With a surge of tourists on the west side but restaurants, especially those with indoor seating, still stuck with COVID capacity restrictions, it is very tough getting tables within the same week, let alone same day you want them. Many places use OpenTable for bookings up to a month and a half into the future, so if there's a west side hotspot you're looking to dine at, lock in a reservation as soon as you can.

The days of walking in and dining at places on a whim like Manta, Merida, U'lu, Beach Tree, CanoeHouse, Merrimans, Roys, Tommy Bahamas, Seafood Bar, Sensai, and Brown's Beach House have passed.

One place oddly still not taking reservations is Lava Lava Beach Club. However, I was pleasantly surprised by no wait for an "indoor" table there in the drastically reduced inventory around the bar the other night. They have plexiglass dividers between pairs of stools at the bar while they have 2 long high tops available for socially distanced eating/drinking there. While the beach scene was packed, and they said it'd be a 90 minute wait for a table there, the bar level was empty and we could be seated immediately. They don't have their full menu back yet, and they did away with a happy hour menu, but they still have their most popular dishes, like sizzling shrimp, and drinks like the Coconut Girl and Bambucha Maitai, available.