[lifeisstillgood]

But surely this is a good thing - people will have to take part in an auction for a table.

Want to eat at $POPULARRESTAURANT - you set a bid min and max and off you go.

Its allocating scarce resource at the most efficient level.

[fusiongyro]

It's possible that your patrons are not interested in bidding, or otherwise participating in libertarian economic fetishism.

[lifeisstillgood]

Have you seen people trying to get in for a top NY restaurant - they will participate in any fetishism :-)

[tomkarlo]

You're assuming restaurants look at it as a one-time transaction. But most good owners put a lot of focus on repeat, neighborhood customers, because those are the folks that will come in and dine on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening and help keep you afloat (Friday / Saturday will book out anyway if you're doing ok.) Bourdain said he used to put the interesting specials on weekdays, and save the easy / no-brainer stuff for weekends, partially for this reason.