Local restaurant owners are poring over Valentine’s Day reservations lists after news of a widespread reservation scam broke late yesterday.
According to Nation’s Restaurant News, the website 911reservations.com (now gone) was attempting to resell highly coveted Valentine’s weekend reservations at high-end restaurants for $50 to $100 to procrastinating Romeos both on their site and on Craigslist. What has restaurateurs upset is that they may be holding tables for phantom diners who never show up on their biggest night of the year, a financially damaging proposition.
After a list of aliases used by the scammers was published, Josh Silvers of Santa Rosa’s Syrah Bistro found two reservations made by the scammers. Cyrus’ Nick Peyton found one on his waiting list. They have since canceled the reservations.
The Farmhouse Inn in Forestville said they hadn’t been hit and Madrona Manor claims they may have been spared by requiring pre-payment for their Valentine’s event. Many restaurants, however, like Forestville’s Mosaic, are still just finding out about the scam and are rechecking their lists against lists of fake names and numbers published on foodiebuddha.com (an Atlanta food blog) and sf.eater.com.
Napa may have been harder hit, according to NRN, which reports that the scammers claimed to have reservations at Ad Hoc, Auberge du Soleil, Bistro Jeanty, Bottega, Bouchon, Go Fish, La Toque, Martini House, Mustards, Press, Ubuntu and Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant.
Eater SF says that heavy hitters N74, Ana Mandara, Coi, the Ritz, Boulevard and Zuni were among the San Francisco restaurants listed with “for sale” reservations on the scam website before it was taken down.
Worried you could have been a victim? If you bought a Valentine reservation from someone on Craigslist or the 911reservations.com website, you may be out of luck (but call the restaurant anyway to check). If you’re a restaurant owner, the site foodiebuddha.com has listed a number of fake numbers and aliases reportedly used by the scammers.
Let me know if your restaurant has a fake name on the guestlist by emailing me.
Carneros Bistro and Wine Bar in Sonoma was hit with the scam name Ellie Worthmore! Already canceled and rebooked. Thanks for the heads up.