NYC Restaurant Reservation Terms, Explained

Booking a hard NYC table comes with its own vocabulary, and knowing what each term actually means is half the strategy. This glossary defines every term you will hit on Resy, OpenTable, and restaurant sites, in plain language.

Each definition below stands on its own, so skip to the term you got stuck on.

Frequently asked questions

What does Notify mean on Resy?

Notify is Resy's built-in alert: tap it on a sold-out day and Resy emails or pushes you if a matching table frees up. It is free, but every other diner watching that day gets the same alert at the same moment, so it becomes a race. It also only covers one restaurant on one platform at a time.

What is a drop time?

The moment a restaurant releases a new day of reservations. Most Resy restaurants open their books a fixed number of days ahead at a fixed hour, like 30 days at 10 AM for Carbone or 15 days at midnight for Kisa. Knowing the drop time means you compete at the moment of maximum supply instead of fighting over scraps. DinnerElite publishes the pattern for each of its 224 tracked restaurants.

What is a booking window?

How far ahead a restaurant lets you book, usually 14, 21, 28, or 30 days. A shorter window means fresher chances but faster competition. The window plus the drop hour together define the moment to act.

What is a cancellation wave?

The predictable surge of freed-up tables as diners cancel ahead of deposit or fee deadlines. Resy's own guides note one at Rubirosa 25 to 26 hours before dining time, as no-shows bail before penalties kick in. Cancellation waves are why alert services exist: the tables come back, briefly, and go to whoever hears first.

What is a waitlist on Resy or OpenTable?

A queue for a specific sold-out slot. If a matching table opens, the platform offers it down the list, sometimes with a short claim window. Waitlists genuinely work at some restaurants, but they are platform-specific and slot-specific, so they complement rather than replace watching the wider book.

What is a same-day drop?

Tables a restaurant deliberately holds back and releases the morning or afternoon of service. Some of NYC's hardest rooms keep part of their book for same-day release or walk-ins, which is why a sold-out calendar 30 days out does not always mean a sold-out night.

What does walk-in only mean?

The restaurant takes no reservations for those seats: you show up and put your name down. Some rooms are fully walk-in, and many split the difference, like The Dead Rabbit's first-come Taproom under its reservable Parlor, or Kisa holding about two-thirds of its tables for walk-ins per Resy's guide.

What is a deposit or prepaid reservation?

Money the restaurant charges when you book, either credited to your bill or forfeited on a no-show. Deposits crush casual cancellations, which cuts the cancellation waves alert-hunters rely on: expect fewer, later openings at deposit restaurants.

What is a no-show or late-cancellation fee?

A per-head charge for missing your reservation or cancelling inside the restaurant's cutoff, commonly 24 to 48 hours before. That deadline drives the cancellation wave that hits right before it.

What is Priority Access on Resy?

Early or held inventory for certain cardholders, most prominently American Express, which owns Resy. Amex Platinum and Centurion members see reservations others cannot. It is one of the few legitimate ways to skip the public fight.

What are large-format or group reservations?

Bookings above the public-calendar party sizes, usually 7 and up, handled by email or a separate form and often tied to set menus. If your party is big, skip the public books entirely: Le Coucou routes 7 to 10 to prix-fixe group dining, and Nowon takes 7 to 12 by email.

What is a reservation alert service?

A tool that watches availability across restaurants and tells you the moment a matching table opens, so you book it yourself. That is what DinnerElite does across 224 NYC restaurants on Resy and OpenTable, starting free for one watched restaurant. Alert services differ from booking bots, which grab tables automatically and violate platform terms.

Armed with the vocabulary, the next step is knowing each restaurant's actual numbers. DinnerElite publishes when every tracked restaurant releases tables and emails you the moment a cancellation opens up, starting with one free watched restaurant.