it, we\u2019ve gotten on line for it. But according to OpenTable\u2019s newly-released 2026 Dining Trends Report<\/a>, there\u2019s one line we love the most: the one leading to a restaurant table.<\/p>\n

The new report found that New York City diners are willing to wait an average of 57 minutes as walk-ins\u2014the longest in the country by a wide margin. San Francisco is much less patient, waiting 34 minutes; Miami and Chicago tie at 35; and even famously patient L.A. taps out at 44. New Yorkers, however, will happily stand around for nearly an hour. We\u2019re either incredibly devoted or slightly unhinged\u2014and maybe both.<\/p>\n

Part of the reason is that demand is way up. The report notes that overall dining increased 8% year over year, with early bird dining (between 4 and 5 pm) up 13% and group dining up 11%. Tables are scarce and reservations vanish instantly these days.<\/p>\n

Spontaneity is also back in style. Last-minute bookings are booming and OpenTable notes its \u201cNotify Me\u201d alerts are up 84% nationwide. New York, not surprisingly, leads the country in the sheer number of people hammering that button. (OpenTable\u2019s top restaurant for Notify Me alerts is Manhattan\u2019s Chez Fifi<\/a>, which tracks.)<\/p>\n

Value is a major theme heading into 2026, too. Diners are looking for deals that still feel social, while 61% of Americans say dining out will feel more like a treat next year than a habitual Tuesday. But when New Yorkers do go out, they go all out: anniversary diners spent 40% more per person on average, experiential dining is up 46% and nearly half of surveyed Americans say they\u2019re more likely to book when restaurants host pop-ups or collabs.<\/p>\n

So yes, we\u2019re willing to wait an hour for a table. But in a city where the \u201cworth it\u201d factor is practically a sport, that checks out. If you\u2019re lucky, there\u2019ll be a cocktail list you can access from the sidewalk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Yorkers aren\u2019t ones to shy away from lines. We line up for sample sales, limited-edition drops, even…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":395683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,10633,405,403,10634,5226,5225,5228,5227,988,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-395682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-categories-restaurants","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-news-eating","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-restaurants","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115590314493485725","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}