Wow. I am a huge foodie and a big fan of Alinea. I am surprised they actually blog about data and thought process behind the ticketing system. I completely understand the reasoning behind this. High demand for a table at Alinea allows them to do this. I think this will work for very limited number of restaurants like Per Se, TFL, Saison, etc., but will not apply to majority of other restaurants. The big difference between Open Table vs Alinea is for Alinea, you actually need to pay upfront. The demand and the quality of the restaurant allows Alinea to do that, but again, does not work majority of restaurants when there is no single fixed menu.