Dining in NYC

When going out to an upscale restaurant in Manhattan I often have to deal with places that don't accept reservations, meaning we either show up early or prepare to wait up to two hours. Additionally, many restaurants won't seat us until our entire party has arrived. We don't invite our artsy friends to those places very often.

But what is most annoying is when we arrive at one of these upscale restaurants, ready to wait the appropriate time for a seat, only to have some famous person waltz in, give their name, and immediately get seated with or without their full party present. It's not like these people are announcing themselves on the street to pull in more customers. Nor are they necessarily going to spend more money than we are. They are there to enjoy the food just like everyone else, and they should have to wait for that food like everyone else.