Three hours for a new Bahama Breeze in Memphis in 1998. It was ridiculous and just not that good AND it was my birthday! My boyfriend (husband now) and I put our name on the list, went back to my nearby apartment to drink and eat appetizers while we were waiting.

Well, we only waited 2 & 1/2 hours at Serendipity--short compared to others who waited 3 hours for ice cream. However, this was in the middle of January with snow flurries! What got me was the ice cream was quite ordinary, nothing that I couldn't get out of my pantry or freezer at home, just gluttonic.

We went to Joe's Stone Crab in Miami beach and waited 2:45 minutes. I think the weight would have been considerably shorter if we slipped the maitre de a hundred or even a fifty. The stone crab was expensive enough!!

That's so funny, MRT. We had almost the exact same experience at Joe's Stone Crabs. We also decided not to enrich the maitre d' but there was no doubt it was the way to get seated earlier. It wasn't worth the wait anyway.

We either make rezzies or know by experience or the restaurant reputation that there will be an hour wait w/out and that there is a comfortable area to wait in - bar, bar area, outside area, etc.
I won't wait longer than 1 hr and I also love opentable for no matter where I am traveling it often comes in handy.

but, regarding Joe's....

I don't eat stone crab but I have a question. years ago we went to joe's, (i watched) which cost what I thought was a ridiculous amount of money - b/c yes, some waiter told our friend maybe 2 hrs and then he slipped him some cash and suddenly we were seated in 20 minutes - a lot of people say they do this - so to me then it is something the restaurant owner must know about, his waiters do to get xtra cash and it is allowed, meaning unless you want to pay double or triple of what your bill would be, you will wait a very long time.

is it that good? are the stone crabs so much different than the ones say at Monty's, where I did eat a few years ago w/ some friends and while I enjoyed steak they sure seemed to enjoy their stone crabs, and it was quieter, lovely view, no food being thrown on the tables, etc.....

So I guess Joe's is partially the 'experience' - maybe like the old Durgin Park in Boston used to be?

When my husband and I got married, we spent the night in St. Augustine FL. It was cold and rainy, so we opted to Carrabba's which was close to our hotel. It was packed - it took about 1 hour and 15 minutes, but it was not a bad wait - the wait staff continually brought appetizers out to the waiting area, which was an alcove full of comfortable seating.
I had been to three other Carrabbas in NE FL and none did this - it was a great gesture, and I would happliy go back and wait there again.

Three hours is the longest I've waited, and I'd never wait that long again. It was for P.F. Chang's and Maggiano's.

I think that it is pretty funny that we are all mentioning the same restaurants. We have had to wait at Joe's for 2 hours or so. Ever since then, we do the take-out if we fell like stone crabs. Also, the PF Chang's on Biscayne in Miami....had to wait over an hour...with reservations!!!

Longest wait..hmm...would have to be the Sunrise Cafe in 1984. I waited 45 minutes just for a flippin grill cheese sandwich, and to make matters worse i was so starving the minute i walked in the door. arrrghhhhhhh

I live in Scottdale and work next to a Cheesecake Factory--we get tons of customers who are waiting 2-21/2 HOURS for a seat!!! That's crazy, the food is crap--but lots of it, I guess that's why they like it???? You ever notice how the super long wait times are at huge mediocre chain restaurants? It's a shame more people don't support small locally owned places, they are almost always better and if you look around you can find places in the same price range as Cheesecake, Olive Garden, etc.

Longest wait with reservations: Hugo's Frog Bar in Chicago. Waited nearly an hour even though we showed up right on time for our table, we had confirmed the reservation and the entire party arrived together. The bar was packed, no place to stand with a drink, much less sit down. I was there with three Italians who didn't want to go anyplace else so we waited. The food was NOT worth the wait. The place was very poorly managed. So Hugo's Frog Bar is permanently off my list of recommended restaurants in Chicago.

Without a reservation: probably a few places where we've waited up to an hour in NYC and Florida. But they were restaurants that handed out pagers to let you know when your table was ready and there were things to occupy your time while your waited or places to sit, so it didn't seem that bad.

Generally, I don't wait more than 15 minutes when I have a reservation and more than 30 when I don't. There are plenty of good restaurants out there.