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RESTAURANTS New Waverly Inn Reservation Strategy: Walk In, Ask for a Table By Gabriel Snyder, 11:21 AM on Sat Jan 17 2009, 2,251 views
Danger Graydon Carter, your oh-so-exclusive Waverly Inn brand is slipping. The West Village paparazzi-magnet restaurant just seated a blogger. Who walked in off the street.
To launch a new restaurant review series for Examiner.com, Phil Anschutz's experiment in citizen journalism, Laura Rohrman decided to start with the Waverly Inn, which she had apparently been plaintively walking past every night on her way to the gym, fantasizing about the luxe life within the Vanity Fair theme park attraction. But the whole exclusivity thing breaks down when she explains how she scored her table:
So for my first restaurant of the week segment, guess where I had to go? That’s right! Let me in Ye Waverly Inn! Shockingly the reservationist said yes, no problem when I stopped in off the street.
Less than six months ago, we were talking about who to schmooze in order to get a reservation and we noted this sneaky strategy when it worked for a New York Times writer. But now we know it can work for just about anybody.