Friday, March 27, 2009
Conversation Bites ChaChah's Reservation Policy: At a Minimum, I'd Call It Interesting
Posted by Carrington Fox on Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 10:44 AM
It will come as no surprise to anyone who read this week's dining column that I am a huge fan of ChaChah. Arnold Myint's newest Belmont Boulevard enterprise hits on every cylinder--from moderate portions and prices to creative compositions and cocktails.
After I wrote the review, though, I heard about a policy that leaves me with mixed feelings. A friend called ChaChah to make a reservation for six and was told that there would be a $20 minimum per person to reserve a table for a group that size or larger.
While not unheard-of in larger cities, the restaurant minimum is a novel concept here. And it has been met less than enthusiastically--not least of all by the friend who was told he'd need to give a credit card to make the reservation and if his party didn't show up, he'd be charged $120.
At first blush, the policy borders on presumptuous. But before I rushed to judgment, I stopped to consider the reasons I like ChaChah so much: The place is beautiful, everything is priced below $20, and, in my opinion, the tapas and raciones are intriguing enough to satisfy in smaller portions than larger meals that are less thoughtfully constructed.
Throw in the fact that ChaChah is situated across the street from a college campus, Myint no doubt would argue, and you've got a potential magnet for students who want to hang out all night on a cool patio while sipping free filtered water and nibbling dips. For that reason, Myint says he also abolished cell phones and laptops in the restaurant. Furthermore, ChaChah is a hat-free zone.
Myint has a track record of being ahead of the curve. It may be in this era when people are cutting back on dining expenses, the minimum will emerge as a useful tool for restaurateurs struggling to balance their financial needs with those of their customers.
Then again, the friend who called it to my attention actually declined to give a credit card and relocated the party to a different restaurant. The customer tends to have the last word in these situations, at least collectively. So it remains to be seen whether ChaChah's minimum policy will stick--and if Nashville is ready for contractual dining.
Comments (33)
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While a peculiar choice for a reservation policy, I'd still eat there. But I refuse to eat anywhere with a 'no hat policy,' and I don't wear hats. It's wrong on too many levels to list, but I always think of all the people I've met throughout my life who are undergoing cancer treatments which leave them with varying issues with their hair. The last thing these individuals deserve is for some jerk of a restaurant to forbid hats. Can someone explain how a hat affects anyone else?
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I think cabana has a similar policy for their cabana seating reservations. $20 minimum seems rather high, and stressful for the reserver!
I don't visit Rumba too often because of the hat policy. I could understand if it was a place like Capital Grille...but why the no hats for a casual atmosphere?
Rumba has a no-hat policy? I've been a regular for years and didn't know that. A friend wears hats on occasion and has never been asked to remove one.
I don't think that Chachah is going to experience any negative side effects from the policy--business is good and I can't blame them for trying to keep large groups in check. My only suggestion would be that it should be a $20 per person average minimum. Who can help it if you have one cheapskate in the bunch?
Also, I think the only policy that would negatively effect business would be making it a "no-air-kiss zone."
I'm fairly certain that "no hat" policies are selectively applied to target douchebag brosephs who wear those white caps everywhere.
Lesley,
I was personally turned away by the hostess. I’ve not visited since…but it was a few summers ago. Maybe their policy has changed..
The $20 minimum per person is an average. I reserved for a party of 8 last weekend and it was explained to me that the group as a whole just need to reach $160 total. So if you have a friend that purchases only 1 $5 dip and you drink 5 Clementine bellinis, then you're all good. Not that I personally would ever drink 5 of those bellinis ;-)
I was busted two nights ago by the hat police, it made me a little upset. Even more, they didn't do it in a very kind manner...basically "remove your hat or you'll be asked to leave". Sorry I'm too low brow for ChaCha...but is a sign too much to ask? Seriously considered walking out, probably won't be back.
Chemo aside... Wearing a hat while one dines is uncooth. It looks sloppy when it's a ball cap, silly when it's any other kind of hat.
I don't fault the restaurant management for wanting to create a certain kind of atmosphere. Even at Rumba, if I looked around and saw a bunch of shlubs wearing ball caps, it'd certainly set the mood.
Different strokes for different folks I suppose, personally...I wouldn't mind if I walked in to ChaChah and found a room full of 500 pound men in daisy dukes, neon tank tops, and 10 gallon hats, if the food is good...I'll eat it and be happy, mood be damned
I think it's too bad that anybody would have their mood changed/set by some hats
I went somewhere in NYC about six years ago - Artisanal, maybe? - and it was a reservation for eight far-flung people coming from different neighborhoods and when I made the reservation, I got the whole credit-card number thing. I don't have a credit card, so it was interesting how quickly they gave in. "Oh, okay, see you at 8!" I was very lucky; everyone showed up on time.
But as a former hostess, I'm all for the threats. I worked for a long time at one local restaurant where Vanderbilt kids would make reservations at several places and THEN decide where to go - and not call and cancel the other reservations - so we were left with an empty table because I'd tuned people away. My employers didn't know it, but I separated the men from the boys by occasionally saying "and could I have a credit card number, please?" I never ever wrote it down, but it did make people call back and cancel in an appropriate manner.
That said, I don't envision most Nashvillians embracing the idea of handing their credit card numbers to a stranger over the phone.
Hats/chemo aside, it sounds more or less like they are instituting a no "jackass" policy -- hey, we are a business, you cannot bring in a huge group, monopolize our tables/restaurant, order virtually nothing & talk on your cell phones/work on your computer all night.
And yes, many restaurants like Artisanal & Craft in NYC have credit card guarantees etc., and Nashville may not quite be there [yet?], but this is one Nashville restaurant that feels more NYC/CHI than middle TN.
hats, chemo, whatever aside.
did everyone here ever realize that this argument, whether going one way or the other, and stupidly similar to the recent tossing of jeers at the last tangredi article. please.
so they have policies that you guys don't like, that isn't going to change them. the fact that all of you think that anyone else cares what your policies on chacha's reservations are is just absurd.
week after week bites is filled with people who just need to get over yourselves. petty bullshit like this is the reason that nashville is far from nyc or chicago.
The funny thing for me is that people seem to care. Remember when you couldn't get into Bound'ry? Ohhh, people complained. or hey, let's all go to Six Degrees! No, let's not, it's packed. "Chu is a hot spot but I hear we can't get in!"
Hey, wait five minutes.
The above is my comment - and it somehow got truncated but I can't remember what else I said - there was wine. Sorry.
A $20 deposit per person on a reservation is a fine idea. Most people are inconsiderate enough not to call if they can't make it. Charge 'em. The rent still has to be paid.
barbara - 6 degrees. wow. totally forgot about that one. talk about a bad business plan...
OMG - i really do think that the restaurateurs are reading and do pay attention, whether they decide to make changes or not. and as for the bites commenters - this is an open forum designed specifically so that people can say what they think - bad or good. i suppose you think that in nyc no one is giving their 'petty' opinions. (yeah right...) because i'm 100% pure nyc, born and bred and in case you haven't noticed - seemingly everyone there has an opinion and openly states how they feel. i call it healthy - if it is done with a degree of fairness. and when it's not - who really cares all that deeply? it's just a comment on a blog on the internet in cyberspace...
I work at a fine dining restaurant in Nashville and we have a $21 food minimum per person for large parties 12 or more, but ONLY on the weekends when we are typically so booked up with reservations that we have a 2 hour wait for walk-ins. We do this, not to be stuck up or to price people out of our establishment, but because we have 2 bars and several additional cocktail areas that can accommodate people that just want appetizers and drinks. This allows us to provide dining to more people who wish to eat a full dinner here, and of course cuts down on a group of 20 people taking up a gigantic table for three hours in our dining room while only 6 people a the table are actually ordering food.
It's pretty frustrating as a server to have a table sit in your section, camp out all night, and not spend any money when you know there is a couple-hour-long waiting list at the host stand filled with the names of guests who genuinely want to have a great dining experience with us.
During the week, when it isn't so insanely busy here, we are extremely flexible and don't require any sort of minimum. Fridays and Saturdays are our bread and butter nights where we often book up to capacity days in advance and since we are still apparently in high demand as a fine dining establishment, we will continue to keep that food minimum in place for both the benefit of walk-in diners and for our employees.
We also chose to do away with a "no hats" policy because it's absurd to not let people wear hats if they want to. These are the people paying our light bill and some of our top spending guests are frequent cowboy hat wearers!
I mean this is Nashville!!
Also, I wanted to note that the rules Arnold Myint is enforcing with the "no cellphones or lap tops" policy is hilariously dense. What a joke!
It doesn't surprise me, I've heard from lots of different friends that have worked for him that he's an extremely rigid and paranoid person who is a pain in the ass to work for and super irrational. Just what I heard.....
This sounds about right--PM sucks too. Wait a year or two, and this place will be out of business.
I think charging a minimum for large parties is pretencios and snobby. I know another guy on rutledge hill that took a credit card for every reservation and look at him now. c-l-o-s-e-d. Let's not forget this is the south folks, southern hospitality? southern charm? We are not New York or L.A. I remeber the day when restaurants used to turn multi-million is Cha Chah going to turn Keith Urban (who wears a hat most of the time in public) away because he has a hat on? In this day and age there are plenty of restaraunts where you can go, dress how you want, eat and be comfortable and they are happy to take your money and be polite and accomodating.
"I think charging a minimum for large parties is pretencios and snobby. I know another guy on rutledge hill that took a credit card for every reservation and look at him now. c-l-o-s-e-d. Let's not forget this is the south folks, southern hospitality? southern charm? We are not New York or L.A. I remeber the day when restaurants used to turn multi-million is Cha Chah going to turn Keith Urban (who wears a hat most of the time in public) away because he has a hat on? In this day and age there are plenty of restaraunts where you can go, dress how you want, eat and be comfortable and they are happy to take your money and be polite and accomodating."
yeah, yeah, yeah. we used to get the same BS from the management when i worked at cooker, about how auto-grat would be the end of the world and drive all the customers away. IMHO it seems like most of the rhetoric about how rude this is or that is is always drummed up by people who have never waited tables. try working at bound'ry sometime and watching someone kick holes in the wall after doing coke in the upstairs bathroom and being told not to say anything because the "guest" might not come back.
I waited tables for almost a decade at the real 12th & Porter. There is no coke-provoked wall-kicking story I didn't witness! Or possibly cause.
Just want to make sure that everyone is fully aware that claudia (10,000 hits a month!) is from NEW YORK CITY! So listen closely to what she has to say you backwards-ass-country f___s! You might learn something...
Redneck: I'm a person that often finds myself disagreeing with Claudia, but someone made a statement about the way diners act in New York. She made the statement that she was from New York to better validate her statement correcting the OP, not as any kind of "high and mighty" statement.
ignorant redneck - drunk at 1am again? now what would i ever do without your help?
you are such a lovely human being. so rational. so fair and even. i'm sure you are incredibly respected in all things you do. oh - and you must be just an absolute pleasure to spend time with.
mwah mwah (because in nyc - we do one on each cheek)
signed
claudia - a proud nyc girl who gets 10,000 hits on her blog a month. (not all that impressive but i am trying)
Ignorant Redneck
You are nothing more than a wart on the ass of this fine blog. At least Claudia often has something of value to say, whether you agree with her not. Whereas you, you fool, are obviously nothing put a self professed ignorant punk ass loser with a huge chip on your shoulder.
And I happen to be proudly from the South.
just back from miss saigon for my weekly dose of pho. so good... i think it's the best $8 you can spend on food.
thanks to all. especially 'anonymous'. because i truly appreciated that... very cool. oh and your comment was still not showing when i posted my last one so i missed it earlier.
and btw - since ignorant redneck brought it up: i wasn't paying too close attention to catch the error, so i followed along with what IR was saying regarding my hit rate - but i just realized that i shorted myself, as my hit rate is more like 10,000 a week - not a month. although with my lack of postings as of late, these days it has dropped to a bit more like 6000 a week. hopefully i'll get it back up there if i can motivate myself to start posting regularly again.
so - just setting the record straight since IR seems to care enough to have brought it up again.
Claudia, I believe you have nothing to worry about, although I doubt you are. This Ignorant Redneck is a joke with nothing of value to say in the least.
Rock on girl! Tour blog is excellent!
ignorant redneck,
Put down your confederate flag beer bong and think about this:
This is a food and beverage based blog, with people and opinions across the country. We can all learn from each other. Remember: As goes New York so goes the country.
Just because we're Yankees doesn't mean I don't have anything to learn from you. Just because you still name your car General Robert E. Lee doesn't mean you can't learn anything from Claudia.
BTW, Claudia is a bad ass bitch and a great friend. If you ever had the opportunity to meet her, you would fall in love - most men do.
