First world problems. People who live in NYC should quit expecting government to solve every minor inconvenience for them and just go eat at another restaurant. Lots of good restaurants in NYC, and many don't even require reservations.
A restaurant has a fixed number of reservations possible. How do you suggest allocating them when demand exceeds supply? One way or another, some will not be able to get a reservation.
I'm having trouble understanding where this emotion is coming from. The problem is annoying and unfair, but not the end of the world. Likewise, maybe we'd rather not reach for legislation, but such a small piece of legislation has little negative impact, and is not the end of the world.
Or someone who has no idea how legislation works. The idea that all the "more important issues" take the same amount of time and effort to tackle is invalid; this is an achievable goal and one relatively easy to gather consensus.
The flipside complaint would have been "why are we waiting so long to fix this simple thing." Government can't win.
If the offenders don't even live in New York, or even in the US, the goal hasn't been achieved at all. This is a "we passed something to feel good about ourselves" moment.