Ralph Lauren’s tartan-filled, subterranean Midtown country club has cornered the market on equestrian paintings and parquet ceilings, and it’s the closest you’ll get to a guaranteed celebrity sighting in New York City. In order to book a table, you have to call and speak to a reservationist who will gently take your hopes out back and bury them six feet under. (For a more realistic shot, reach out day-of to check for cancellations, or try a concierge service.)

We’d like to be eating at 4 Charles Prime Rib right now. Unfortunately, this small, subterranean West Village spot hasn’t become any easier to get into since it opened in 2016. It’s nearly impossible to get a reservation before 11pm, so if you know someone “important” like an ex-President who can get in anywhere, it’s time to call in a favor. Otherwise, reservations are released online 21 days in advance at 9am EST.

The Yountville fine dining institution is as synonymous with Wine Country as the actual wine. But the question of whether this meal is worth the price and effort to get a table is the big one. Reservations open the first of the month at 10am PST. Prepaid, of course, starting at $425 per person in the dining room. But be aware: they’re nearly impossible to score and diners have resorted to buying them through social media groups or resale sites.

The $300-per-person omakase at Royal Sushi & Izakaya has a higher rejection rate than UPenn, and is the single hardest reservation to book in Philadelphia. Ultimately, the thrill of a meal here isn’t just about the three-week-aged mackerel or a $180 layered wagyu toast that we bow our heads to in utter appreciation, but simply getting in. Open slots become available 30 days in advance, and it’s rare, though not unheard of, to snag one last-minute.

Reservations for Hayato in LA are released on the first of the month at 10am PST and vanish instantly. And while they tend to prioritize bookings for regulars, if you’re persistent in joining the waitlist, it’ll eventually pay off—10 spots per month are saved for first-time visitors who have set up notifys. Even though we’ve never had a bad meal at Hayato, the overall experience at this high-end kaiseki counter is serious and a little stiff.

Size is what makes Miami’s Boia De so hard to book. But the exceptional pasta, other rotating small plates, and world’s greatest chopped salad are also to blame. Reservations go live on Resy at noon EST 30 days in advance—that’s when you need to be at your computer, refreshing the page like your life depends on it. And while Boia De does hold space for nightly walk-ins, it’s a gamble. Try to come 20 minutes before they open, and know that Walrus Rodeo is a back-up plan waiting for you next door.

Ask us for a recommendation for any sort of celebratory dinner, and our first answer is going to be Sunny’s. The space is a magnificent and seamless blend of indoor and outdoor seating. The steakhouse-adjacent food is precise and delicious. And if you don’t have a blast drinking martinis at one of the big round tables with your friends, consider getting new ones. Sunny’s releases reservations 30 days in advance. If you missed that window, seats at their small indoor bar are held for walk-ins.

Tonkatsu Tamafuji in Honolulu is almost impossible to get into, with reservations booked months in advance. Who’d have thought fried pork would cause such a frenzy? The best advice we have on how to sample the pork cutlets, fried oysters, and ethereally-thin shredded cabbage is to show up an hour early before they open and pray for a cancellation. They also do takeout, and the to-go tonkatsu is surprisingly good, as the fried pork keeps its crispness.

Decades in, House Of Prime Rib is deservedly one of the hardest tables to book in San Francisco. Reservations open one year in advance, so if you’re a Type A organizer with an impressively stable lifestyle, reserve your ideal date 365 days ahead of time. Your reward if you do: thick slabs of beef and a tableside spectacle involving spinning bowls and salad dressing cascading from as far overhead as a server can reach.

Kann, a Haitian spot in Portland, Oregon, has been the buzziest spot in town since it opened in 2022, filling food-based daydreams with plantain brioche buns and smoked beef ribs. And it’s still going strong. Unlike a lot of other spots on this list, Kann drops their reservations on the first day of the month for the following month at 12pm PST. Patience is a virtue when booking, as reservations can take up to 30 minutes to load on Resy when they drop.

Bacanora is a master class in Sonoran cooking, which explains why it’s still Phoenix’s most elusive reservation, even four years after it opened. This place serves a near-daily changing menu of dishes like 40-ounce bone-in ribeyes, yellowtail amberjack ceviches, and cabbage, pineapples, and elotes charred over the open wood-fired grill. Reservations become available 30 days in advance but sell out in minutes. The hack is to arrive early and try your luck at the bar.

Chicago doesn’t have many handroll bars (current count: three) so it’s no surprise that Noriko is nearly impossible to book. But every effort to get into this 20-chair spot will be rewarded with delicious temaki like nori-wrapped yellowtail, uni, and spicy baked scallops. Reservations are bookable up to three months in advance, though most spots are already taken. You might find success by calling to see if they can squeeze you in last-minute.

This omakase restaurant in Nashville hits that sweet spot between formal and informal, while being almost suspiciously cheap for the quality you’re getting. Kase is definitely for special occasions, but the $75 price point makes it so accessible you’ll want to go all the time—if only getting a reservation wasn’t so difficult. Reservations for this omakase’s prized 14 seats are released six weeks ahead of time at midnight CST, and walk-ins aren’t accepted.

This nine-seat counter in Seattle serves an omakase that stands out in a city full of big-ticket options—and not just because it’s nearly impossible to get in. You can expect 25 soul-affirming courses (including things like uni wrapped in sweet shrimp), a friendly chef, and a surplus of fatty tuna to keep you company. The restaurant’s Instagram announces when reservations will go live, typically at 11am PST on the second to last Saturday of the month.

If you ask someone to name the hottest restaurants in Las Vegas, we’d bet you an order of $29 chicken tenders that Delilah is on their list. It’s a fun night out you should work to secure—the space is quite literally something you have to see for yourself, as there’s a strict “no photos” policy. Reservations open 30 days in advance, though you’ll likely be limited to 5:30pm or 11:30pm (as an alternative, try calling at 7am PST day-of for any cancellations).

A meal at Tsuke Edomae might ruin sushi for you forever. This is nigiri in its simplest form, dressed in nothing but soy sauce and wasabi, and sets the gold standard in Austin for sushi purists. It’s also the toughest reservation in the city to secure. Tickets are released twice a year—usually on a Sunday at 9am—and once that happens, they go extremely fast. If you’re not able to snag a spot, get on the waitlist and be ready to drop everything the second you get a notification.

Secret society membership isn’t necessary, though a few high-profile connections could be helpful in getting a reservation at this Atlanta omakase. We continuously stalk their website for openings because we love dining at Mujō—it’s one of the coolest sushi experiences in the city, and serves excellent cuts of nigiri. Reservations drop on the first of the month for the month after, so be ready to log on to OpenTable at 10am and hope for the best.