A restaurant-booking app that allows both the well-heeled and the wannabe-seen to score a table at some of the most coveted restaurants comes with a high price – and plenty of derision, On The Money has learned.
The membership-only Dorsia – named for the fictional restaurant in “American Psycho” that Patrick Bateman and his Wall Street bros salivate over – secures hard-to-get-reservations at exclusive Big Apple eateries like Carbone, Bad Roman and Via Carota as long the diners agree to shell out as much as $500 per person.
But one in-the-know gourmand told On The Money that “besides Carbone none of the restaurants on it are even hard to get a reservation at.”
“I can message the restaurants on Instagram myself,” the source said.
Some restaurant industry insiders fear that opening the gates to anyone willing to max out their credit card could chase away A-listers.
Wall Street interns have flooded social media to boast about getting into hotspots like 4 Charles and Torrisi.
“There’s an early window in a restaurant’s life cycle when celebrities and VIPs flock there,” one restaurateur told On The Money. “If anyone can pay a certain amount to get in, it could mean the celebrities stop going and find a new spot.”
For restaurants, the combination of Dorsia’s application process that supposedly weeds out unwanted guests and its minimum spend is insurance that diners will look the part and spend accordingly.
If Dorsia users don’t meet the minimum, they’re charged the difference on their cards.
“I spend more than the minimum on a bottle of wine wherever I go,” one 30-something New Yorker said of his reason for using the app.
The free app also serves fine-dining spots in Paris, London Miami and the Hamptons.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
