The world’s most exclusive restaurants aren’t just expensive, making a booking is nearly impossible too. Play the waiting game however, and you could be rewarded with both extraordinary food and experiences. Join us as we take a peek through the doors of the restaurants you can't get a table at.
There’s only one table at Mesa 1 in Mexico and one sitting per evening. Situated in the exclusive W Punta de Mita resort, you can book your table for two to 18 people. If you are lucky enough to bag the table for the night, you’ll pay £241 ($300) per person plus a £161 ($200) reservation fee for a seven-course tasting menu. There's a waiting game with this one, though, so be prepared to head to Mexico at the drop of a hat when your booking is finally approved.
The Damon Baehrel website states that the restaurant hasn't accepted reservations since March 2014 and has been working through a backlog of bookings since then. Why the hype? Guests are shown to their table by Damon himself before a five-hour dinner – after all, you’ve got around 20 courses of what Damon calls native harvest cuisine to enjoy. The current price is said to be between £282 to £342 ($350 – $425) excluding drinks, wine or tip so you better start saving too.
Bookings for famed Spanish restaurant El Celler de Can Roca open on the first day of every month at midnight. However, you’ll need to be patient because your reservation for the three Michelin-star restaurant could be as far as 11 months in advance. Those who snag one of the 45 seats can expect avant-garde dishes made with local produce.
There are only ten seats at sushi restaurant Takazawa so you'll have to get in there quick when reservations open on the first day of the month, for the month ahead. The fine dining place serves complex Japanese-French fusion dishes with the ambience of a Japanese tea ceremony. No need to worry about what to order, chef Yoshiaki Takazawa devises a set menu for 40,000 Yen (around £299/$370) excluding drinks. Or opt for the "Takazawa experience menu" for 65,000 Yen (around £480/$602).
Often cited as the hardest reservation in New York, you can't get a table at Rao’s because you can only go if you’re a regular. You see the problem here? You can only become a regular if someone who's already a regular invites you to eat with them. And yet, the classic New York Italian restaurant has been packed out since it opened in 1896.
Fäviken wins at exclusivity bingo. Firstly, it’s run by culinary genius – and we don’t use that word lightly – Magnus Nilsson. Secondly, there are only a handful of tables and you have to pre-pay for your lavish multi-course tasting menu. Lastly, the restaurant's final day of service will be 14 December 2019 so unless you have a booking for the coming months, there's not much you can do to get a seat at this two Michelin-star restaurant while it's still open.
At Markham's, it’s not about who you know or how much you can pay but where you live. The only way you can dine at Markham’s restaurant, is if you live in Golden Oak, Disney's gated community just four miles from the Magic Kingdom. For that, it may take the cake for the most expensive and the most exclusive restaurant as you'll need to buy a house before you can even try to buy a meal.
Location is key to why Inis Meáin is constantly booked out. The produce is as fresh as it gets – they grow their own fruit and vegetables, and seafood is caught off the coast of the island. Each course has just two elements, inspired by the surrounding landscape. The restaurant has space for 16 diners and there are three hotel suites, so tables book up quickly (those not staying can only book a table on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays). To cap it off, the restaurant is only open a few months of the year, from mid-March until September.
One of the most famous restaurants in the UK, Heston Blumenthal’s three Michelin-star experimental dining experience The Fat Duck received 30,000 phone calls a day at the height of its popularity. Not much has changed since then, considering there are no bookings available until the next four-month booking period goes live. The tasting menu will set you back £325 ($405), excluding drinks and service, but each course is a beautifully imagined plate that will surprise and delight. It’s as much about the theatre as it is about the food.
Sushi chef-owner Jiro Ono is as famous as his ten-seater Tokyo restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro, and its tasting menu. Bookings open on the first day of the month for that month's seating, although lines have been known to be busy for days. Once there, guests must obey specific rules on how to eat the sushi. The 20-piece meal costs 40,000 Yen (around £295/$370).
The French Laundry is so popular that dozens of websites give tips on how to get a table. It’s easier than it looks if you’re quick: the online system only accepts bookings for two months at a time, two months in advance (for example, on 1 September reservations open for November and December). So, if you know when you want to go, be ready at 10am PST two months before to nab your table. When you do finally get a spot, you’ll be rewarded with chef Thomas Keller's fine French cuisine in a stunning Napa Valley stone farmhouse.
If the name Albert Adrià sounds familiar, it's because he and his older brother Ferran, were behind El Bulli in Catalonia, one of the world’s most groundbreaking restaurants, which closed in 2011 after years of critical acclaim. Tickets, currently ranked the 20th best restaurant in the world in Barcelona is proving hugely popular too. You’ll wait months to get a reservation but if you want to try your luck, bookings open at midnight (Spanish time) every night for one service in 60 days' time.
A mention on the hit Netflix show Chef’s Table put LA-based Japanese restaurant n/naka firmly on the exclusive list. Bookings open every Sunday at 10am PST and you’re looking at a three-month wait for an elevated tasting menu – all 13 courses of it. The dinner typically lasts up to three hours and the modern kaiseki (traditional multi-course Japanese dinner) will set you back £220 ($275).
Another restaurant whose popularity skyrocketed after an appearance on Chef's Table is Asma Khan's brilliant London restaurant Darjeeling Express. While you may not have to wait more than a month or so to get a table at the restaurant, if you're looking to score a ticket for Asma's famous biryani supper club, you'll need to book a good four or five months in advance. The tickets are a modest £45 ($56) per person for a three-course meal, if you can get your hands on one.
Noma, headed up by experimental chef René Redzepi, is one of the most sought-after restaurants in the world. Relaunched in a new location last year, the restaurant that spearheaded New Nordic cuisine serves creative menus that change with the seasons – this summer saw an unconventional moulded green asparagus dish with a wild herb salad. Reservations are currently open until the end of the year and although it's fully booked, you can add your name to a waiting list.
The dishes at New York hot spot Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare are inspired by Japanese cuisine and French technique, using the finest seafood and shellfish. To dine here, start saving and be prepared to wait. A tasting menu will set you back around $400 (around £320) and there's usually at least a six-week wait.
One of the hardest places to get a reservation at is La Mesita de Almanza on the island of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, the southernmost tip of South America. It's incredibly hard to even get access to the island, which is often called the end of the world. You have to phone to book one of the 18 seats at the restaurant, however, it's closed for most of the week and the line often goes unanswered. If you're lucky enough to be allowed on the island and get a booking, fresh seafood is the order of the day.
It's easier to get a table at Next in Chicago than others on this list, in fact you can probably bag one next week. But its ever-evolving menu keeps specific dishes extremely exclusive. Every four months, the restaurant explores a different cuisine, inspired by a notable chef or a nation. It's not cheap to pop back and try the next menu either – the pre-paid tasting menu costs up to £229 ($285) per person.
Set on a hillside in Victoria is an organic farm with a restaurant and a handful of suites. This is Brae, a restaurant that everyone in Australia wants to eat at. You can make reservations up to three months in advance but here’s the kicker: most of the tables are held back for guests staying in one of the six guest rooms so you'll have to add at least £332 ($417) for a night's stay on top of the £151 ($190) menu. And even then, there's usually around a two-month wait.
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It's not surprising that one of London's best restaurants is also one of the toughest reservations to get in the British capital. Run by the chef-owner Isaac McHale, The Clove Club rarely has tables available for dinner unless you're booking a couple of months ahead. Those who are willing to wait for their reservation are rewarded with a seven-course tasting menu (£145/$180), including the signature flamed Cornish mackerel.
Disfrutar in central Barcelona is where you should expect the unexpected, which is precisely why it's close to impossible to get a booking. The tables are only available to book 180 days in advance and those who are unlucky can sign up for the waiting list. The classic tasting menu is around £142 ($177) and includes totally bonkers inventions like crispy egg yolk and liquid salad.
Like a real-life restaurant version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the only way to get one of the nine seats at é by José Andrés is to enter with a golden ticket. The tickets are sold for a calendar month, up to three months in advance. If you're lucky to book one of the two nightly sittings where a tasting menu of Spanish avant-garde dishes is served, it'll cost you £220 ($275) without drinks, tax or tip.
There are many reasons why those who can are rushing to dine at Mirazur, not least because it's currently ranked as the world's best restaurant. The view, the service and the incredible French haute cuisine with chef Mauro Colagreco's Argentinian touches create the perfect dining experience that comes with a serious price tag of £230 ($288). If you'd like to dine here, the wait is usually two to three months so you'll just have to be patient.
One of the most innovative and creative restaurants around, Mugaritz and chef Adoni Luis Aduriz have been the talk of the town for more than a decade and yet booking a table is as difficult as ever. Only open from early April to December, the restaurant sits 50 diners and you'll have to send in a reservation request first. The restaurant will then either send you a booking confirmation if there's availability or offer an alternative choice.
The restaurant that changed modern Italian cuisine, Osteria Francescana was one of the first to be recognised as the Best of the Best, a new category under The World's 50 Best Restaurants. It's no surprise then that tables aren't readily available. Reservations to book a table for the à la carte menu or the £257 ($321)-tasting menu are released at 10am (Italian time) on the first day of each month for the third following month.
Taking a personal and modern approach to what Mexican cuisine means to him, chef Enrique Olvera's food at Mexico City's Pujol pays tribute to the country's rich culinary heritage. Diners, who are lucky enough to find an available reservation, are treated to one of the two seven-course tasting menus that both include Pujol's signature mole madre, mole nuevo dish.
Fully booked for 2019, this unassuming farmhouse in rural Maine hides an exceptional restaurant run by chef Erin French. The cosy wooden dining room is decorated with wheels and pulleys from the mill's working past and the restaurant feels more like an intimate dinner party. When the dishes start leaving the kitchen – think comforting sweet onion soup and expertly done lamb chops with fingerling potatoes – you'll know why The Lost Kitchen is one of the toughest reservations in the US.
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Ralph Lauren's first New York restaurant, The Polo Bar could quite possibly be among the most unattainable reservations ever. Unless you're a known VIP, it's nearly impossible to get a table. If you call to book, no one answers; there's no availability online; and if you try to show up at the restaurant, two bouncers ensure that only those with a reservation are allowed in. If you somehow do get in though, the country club-inspired restaurant serves American classics like lobster roll, grilled branzino and New York strip steak.
The immersive, multi-sensory meal at Ultraviolet in Shanghai is more than just dinner. But even though there are plenty of theatrics and high-tech graphics involved, they only serve as a background to the incredible food by chef Paul Pairet. Bookings are not often available and you'll have to keep a close eye on their calendar to get one of the ten sought-after seats.