@#5 ... one cannot swing a dead cat without hitting a place to get a great meal ...

Yup.

But then there are places that seem to have a certain ~aura~ about them. I was once treated to one of those places when I was wined and dined by a corporation for their business. I was actually a low-level IT person at the time, but they thought I had a say in the decision making process. Yeah, my manager sacrificed my participation instead of his.

The food was OK, yeah, not great, or even good. Just OK. But the "presentation" on the plate was something I had not seen previously, it was odd. Food piled up oddly. And the meal took two hours to get through. I guess that appeals to some.

On the other hand, I also had to sit through two hours of tedious sales presentations as I choked down the food.

I had been hoping for good food to ease the pain of the sales presentations, but I was disappointed.

And I then realized why my manager had sacrificed my participation in the event instead of his.

Oh well.

.

@#7 ... I am also curious as to whether or not the restaurants actually care. ...

For some reason, it seems to add to a restaurant's ~prestige~ when they turn away people who thought they had a reservation.