What are your thoughts on this?

Today, I phoned a restaurant to make a reservation. At the end of the process of selecting date/time (one week from now), they wanted me to give them a credit card over the phone.

I asked if they had a secure online site to provide the information; they did not. I believe they were literally going to write my credit card number on a piece of paper and do...I don't know what with it.

I chose not to do it, and said we would just walk in on the evening we intend to dine. If we can't get a table, we'll go elsewhere. No big deal.

- The restaurant in question is not Michelin-starred or Forbes rated. I personally believe it *could* reach the Forbes four-star level, if it chooses to pursue such a thing. (It has received critical acclaim in other publications.) Unlikely to achieve Michelin stars, being in Missouri and all...

- Two-person reservation on a Wednesday night. Probably 75% chance we'd have success as walk-ins. It's not a place that must be booked weeks/months in advance. (Again, it's KC...even our lone Forbes four-star restaurant is relatively easy to book on Open Table a few days in advance.)

- I don't have any intention of no-showing the reservation. I'm conscientious about canceling reservations in Open Table when plans change.

- I have booked restaurants before that required credit cards in advance (the French Laundry being one), but it was a secure online transaction. For a small subset of the world's great restaurants, and a standard secure process, this does not bother me. I mean, I don't *like* it, but I get it.

What are you comfortable with? On one hand, I suppose our credit card numbers are all over the place anyway, and having it on a piece of paper in the drawer in some restaurant office isn't really much *incremental* security risk. I was just taken aback by the combination of (a) not being able to book this online and (b) being asked for a CC number by a restaurant that, while it may aspire to become the French Laundry, isn't really there yet.