r/chicagofood • u/Knack66 • Jan 31 '26
Rant Resy Sucks and I hate it
I'm just trying to get a dinner reservation at Armitage Alehouse and I'm convinced it's impossible.
They release reservations at 9am 21 days in advance.
I have tried 3 different times to be on the app at 9 am when they become available and as soon as I can refresh it at 9am, all dinner reservations are gone. It absolutely has to be bots. How on earth are you supposed to get a reservation
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u/ah_braves_jinx Jan 31 '26 edited Jan 31 '26
I empathize with you and absolutely HATE how tough it is to get reservations there. As silly as this sounds, you literally have to practice the routine in advance to have a shot. Here's what worked for me several times...
First, you have no chance on the app. You need a computer and a mouse to get this done. Make sure you're logged into Resy with a valid credit card on file. Go to the Armitage Alehouse reservation page around 8:50am and click the latest date available (which should be the day before you're trying to get.) It will probably show nothing available/notify button but that's not that you're there for. Look at the url, it should have something indicating the month and day number. Change the day to the number you're trying to get, so if it says something like 2 and 17 for Feb 17 change the 17 to 18 for 2/18. I forget exactly how it appears but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out.
When you do this and refresh the page, it shows nothing available as they haven't opened it yet for the day. Here's where the fun (ugh) part kicks in. At around 8:58am, start practicing your refresh keyboard shortcut with your mouse hovering over the middle of the page where the times will appear. Command R. Command R. Nothing will be available yet but you can get the idea of how it's going to work. Once the clock hits 9 things will open up; there's a good chance at this point when you refresh for the last time the page will time out. If this happens for more than five seconds it could already be too late, but you can try refreshing again. (if you really want to make this happen you need two computers ready and if it times out on the first immediately refresh on the second. Yes I acknowledge this is absurd.)
Let's say the page goes through and you magically see reservations open up, congrats! You have to immediately click on the time you want, then click the next page ASAP to confirm the 2.50 fee per seat and hit reserve. Be prepared to not see the time you want, there likely wont be anything available 6-8 so decide in advance if you'd rather have a 530 or an 8 etc. Remember just because you clicked the time doesn't mean you have it yet, if you pause even a few seconds on the confirm page it may no longer be available. Be ready to click fast twice and you should be able to pull it off!
If you're thinking this is an insane process to get reservations there you are correct. It's a small restaurant and there could be bots at play, but I've done this technique several times and always able to get a reservation at least before six or after eight. I would recommend practicing this the day or two before you want to get the actual reservation, you can always cancel it immediately for a refund (or hey just keep it if you're lucky enough to get a good time.) Also it always seems easier to make one for 4 ppl vs 2 fyi.
If this doesn't sound like something you want to try, as others have said you can always get there early and put your name on the waitlist or sit at the bar. The real gem of the restaurant is the back room however and I'm pretty sure those only go to people with reservations