Originally Posted by
gfunkdave
I got a 4-top for Sunday nights.
Not sure if we'll stay for Kyoto/Sicily (though I'd like to, the hassle of flying to Chicago kind of outweighs it in my mind).
I like Next and think Grant Achatz & co are doing something really unique and cool. But the hassle of sitting by the computer to buy tickets and lurking around for a week or two is really annoying.
And $3500 for three dinners? Someone pinch me. A friend of mine figured roughly that they would pull in about $1.6m for el Bulli alone and more for the other menus. Good work if you can get it.
It's a really unusual system, and buying tickets this far out means there is a not insignificant risk that the restaurant will not be around to honor them when the date comes up. I think it could only work with a unique concept/chef combo like Next's.
That said, I didn't find the process to be much of a hassle at all. Next posted a Facebook status update about 12 hours before the tickets went on sale, and another as soon as the tickets went on sale. I did not sit obsessing over my computer, and I still managed to get tickets.