incite wrote:Sucks, but I get it. Having recently made a reservation at Senza for my first meal (2nd wedding anniversary) on OpenTable, I was prompted to enter my credit card details to secure my time. I remember reading an article on Eater (link here) about how some folks will cancel their credit card before being charged in order to escape the cancellation (Alinea cost $100, Gordon Ramsay cost $225)...Seems a bit far-fetched to me, but apparently it happens.

It's my understanding that this only works if it's a pre-paid credit card. I've cancelled a credit card only to get a bill several months later for a pre-authorized charge.

Senza's ticket system just went live. I am happy to see that only a small number of tickets (prime weekend seating times) are over the $135 price point they were charging before the ticket system and a majority of tickets are priced below $135 (some as low as $100 - 6:00pm or 9:00pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays). They also are permitting tickets to be swapped for a different night if notice is made at least two days before your ticket date. This seems like a fair system for me; provides incentive for filling their dining room at times where tables have often sat empty. Both the diner and restaurant obtain some benefit and risk is mitigated by the swapping policy for all but illness/emergencies/commitments that arise within 48 hours of one's meal. Walk-ins are being accepted on a space available basis and will be charged $135.

On a side note I dined at Senza last night and it was amazing; one of my better all around meals of 2014. The menu had almost completely changed from my prior visit (spring of 2014) and several dishes had a wow factor (the Berkshire pork rib, A5 Wagyu and the wonton soup were my three favorites). The pastry chef has departed and for now Chef Sandoval (the executive chef) is handling pasty and the desserts were the best I have had at Senza. Also have to comment on the outstanding cocktails; Senza has a very underrated cocktail program - they are so good I have occasionally dropped in during off peak hours just to enjoy a cocktail. Service was extremely warm and attentive as always and the tweaks to the already beautiful dining room looked nice (most notably tables were removed from the middle of the room for a wine/beverage station).

Gonzo70 wrote:They also are permitting tickets to be swapped for a different night if notice is made at least two days before your ticket date.

This is a great idea. I wish all restaurants doing advanced ticketing offered this option. (I'm looking at the Elizabeth ticketing website and seeing a button for "Transfer a Ticket", which may or may not be the same thing...?)

I just wish Senza offered more of a discount for off-hours on off-days. (Elizabeth, too, seems to have cut back on their discounts, now $125 the lowest, $165 the highest, no more $65 or $80 tickets like they offered earlier this year.) I wonder whether a difference as low as $30-40 is enough to fill the restaurant at off-peak times.

nsxtasy wrote:

Gonzo70 wrote:They also are permitting tickets to be swapped for a different night if notice is made at least two days before your ticket date.

This is a great idea. I wish all restaurants doing advanced ticketing offered this option. (I'm looking at the Elizabeth ticketing website and seeing a button for "Transfer a Ticket", which may or may not be the same thing...?)

I just wish Senza offered more of a discount for off-hours on off-days. (Elizabeth, too, seems to have cut back on their discounts, now $125 the lowest, $165 the highest, no more $65 or $80 tickets like they offered earlier this year.) I wonder whether a difference as low as $30-40 is enough to fill the restaurant at off-peak times.

I believe the "transfer" on the Elizabeth ticket site is to officially transfer the ticket to another person (but as with Next/Alinea tickets the seller is on their own to collect money for the sale). Elizabeth has had flexibility with changing one's tickets if you contact them directly about your dilemma (and I would think the more advance notice and the better the reason the more likely one is to be accommodated).

One positive aspect of tickets is that it does allow for dynamic pricing, so if Senza does not fill early/late time slots with current pricing it would be easy for them to adjust the prices. Elizabeth's website in recent weeks has not had any "sale" prices, but Chef Regan did deeply discount a number of dates a few weeks back and sold off a lot of inventory - now that inventory is back up perhaps another "sale" is imminent (or maybe she has decided to try and fetch a consistently higher price even if it means lower capacity some nights). Will be interesting to see how Senza fares with the tickets but I am more optimistic than when they first announced the change after seeing the prices and the flexibility with swapping dates.

Any chance that moving to tickets is jumping the shark? I assume something isn't working for them financially or they wouldn't be making the change. Despite all the talk that it's a win-win because it helps restaurants contain costs and the savings are passed along to the customers, it has appeared to me that it only succeeds when demand far outweighs supply.

Smassey wrote:Despite all the talk that it's a win-win because it helps restaurants contain costs and the savings are passed along to the customers, it has appeared to me that it only succeeds when demand far outweighs supply.

OT1H I'm sure that's the case with Alinea and Next. OTOH perhaps they have had a particularly bad experience with no-shows, and advance ticketing would certainly prevent that.

The fact that Elizabeth has gone from all-tickets to a combination of ticketing and conventional reservations shows that advance ticketing is not always a success as a total solution.

Senza is closing January 17.

Looks like the recent move to tickets is now irrelevant. Certainly a disappointing loss. I was looking forward to a meal there. Though, I drove and walked by on several occasions and it was totally empty.

I was really sad to hear about Senza's closing. They were one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago and my recent meal there was so fantastic. They unfortunately flew too low under the radar and never were as busy as they deserved. Big loss to our dining scene. Am keeping my fingers crossed Chef Sandoval stays local; he is such a talented chef and his lovely wife Cara led one of the warmest front of the house staff around. Best wishes to the entire Senza team at quickly landing favorable new jobs and I look forward to seeing what Chef does next; will be interesting to see what he can do without the constraints of everything being gluten free. Will really miss Senza being a part of my dining rotation.

Royal Lichter wrote:Looks like the recent move to tickets is now irrelevant.

Perhaps. Do you think going to that system was a last-ditch effort to keep the place alive? Was the writing already on the wall? It doesn't seem like enough time had passed for the ticketing system to have been causal but it doesn't seem to have saved the place, either.

I wonder if touting themselves as gluten-free narrowed the number of people interested in dining there. Maybe some people pigeon-holed the place and never came to understand how good it was. The gluten-free aspect, while important to some, seemed like an afterthought in that the food was so good in its own right. I wonder if those menus, served without any mention of their being gluten-free, would/could have been successful.

In any case, I feel bad when people who take on risk and work their asses off to accomplish something distinctive don't get to keep doing it. I'm honestly surprised Senza didn't have a stronger following but otoh, at that price point, in that neighborhood, how often could even the most dedicated fans dine there? It certainly wasn't intended to be an everyday place. Was that part of the problem? At the higher end of dining, many places are well-versed in accomodating folks with a variety of dietary restrictions. Did they overestimate the demand for what they were doing?

I'm saddened over their demise and because of their relatively distinctive goals, I'm left with a lot of questions.

=R=

You raise some good points. I actually avoided Senza at first because of the gluten free aspect; I had been hearing great things, but figured it was great gluten free food rather than great food. It took a Restaurant Week (or maybe it was Chef Week) deal to bring me in the door the first time - and I instantly was hooked.

Regarding the price point, I thought it was a good value for what you received but in addition to the price point limiting the pool of potential diners, the problem I had was the menu was too slow to change. I would have dined there more frequently had the menu changed substantially each season, but since it was mostly just gradual tweaks I did not feel justified dropping that kind of $$$ to largely repeat a prior meal, even though each meal there was so fantastic.

the high-end tasting menu niche is so bloated, there just aren't that many dining dollars to go around here

AlekH wrote:the high-end tasting menu niche is so bloated, there just aren't that many dining dollars to go around here

I completely agree, and I'd be curious to see the difference in their revenues/profits from before they went to a tasting menu to after the switch.

ronnie_suburban wrote:I wonder if touting themselves as gluten-free narrowed the number of people interested in dining there. Maybe some people pigeon-holed the place and never came to understand how good it was.

That's a really good point. I ate at a similar restaurant when I was in Asheville last summer called Posana Cafe. It was a great meal (I think I had locally farmed trout as my main). It wasn't until after the meal that I became aware that the restaurant was entirely gluten free (including the really tasty "breadsticks" that they serve). Although they offer this benefit to those who need it for health reasons, they don't limit their outreach to diners by wearing that aspect of the restaurant on their sleeve.

I often get comments from people about trying to capture a small part of the dining population, and basing a biz model on it, which in my experience is not prudent. In the end, it's hard enough to get the majority behind your product. Appealing to a small minority limits your potential customers and is rarely enough to put butts in chairs and keep a place open.

AlekH wrote:the high-end tasting menu niche is so bloated, there just aren't that many dining dollars to go around here

A flip side of that issue is that there are so very many terrific, creative, chef-centric restaurants that are moderately priced these days. This is a relatively new phenomenon, as such places have proliferated and flourished since the economy tanked in 2008. It's tougher than ever for more expensive places to compete.

http://chicago.eater.com/2014/12/11/737 ... za-shutter

So sad to see this as my bf's mother was Celiac's and this was a fantastic option for her to have the opportunity to dine on delicious and beautifully presented food. For us, we enjoyed dining at Senza when its menu was a la carte, but the pricier tasting menu took it out of our normal rotation. I have no issues with the concept of the ticket/reservations, but simply the revamp to eliminate a la carte (where we could get out of there for $60-70 pp) meant we have not visited in over a year.

Count me among those who are sad to see Senza go. We chose it for every really special occasion with our daughter, who will now be without a restaurant home. My ONLY issue with the place was the lack of parking or valet. I hope that Chef Sandoval finds a new home and continues to offer his gluten-free fresh pasta- the only gluten-free pasta I've ever had that is indistinguishable from the wheat-based article.

Per an email I received, Senza is now Wheat's End Cafe

Join Us For Weekend Brunch!
Featuring specials created by Chef Noah Sandoval

Dear Friends,

Firstly, thank you all again for your past support of our award winning restaurant Senza - it was an amazing journey.

We now invite you to join us at our Wheat's End Cafe for our informal and affordable brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 2pm.
(To clarify, the cafe is located at 2873 N. Broadway in Lakeview - formerly Senza) . . .

New thread here.
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