OpenTable Reviews

Pros

This is great system to manage table bookings for a restaurant, with lots of marketing options. Once it's set up, it takes the hassle out of managing bookings and it's easy to also manually add bookings and block off tables. It's also good for CRM. And there's the option to generate reports and extract data for mailing lists.

Cons

The set up can be quote tricky, but once it's done, it's super-easy to manage.

Alternatives Considered

Resy OS

Reasons for Switching to OpenTable

Mainly for their pricing and marketing. More eyeballs on OpenTable than the others.

Pros

OT is a reasonably priced reservation system that is reliable and straightforward to use. It offers more extensive services for a large operation, but in its minimal form is easy for a small (35-45 seat) restaurant to use without dedicating a person to managing it.

Cons

The mobile app could be great, but isn't. There are three ways to interact: PC Web, Mobile Web, and Mobile App (Android in my case). They all have slightly different functionality, for no good reason.
- Example 1: The mobile app lets you see previous times a patron came in; mobile Web and PC Web only tell you the number, not the dates. But the mobile app doesn't give you control over scheduling and such. So you find yourself flipping among multiple devices to get your job done.
- Example 2: Mobile Web and mobile app require constant re-login. PC does not.
- Example 3: PC works reliably to see reservations, but after a period of inactivity, stops allowing interaction (such as setting a guest to "Seated"). A browser refresh is required.
Exasperating!

Pros

Ease of use for both customers and restaurants.
Dominates market share for booking reservations.

Cons

Very expensive with variable cost depending on bookings from OpenTable platform versus the restaurants own booking networks.
Huge market control makes it almost impossible to succeed as a restaurant if you are not using them.
No clear or transparent way to accurately sort what reservations were made through OpenTable and what weren't when invoicing.
There is no option to rate diners the same way as restaurants are reviewed so you can select the best customers and decline and the rest during busy times.

Alternatives Considered

Yelp Guest Manager

Reasons for Switching to OpenTable

New restaurant so we needed as much exposure as we can get at the beginning to try and succeed.

Pros

It's easy to search and schedule reservations, the platform works very fast.

Cons

There are some features that are not than intuitive in the navigation like canceling a reservation.

Pros

From a sales perspective, Open Table is fantastic at making sure we have plotted the proper rooms for private events. It is constantly making suggestions and making sure we're in the right time slots for turning tables. For our FOH manangers, it is very easy to train on which makes it less time consuming in the host training process. Guest center is also a great hub to check reviews, see your seating from an app on your phone and make any changes on the go. Love the pop up function and notes section to make sure our hosts have all the information they need. OTrestaurant.com is also wonderful to make sure we have all the right marketing tools turned on and become available to our guests. It is important that our guests have an ease of use to make a reservation and with the bonus points they receive from booking on open table it is just a plus for us to use the software.

Cons

Not a con, but we would love to see Open Table integrate with private dining software to make plotting private events faster.

Pros

OpenTable has been the industry's leading platform for managing guests and an active shift. OpenTable is compatible with the majority of restaurant point of sale systems which really enhance the amount/ variety of guest information. It makes tracking new and regular guests extremely simple. OpenTable is always improving and expanding its capabilities.

Cons

The countless features of OpenTable don't come cheap. It is definitely an investment and often underutilized.

Alternatives Considered

Yelp Guest Manager and Resy OS

Reasons for Switching to OpenTable

OpenTable has an unmatched platform. Syncing it with your point of sale system and other hospitality programs can give you all of the ammunition you need to create a memorable guest experience for all of your guests.

Pros

User friendly and easy to navigate. Also a very established business for online reservations, which mean that most of our staff has worked with it in the past and is familiar with the layout and set-up of it. Very good customer support and is very knowledgeable about the software and can easily talk you through whatever process you are looking at completing.

Cons

Little clunky and cluttered to navigate around it via the app. Also a lot of steps to add guest into the system for simple just seating a walk-in.

Alternatives Considered

Resy OS

Reasons for Switching to OpenTable

Customer service and the fact that they have been at this game longer than most

Pros

There is so many benifits- ease of use, platform for managing reservations prior to and in the moment, it aids in generating reservations, retaining guests and collecting data. Now that there is a venga connection I’m over the moon!

Cons

Honestly the cost per reservation is a little high for small owner operated restaurants but the added benefits are unmatched.

Alternatives Considered

Yelp Guest Manager and SevenRooms

Reasons for Choosing OpenTable

Now that venga has been added we will be moving away from another product.

Reasons for Switching to OpenTable

Main stream product used by 90% of market. Allows for better advertising and venga is amazing!

Pros

I love how easy it is to book reservations to my favorite restaurants. The UI is just beautiful, and it's so easy to navigate, see what times are available, double check the reservation I made, contact restaurants, read menus, see photos, and even change my reservation. I just love the ease of use.

Cons

I least like how, by default, way more data than I knew was being shared with restaurants and marketers. Buried in settings, I figured out how to turn these features off, but I feel like OpenTable is deceptive about how much data is really shared with their business partners, marketers, and restaurants.

Pros

This website/app is the top choice for making reservations. It offers a smooth experience and makes it very easy to explore your options for destinations.

Cons

I had no problem what so ever with the app.

Pros

Our restaurant name The Dock is used by several other unrelated venues and Opentable users often book with my venue but think they are booking in Florida or Pennsylvania, etc. This is annoying and blocks tables we lose at the last minute.
I have requested that Opentable resolve this simple matter - ASK WHAT LOCATION
the dinner wants. Thank you

Cons

$7.50 per booking is expensive.. Customers call and complain to me directly when they book on line and then cancel with short notice and are ANGRY! when we charge what they supposively agreed to pay if they cancel. We lose business and or we make diners angry. The POLICY needs to be MORE OBVIOUS to the diner, they will pay if they CANCEL SHORT NOTICE>

Pros

It is user-friendly, the calendar option is great, and the ability to invite guests is fantastic. I use OpenTable almost every day. I travel for work and use OpenTable to book all of my lunch and dinner meetings for my clients when possible. I love the rewards program, receiving Amazon gift cards every so often is always fun. I also really enjoy learning about new restaurants in the area I live in and in the towns, I am visiting for work or on vacation. The "experience" option is also fun and tells you a little bit more about each restaurant as you make your reservation.

Cons

The only two complaints that I have is that some restaurants pull open seating on certain days and that all restaurants so not participate in Open table.

Pros

My in-laws own a restaurant and I often help them from a technology and operations perspective. They had trouble managing their reservations. They only open for dinner, and they would spend a lot of time every day listening to Voicemail reservations, trying to get parties back on the phone to confirm, and trying to manage cancellations vs. openings with an antiquated system. When I suggested OpenTable I did not realize all of the problems I would be solving for them. OpenTable brings reservation systems into the 21st century, and allows patrons an easy way to make, change, and cancel restaurant reservations with the click of a button. For the restaurant owner or manager, it saves all of the time you use to need for follow-up, and all of the administrative management needed to handle cancellations and book optimal service volume.

Cons

There is nothing that I do not like about OpenTable for business. It has brought a lot of value to our team, and has become a major asset that we rely on to book reservations. Patrons are as happy with OpenTable as we have been in the decision to start taking reservations through them.

Pros

Very easy platform to use to find and book restaurants. You can search for restaurants by cuisines, location and availability and once you have made a booking you can also easily modify the booking by following the link in the email.

If you make a booking and don’t turn up they also send you an email to ask you to cancel if you cannot make it so that small businesses are not impacted by people not Turing up for their reservations. All in all a very easy to use product and this is the only software I use to book restaurants in my city. Shame it is not available more widely across other countries!

Cons

I can’t think of any cons except sometimes, it’s possible that some slots that are cancelled are not always available on open table but I suspect that is got more to do with restaurant updating their availability rather than open table

Pros

This is an unbelievably convenient and functional product. I use it to find restaurants easily and reliably when I travel. It's much more convenient than having to call the restaurant. I can make reservations any time of the day and go back-and-forth between restaurants to compare available times. Then, after I finish making my reservation, I could send the information to the other people in my party with just one click. Because of this product, I have tried many new restaurants and in many different areas that I wouldn't have otherwise tried. And, of course, the point system gets me a coupon every so often.

Cons

My biggest complaint is with the interface. I use it as an app on my phone mostly and sometimes I have trouble finding what I'm looking for. It works much better on the desktop.

Pros

As a website agency, OpenTable has been great to embed on our clients' websites to allow customers to make online reservations.

Cons

There aren't a ton of options in terms of styling the different widgets and browser testing for online reservations.

Alternatives Considered

Yelp Guest Manager

Reasons for Switching to OpenTable

The reviews were better

Pros

It offered a reservation system that we wanted to use to manage seating.

Cons

It was never accurate. Our times didn’t correlate to the actual reservation times. Customers reservations were not populating on our side. It was a disaster and I would like to get the money wasted back

Alternatives Considered

Resy OS

Pros

The best thing about making reservations on OpenTable is the vast array of dining locations available to you. We are able to easily find niche restaurants that offer the often-scarce African-ish menus we love to explore on trips and compare to what we are used to back home. Profiles of locations are also detailed enough to assist me in my elimination process so then I am very confident of my decision on where to eat when I eventually make it.

Cons

What I dislike about using OpenTable as a diner is the same thing that makes it good. The huge number of choices available can make deciding on where to book a bit of a headache

Pros

I liked that it was free for a while. It was essential when we had only 5 tables during covid mandatory outdoor dining.

Cons

You get used to having it, you customers get used to having it, and then the price seems exorbitant.

Pros

OpenTable is a phenomenal software that allows users to book and change reservations at various restaurants across the United States. It is, simply put, the go to reservation platform. The best part is that users accrue points and can redeem those points for rewards.

Cons

While redeeming points is a great idea in theory, in practice it is overly cumbersome and somewhat challenging to do, particularly for elderly users of the app. If there is one adjustment OpenTable could make, it would be to increase the ease with which users can convert points into cash.

Pros

Being able to manage reservation from anywhere, get data insights and the fact that anybody can quickly learn how to use it.

Cons

It is an expensive service, especially for a high volume restaurant.

Pros

Control flow of restaurant, pacing, mobile phone app connectivity

Cons

The cost was initially enormous, but came way down when renegotiated we were going to switch to tock or other

Pros

I appreciate that this app has a very high ease of use when you utilize your phone to make reservations. Even using the online app is very user-friendly! One thing that stands out about this product compared to others is that you can select different times for your restaurant reservations; you can actually make the reservation from this product instead of just getting on a wait list or "in line" like other products. I love the follow up e-mails that they send for updates and confirmations as well!

Cons

I do wish that the restaurant you are booking would send a confirmation as well, or even that they have seen your entry. I always call JUST to be safe; even though the app sends a confirmation e-mail I like being sure; having the restaurant even send a text to confirm would be useful.

Pros

Easy to use, provides great marketing options, well supported. The product support has been great, operationally and from our representative.

Cons

More expensive than newer reservation system software, but has many more benefits and a larger market presence.

Pros

Easy way to make a reservation and also earn points which can be redeemed towards dining. Many of the restaurants we have visited offer the option of reserving through OpenTable which is helpful. You can also let them know if you're celebrating a special occasion when booking your reservation.

Cons

The only thing I didn't like is that not all restaurants are available through OpenTable but I imagine that is the fault of the restaurants not signing up for the service. If the restaurant doesn't acknowledge that you showed up for your reservation you will be contacted by OpenTable to find out why. Luckily when this happened I had the receipt from the restaurant as well as photos taken there to verify we did show up.