A reader writes in with a note about Weekend Epicure, another pay-for-play table reservation service. Says the tipster, “A friend used it to get a reservation to Daniel last week and it worked.”

The rules:

• Tables are only for 2, and for Friday and Saturday nights
• Each reservation costs $35
• Table availability is posted on their website on Wednesday at 9am. Each restaurant listed only has one table available.

As of Thursday, a table for 2 at Le Bernardin (9:30) and Bouley (8pm) were still available, among others. Meanwhile, NYMag writes that original table service PrimeTimeTables are now only available to those who want to pony up $450 for a “premium” membership.

This speed of this copycat has brought to mind two thoughts –

1) Clearly no barriers to entry here. For the restaurants where it’s impossible to get a reservation, regardless of how early you book, okay, there’s value there, but what’s to stop lots of others people from just squatting on a bunch of reservations and then selling them to the public when the time comes? It’s like scalping tickets.

2) Chances are you’re not going to go into this business. But here’s another idea — a friend who had a reservation at Babbo but can’t use it anymore recently offered it up to a circle of friends. Would be great to do something like this with perhaps a few more people, which I imagine would work pretty simply — someone with a reservation they can’t use, emails the list, first to respond gets the reservation. Anyone interested in joining a list like this, email us at editor at bankersball dot com and we’ll get a list going around.

Related:
Paying for the Right to Pay for Dinner