If you've not used Tock to make a reservation before, be aware that they may flag your account as fraudulent if you try to book something that requires payment at time of booking.

I'm going to be in Chicago in July for the first time in several years and decided that I'd like to take my wife to dinner at Alinea while we're there. I was online at 11 am today when the reservation window opened and was able to get the seating we wanted into my cart. To book Alinea you have to pay at the time of booking, and apparently Tock flagged my booking as fraud. I emailed Alinea to see if they could help me, and they referred me to Tock customer service which is frustrating considering they share a management team.

I've tried to use Tock in the past for French Laundry and Le Bernadin but wasn't able to get anything those times.

That sucks if it caused you to lose the reservation you had in your cart. Did you try a different credit card?

The bulk of the time, a fraud determination comes from your credit card company, not the online merchant (Tock). If Tock does have their own advanced fraud protection, which some merchants use, then that is almost always triggered by the address you entered in not matching exactly with your CC billing address, or an obvious risk factor, like your IP address showing you in a foreign country.

I have booked via Tock 15 times in the past 4 years, with no issues. 90% of them required me to pay up front for the "tickets". For me, it has been a great addition to OpenTable and Resy, with each having their own niche.

I tried multiple cards with the same result. I was able to get in touch with someone at Tock who confirmed that it was their system's fraud detection that was the cause, and they have removed the block from my account. By the time that was resolved the reservation I wanted was long gone. I've reached out to Alinea separately, but I'm not optimistic that anything is going to come of it.

I know that Tock allows people to transfer their tickets to other people at face value if they end up changing their plans. Maybe that could work out for you closer to the date you wanted to go. I don't know where people advertise these though.

If you want an Alinea-style experience, get the 7 course kitchen table experience at Aviary. It is a sciencey cocktail bar by the Alinea folks, with 7 crazy cocktails and paired bites. And you are at a table in the kitchen so you can watch them make everything.

I've been to Alinea and Aviary. Both are great experiences, but I'm more likely to pick Aviary for a second look.

If Alinea can't help me figure this out I'll do something else altogether.

There is a a Facebook group for buying and selling alinea reservations - fyi

At this point I'm so frustrated with how this has gone that I'm not sure I'm willing to jump through more hoops to eat there. If Alinea and Tock didn't share a CEO & CFO I'd probably be a little more understanding.

jh0400 said:

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At this point I'm so frustrated with how this has gone that I'm not sure I'm willing to jump through more hoops to eat there. If Alinea and Tock didn't share a CEO & CFO I'd probably be a little more understanding.

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I lived in Chicago for 2 years.
Made sure to get in an alinea run.

Fun meal - would do it again - outstanding wine pairing - but was also bummed because some of the tricks they do at the table you already knew from the Netflix show.

Also - my wife is ridiculous and googled some of the menu ahead of time - which was kinda bummer

Helium taffy balloon was fun tho.

Why would a restaurant use a service to handle their reservations that doesn't allow you to pay ahead if required?

schmendeler said:

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Why would a restaurant use a service to handle their reservations that doesn't allow you to pay ahead if required?

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They don't - I paid ahead no problem when I booked
And have used rock several times for restaurants

I went back and looked, and I've used Tock for prepaid reservations several times. There was an issue yesterday, and unfortunately I either have to wait to see if a seating opens up for the time we're going to be in Chicago or hope that I have two months notice for my next trip to try this again.

Or suck it up and participate in the secondary reservation market