Just gotta say, if you're going to offer a novel method of selling reservations, you really should have your system worked out by the time you open. I know the bugs will get fixed, eventually, but right now it seems a mess. Like, if I didn't get my password yet after a couple of hours, do I need to submit my email again via the site? If not, is there any indication when my password might arrive? In the meantime, are people going to be filling up slots while I (and others who were early sign-ups months ago) are locked out?

Gotta agree with the above post re working out the bugs.

That said: hotdamn! Reservation for this Saturday! Now if I could only learn to take pix like Anthony or Ronnie, we'd be all set.

Vitesse98 wrote:Just gotta say, if you're going to offer a novel method of selling reservations, you really should have your system worked out by the time you open. I know the bugs will get fixed, eventually, but right now it seems a mess. Like, if I didn't get my password yet after a couple of hours, do I need to submit my email again via the site? If not, is there any indication when my password might arrive? In the meantime, are people going to be filling up slots while I (and others who were early sign-ups months ago) are locked out?

It's very surprising that this crew would have launched a less than perfect product.

Oh, wow, I am going tonight after all, we have a last minute table for two. Beyond excited!

Got a kitchen table for May 22! So excited... Totally excited... Did I mention that I was excited?

I eventually got a table, too. But only because I decided to re-enter my email address. A few hours after it didn't work, it suddenly did.

Hey, maybe give them a break for having some bugs with a new system/product?

The servers were probably completely crushed with people trying to log in who weren't supposed to yet.

Tried through Firefox, Chrome and just for fun, Explorer. Couldn't get beyond the basic home screen that's been up for months. Oh well.

David Hammond wrote:Tried through Firefox, Chrome and just for fun, Explorer. Couldn't get beyond the basic home screen that's been up for months. Oh well.

David, I'm no computer wizard but it sounds like you need to clean out your cache.

Good luck.

David Hammond wrote:Tried through Firefox, Chrome and just for fun, Explorer. Couldn't get beyond the basic home screen that's been up for months. Oh well.

The browser type doesn't matter if you can't get to the login screen. If you're still seeing the "Coming Soon" site, it's an issue at your ISP/DNS server level.

Depending on how you look at it, that could be the fault of Next (whoever threw the switch on the changeover waited too long, didn't understand the technical aspects of such a move) or the fault of the design of the Internet (a slow, unpredictable process, as the change propagates across servers, more and more people will be able to access the site, but if your ISP is last, it sucks.). My DNS has had me bouncing back and forth between the new and old sites all day.

Re: Passwords not coming through after legit requests, Nick admitted that their e-mail server was crushed. Yes, they can certainly be blamed for this too, but these things happen. I don't doubt that a lot of folks trying to game the system by requesting passwords prior to receiving the authorization e-mail were part of the problem.

Got the email this afternoon and waited and waited for them to send me my password. Reentered email and got password instantly. Got the last $65 seating on 6/29. Have to wait but that's okay.

I know there are a lot of people willing to give this and any restaurant the benefit of the doubt. That's fair. There are also those that are willing to forgive a restaurant any error or oversight, which is less legit but can at least be philosophically consistent. However, in my other life I deal a lot with the concerts and the music industry, and if this were a one-off arena show - Springsteen, say, or some other top tier act - and the ticketing process were this confused or erratic, there would be a massive uproar. Now, this isn't a one-off, and they have time to refine the system, but again - they've had plenty of time, to be honest.

Anyway, this will all be water under the bridge once they figure things out. That's cool. But really, there is no reason any restaurant that's already received advanced interest in the realm of near 20,000 ticket requests should be overwhelmed or "crushed" at any level. That number was ample warning of what to expect.

And I can't imagine things will get any smoother once the secondary market kicks in. Bootleg tickets? Scalpers? Theft? My meal is paid for already. So can someone take my "ticket" and go in my stead? Do they check IDs?

Just envisioning every single complication here, because the complications you don't envision become the ones you have to deal with under less than ideal conditions.

Vitesse98 wrote:My meal is paid for already. So can someone take my "ticket" and go in my stead? Do they check IDs?

From the website's FAQ:
"Can I give my ticket away or sell it?
Yes. The ticket is completely transferable. However, selling tickets for greater than face value may be illegal in your area. Anyone who purchases a ticket from another patron should take care to be sure that the beverage pairing options are as claimed by requesting both an email confirmation from us as well as a printed ticket from the seller. Any tickets purchased on the secondary market are at the purchaser’s risk. We will not be held responsible for forgeries or misrepresentations. Please see the Resales link at the top of the page for more information."

And from a link entitled "Resales":
"Tickets are transferable, but we strongly encourage anyone considering buying tickets to Next from any other source to refrain from doing so without confirmation from us.

For our opening menu, with nearly 20,000 people signed up to buy tickets, we recognize that some people may try to resell tickets. Therefore we have capped sales for every user at 2 tables. Anyone purporting to have more tickets to sell is likely unscrupulous.

We will soon have an automated system in place to authenticate and transfer ticket ownership. In the meantime if you transfer, gift or sell your tickets you must email us at tickets@nextrestaurant.com, provide the name and email address for the recipient, and we will generate a new confirmation number for them. We will not honor any ticket holders without proper authentication.

Please note as well that we will be releasing new tickets daily over the next month… so your best bet is simply to check back on this site from time to time and buy them directly from Next.

See you at Next....
Grant Achatz & Nick Kokonas"

Saw that, actually. Just slipped my mind. Here's another question someone may know the answer to: will this process be the same with each new menu introduced? Will they once again accumulate a giant pool, and then email confirmations/passwords closer to the menu switch date? Or, once registered, are we registered and able to make reservations at will (within the parameters) in perpetuity?

Will there be a point when you can buy a seating, say, six months in advance? If we do have to put our names in a pool each time around, will it ever/always be blind, as it was for the debut menu? Will we ever know an entire year's worth of menus, or will it always be a surprise? (Just wondering about the possibility of seeing, say, Peru coming up in 9 months and waiting to grab seats for that). Will pricing always fall within the general range of this first menu, or will it change with each menu? Will wine pairings always be the same price?

(If this sounds like complaining or whatnot, I'm honestly more fascinated by the intricacies of this than anything else! So many questions ...)

I finally was able to get a password confirmation. Wife and I are dining there on Friday night

Agreed to that. And more. The website is surprisingly incomplete; there's no mention of menus to come or when they're offered. All kids of things. I realize that getting this up and running is a gargantuan effort and more, but am a little surprised that more attention wasn't paid. That said, I'll echo the previous poster's comment that I'm not so much complaining as fascinated and would love to have more information. I have no doubt it will come but, in my three-year-old mode, "I want it NOW!"

I read that they will run it this way (only taking reservations one concept at at time) through the end of 2011. Then, in 2012, they will add an option to purchase an annual "subscription".

Blissful evening. The staff was incredible, very personable, down to earth and friendly, the food...let me just say that we spent the entire meal laughing and smiling and pondering how fresh and exciting Next made such standards. Wine pairings were mind boggling appropriate (we had the standard pairing). We were wowed, for sure, although things seemed a bit less exciting once we hit the salad. It seems like winding down the service is the only potential issue here, they seem to lose a bit of steam post-duck course.

The one genuine quibble at our table was the coffee service. The first pot brought out was alarmingly weak, but that was quickly remedied once we pointed out that our coffee had the color/taste of weak herbal tea. A very minor blip in an otherwise wonderful evening, I'd call this a tremendously successful launch.

The economist in me thinks they should auction the tickets to maximize utility.

Fortunately, he is routinely beaten up by the other voices in my head, and tends not to speak nearly as often.

Does anyone know what is the appropriate attire for dinner at Next? I'm assuming it is the same as Alinea with jackets being required?

Be considerate of your guests and dress period appropriate.

Vitesse98 wrote:Be considerate of your guests and dress period appropriate.

While I certainly understand your first point, I wanted to get additional thoughts since the restaurant is so new. I also do not think the folks at Next are expecting people to show up in attire from turn of the century France. With that being said, someone on FB posted a similar question, and Next's response was, 'We have seen everything from pretty casual to pretty formal. Something in between is probably about right.'

But we dress period appropriate for every other restaurant....

I wore nice jeans with a jacket and dress shirt. Seemed about right.

I think I'm the last guy in Chicago who signed up in the very beginning who hasn't received an invite.

There were people wearing everything from jeans to suits and ties last night. I think jesteinf's suggestion is very appropriate.

None here either mattshafferHP,

I saw someone on another board say they had signed up around Thanksgiving and got an invite ... I am sure I was way before that.

We'll see ...

mattshafferHP wrote:I think I'm the last guy in Chicago who signed up in the very beginning who hasn't received an invite.

You are not alone. I signed up very early in the process (last May, I believe), but no email. In fact, I think that my name/email address has somehow been deleted from the list. Odd, because in February, I got an email from Next that said, "Thank you for signing up for updates on our website. This is the first in a series of short updates we will send out as we lead up to our opening." So, I know that I didn't imagine signing up.

Nevertheless, I've not received my invitation email, and if I plug my email address into the site, I get:
"The system was unable to send you a new password. Please check to make sure you entered the correct email address. You may contact us at support@nextrestaurant.com for help getting into your account."

Other people who signed up but have not received invitation emails have reported getting this message:
"Your email address is in our system but you have not yet been cleared to log in. You will receive an invitation at this email address shortly."

This leads me to believe that there has been some kind of system error that resulted in my email address getting deleted from the list. Yesterday, this pissed me off. Then, I took a few deep breaths and reminded myself that no matter the ridiculous, over-the-top hype of it all, this is just another restaurant, and in the grand scheme of things, who gives a shit?

--Rich

RAB wrote: Then, I took a few deep breaths and reminded myself that no matter the ridiculous, over-the-top hype of it all, this is just another restaurant, and in the grand scheme of things, who gives a shit?--Rich

I believe this is a very healthy attitude.

I completely agree. It seems that the people that signed up the earliest were the ones shut out - ironic eh. A friend of mine who also signed up that early didn't receive an email either.

In the end it's not the end of the world.