I have a meta-suggestion: go get an OpenTable account. They're absolutely free to have and use, and they've never spammed me (I gave them a unique email address to reach me at, so I can really tell). I completely utterly <3 OT.
OT has three key benefits:
1) Make reservations online. No credit card (you never give OT a credit card). Last minute canceling with no penalty. Last minute reservations. Searching through geographic areas to see "where is there an open table right now, near me." Search by price range, locale (granulations as fine as by neighborhood, e.e. "Harvard Square"), etc.
2) The review system is more granular than Yelp's or anybody else's: diners are asked after every kept reservation to rate the restaurant on several things, including how noisy/vivacious it was. If you care about certain specific things, you can look them up.
3) By making and keeping reservations, you earn points. Earn 2000 points, you get a $20 gift certificate for any OT restaurant. Most reservations are worth 100 points, but restaurants which are trying to drum up customers in less popular times stage 1000 point promotions. There are lots of these, at excellent places, typically on weeknights and early and late Fri, Sat and Sunday.
Oh, and I forgot: 4) As mentioned above, you get a little survey in your email to fill out (optional, encouraged) when you keep an OT reservation. Not only can you rate the place and write a little text review, there is also a box for writing a message directly to the restaurant, which is not part of your public review. This is a much more convenient and reliable way of communicating directly with the restaurant; it doesn't betray your email address to them and doesn't wind up with the not going to the restaurant's spam filter. So if you were thinking, "Hey, that server was really wonderful, I should let her boss know," it's suddenly that convenient.
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OT has three key benefits:
1) Make reservations online. No credit card (you never give OT a credit card). Last minute canceling with no penalty. Last minute reservations. Searching through geographic areas to see "where is there an open table right now, near me." Search by price range, locale (granulations as fine as by neighborhood, e.e. "Harvard Square"), etc.
2) The review system is more granular than Yelp's or anybody else's: diners are asked after every kept reservation to rate the restaurant on several things, including how noisy/vivacious it was. If you care about certain specific things, you can look them up.
3) By making and keeping reservations, you earn points. Earn 2000 points, you get a $20 gift certificate for any OT restaurant. Most reservations are worth 100 points, but restaurants which are trying to drum up customers in less popular times stage 1000 point promotions. There are lots of these, at excellent places, typically on weeknights and early and late Fri, Sat and Sunday.
Oh, and I forgot: 4) As mentioned above, you get a little survey in your email to fill out (optional, encouraged) when you keep an OT reservation. Not only can you rate the place and write a little text review, there is also a box for writing a message directly to the restaurant, which is not part of your public review. This is a much more convenient and reliable way of communicating directly with the restaurant; it doesn't betray your email address to them and doesn't wind up with the not going to the restaurant's spam filter. So if you were thinking, "Hey, that server was really wonderful, I should let her boss know," it's suddenly that convenient.