The only place I've had any real trouble getting a reservation was French Laundry. I would have given up long ago, except my dining companion was willing to put in the hard work to actually get the reservation -- call up every morning at exactly 10 am, as they open up the reservations book for the day exactly two months in advance. She had to do this for several months before she managed to get through.

I imagine Northern California is particularly bad for this, because there aren't all that many really snazzy restaurants, and yet there's a lot of people with far too much disposable income. The ratio has got to be way off compared to New York, where there's a Michelin starred restaurant on every block.