Yesterday, called Plat Concierge to set up a last minute dinner reservation for 2 at Boa in Santa Monica. Called them around 1PM to set up a res between 7 and 8. I had called the restaurant directly first and they told me the closest availability was 6 or 8:30. I also know that AMEX has a good relationship with Boa.

When I got the concierge on the phone, I specified what I was looking for. She looked it up online and told me what I already knew. I told her as much and asked that she call the restaurant to see what she could do. She said she would call them and then call me right back.

A few minutes later I get a call back. She said that she talked directly to the manager and that the restaurant was 100% booked, that he would not overbook (which I respect), and that the only times available were those provided. I then asked if she could check at the Sunset location. She once again called them, spoke to the manager, and unfortunately got a similar response. So ended up taking the res in Santa Monica for 6.

Although it didn't work out ideally this time, I felt the concierge want to bat for me and tried as hard as she could to get me a res for my desired time. This was also the first time that AMEX didn't pull through on a last-minute res for me at this and other restaurants within similar timeframes.

Finally, the confirmation email had the wrong day in it, which was just a typo. I first replied back to the email, but when the autoresponder said up to 24 hours, I called the concierge to have them confirm. I only mention it because a separate rep from the one I talked to actually responded within 20 minutes of my email, had called the restaurant (and mentioned who she talked to by name), and had confirmed the correct day. With what I've heard about them not responding to emails in other FT threads, I was pleasantly surprised by the responsiveness.