RESERVATION IMPOSSIBLE

It was a matter of seconds — plus an ill-timed refresh on my Tock app — but I’d lost out. Two weeks of freshly posted reservations for Her Place Supper Club, all 480 of them, had evaporated in less than 10 seconds. The frustration wasn’t just mine. Owner-chef Amanda Shulman also stresses over the lack of accessibility to her 24-seat tasting-menu hit near Rittenhouse Square.

“It’s not what I wanted at all when I set out to do this,” she says of the bi-weekly reservation scrum that ensues for the dinner party-style meals she began two years ago as a DIY experiment. “I’m grateful so many want to experience it. But I’d rather it be exclusive by demand than price.”

The $90 fee is indeed a relative value for the consistent excellence of the changing six-course menus. But how to get in? Quicker fingers? Close monitoring of the app’s wait-list standby feature? Coordinated simultaneous group attack? Phone a friend with contacts? All of the above? Several hundred diners obviously claimed those truffle-covered corn ravioli. But that consistent barrier to entry is one reason I eased Her Place and some other still-worthy spots off my Top 10 list this year in favor of some (slightly) more accessible options.

Here’s a status update on getting a table at Her Place and some of Philly’s other most impossible reservations.

1/10

• Her Place Supper Club

  1740 Sansom St

  

  Shulman’s all-female kitchen is still spinning seasonal tasting menu dreams in this tiny Rittenhouse charmer, but, as noted, the 480 seats posted on Tock at 6 p.m. Sunday before each two-week menu launches disappear in a blink. Shulman suggests checking back Monday, after the first wave of cancellations come in. Otherwise, head to My Loup nearby, Shulman’s new (Top 10) collaboration with husband Alex Kemp, which sets aside 20% of its seats nightly for walk-ins.

  • Websiteherplacephilly.com
  • Instagram@herplacesupperclub

• Royal Sushi & Izakaya

  780 S 2nd St

  

  Raising the Omakase price to $230 has not dimmed demand for Jesse Ito’s sublimely luxurious sushi tastings. More than 90% of his diners are inside-track regulars, and what few newcomers do make it through the Resy gauntlet usually reserve their next meal before their meal is even over. Begging friends with standing monthly reservations for a loaner seat has been my best bet. Otherwise, feast on negi toro and fried fish heads left over from the omakase at Royal’s wonderful walk-in izakaya, this year’s Top 10 choice.

  • Websiteroyalsushiandizakaya.com
  • Instagram@royal_izakaya
  • Phone(267) 909-9002
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• Zahav

  237 St. James Place

  

  This generation’s OG impossible reservation eased accessibility recently by adjusting its Resy policy to allow table requests daily at 11 a.m. eight weeks in advance of the date, rather than releasing an entire month at once. The addition of its al fresco patio for walk-ins-only has also been a gift. The hummus and salatim menu is more limited than the indoor tastings (no pomegranate lamb shoulder for you!), but this fresh breath of spontaneity has made Philly’s nationally renowned dining destination feel like a local place again.

  • Websitezahavrestaurant.com
  • Instagram@zahavrestaurant
  • Phone(215) 625-8800
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• Park Place

  7 E. Park Ave., Merchantville, NJ

  

  Want to try South Jersey’s hidden gem of foraged delights, where everything from the sea salt to the acorn flour (for duck confit pancakes), berries, greens, mushrooms, and spices are harvested by chef-owner Phil Manganaro? Prepare to wait. This wildly ambitious Merchantville BYOB books its 55 weekly seats six months at a time, mostly for devoted “dining club” monthly regulars. Best bet is to dine there first with a regular and hope a cancellation opens a spare table within a month or two. (“We’re still calling people from January,” Manganaro told me in August.)

  • Websiteparkplacecafeandrestaurant.com
  • Instagram@parkplace_nj
  • Phone(856) 662-2200

• Tulip Pasta & Wine Bar

  2302 E. Norris St

  

  This cute seasonal pasta bar co-owned by Wayvine Vineyards is a date-night favorite and reliably booked up 30 days in advance when it opened last fall. Seats remain coveted — unless you don’t mind eating at 5 or 9:45 p.m. The addition of 16 sidewalk seats for fair weather walk-ins (plus four at the chef’s counter) has kept this corner a viable spontaneous option for Fishtown neighbors. The kitchen is a bit too inconsistent, though, for such a desired reservation.

  • Websitetulippasta.com
  • Instagram@tulippastawine
  • Phone(267) 773-8189
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