I’m not implying that the New York Post is a trusty news source, but I did read a story they recently wrote about restaurants that might impact you. The newspaper believes that “restaurants are discriminating against old people.”
Just to clarify, New York Post refers to old people as baby boomers. The story points out that more and more restaurants are eliminating phone reservations. Some restaurants are even eliminating phone numbers for patrons.
The reason why I zeroed in on this story was because I, too, noticed a change in recent months when I call to make dinner reservations. The hours to make a reservation have been shrinking and the hosts leave me on hold way too long.
The New York Post revealed that restaurants need to save money and one way they are doing that is cutting back on employees. This is also a maneuver to discourage older customers from going to certain restaurants that are aimed at younger hipper crowds. Baby boomers are supposedly not comfortable making reservations online.
I’m don’t really think this story has much validity to it, but I do encourage seniors to use OpenTable, the website for online restaurant reservations, as much as possible. Let’s show them that we have what it takes in today’s society. Don’t fret. OpenTable is very user friendly.
DigiDame 
I had this experience when I made a reservation recently for Santina in the Mearpacking District. No phone reservations, so I made it on Open Table. It’s easy.
I think it’s ridiculous and if they are saving money on employees, how are they saving money on the food they serve? Besides, there are enough good restaurants who will gladly take a phone reservation and if they won’t, it’s their loss!
The only problem is that some restaurants are not on Open Table. For example, the most popular restaurant in Palm Beach is Palm Beach Grill. They are not on Open Table. They probably think that they don’t need it. The only way for normal people to get a reservation is to call them after 10am on the 15th of the month before the reservation(s). It usually takes a hour or so just to get past the busy signals. Once you succeed in connecting, they put you on hold and that can take another 15 minutes. The result is that, considering the effort, you end up making multiple reservations.
One thing about Open Table- it appears that restaurants place a limit on the number of seats available via open table- for example 6:15 may be not available via open table- but if you call the restaurant – a table @ 6:15 is available- so always call.
I agree….touché