Also, he claims in his post that Open Table is loathed - not true. Open Table allows you to see a guest's history, and lets you track good guests and bad guests. While it's not perfect and it does cost money, Open Table is a decent solution, hence why so many restaurants use it...
Actually OpenTable is loathed and I have worked at many restaurants that hated the fees, the crap software, and feeling they are forced to use it otherwise they would see a major dropoff in reservations. It should be noted that many of the hot and trendy places do not even use them because they are fortunate enough to not have to pay the "OpenTable tax" (their words from a number of folks). The only thing worse in the minds of most restaurant owners is Yelp. The "service" they provide truly is extortion.
