Countdown to Komi

I finally got reservations at the number-one-greatest-restaurant-of-all-time-to-ever-serve-food (according to Washingtonian), Komi. My parents originally wanted to take me there for my birthday, but I wasn’t willing to give up a kidney or a $1000 bill when I called the first time so it took some work to get in there. Here’s a log of my day by day attempts to attain the reservation holy grail:

Feb. 1, 4pm - Call and ask for any reservation on a Friday or Saturday night. They have one reservation, a 9:15pm on Feb. 20th. I take it. Girl on the phone warns me that the meal takes between 2.5 and 3 hours, have thoughts of my dad snoring through the last three courses after a half a glass of wine.

Feb. 1, 4:05pm - Call my parents to share the good news about the reservations. Mom laughs in my (on the phone) face.

Feb. 1, 4:08pm - Call to change reservation. Nothing available, call back on Feb. 7th please when March reservations open up. It was the same girl I talked to eight minutes before, she was annoyed. Click.

Feb. 7, 5pm - Call for a reservation one calendar month away. Nothing available. Girl on the phone asks if I knew they were just named the #1 Washingtonian restaurant. I start to tell her that I’m blogging it in an attempt to get in the back door. Don’t finish my sentence. Click.

Feb. 11, 3pm -  Call to see if I can get on a waiting list for this weekend or the next. Girl on the phone says she can’t hear me and that I should call back when its not so busy. (What?) Click.

Feb. 13, 11am - Thinking I’ll get the cleaning crew who’s friend is a busboy who knows the girl who makes the reservations, I call. No answer, but I get the recording that tells me the reservation line opens at noon. Set Outlook calendar alert.

Feb. 13, 11:59am - Start dialing. Straight to voicemail.

Feb. 13, 12pm-12:21pm - Keep dialing. My work phone has no redial so my fingers now only possess the ability to call Komi. (332-9200…332-9200…332-9200…)

Feb. 13, 12:22pm - A person! I almost hang up because I’m so shocked, but I compose myself and ask for a reservation, any reservation. He gives me 8:15pm a month away. He tells me to take it now, its the last one. I take it. 

Feb. 13, 12:25pm - Call my parents and tell them to stock up on Redbull, mom asks if they have anything available any earlier. Click.