It's always the same story.  "Messieur/Madam, we are completely booked," the perhaps phony, perhaps legitimate French accent at the other end of the phone is telling you to buzz-off in no uncertain terms.

And you -- you're obviously frustrated and disappointed because, when you're trying for a particular hot restaurant for a special occasion, or perhaps just to impress, you know that entering that hot spot can be the key to a terrific or just average evening out.  What are you to do, when there seems to be no hope?  Well, as they say, where there is a will there is always a way.

There are websites popping up all over the place that will allow you to make and even potentially pay for a reservation on line.  If that seems unreal that you could buy a reservation, consider TableXchange.com, which offers you the opportunity to buy and sell reservations at trendy establishments in New York (and the coveted Hamptons), as well as San Francisco. 

An even more exclusive (and therefore expensive) option is PrimetimeTables.com, which specializes in last minute reservations at exclusive venues.  Diners can pay as much as a $1,000 annual membership fee, to make reservations generally 5 to 15 days in advance, plus the cost of the reservation, when applicable (or if you want to just make a one-time reservation, you don't have to join on an annual basis, but you do have to pay $95 for the privilege). The service can help you secure excellent dining reservations in Canada, France and the U.K., plus many more cities than TableXchange.com in the U.S., including in exclusive areas such as Napa Valley, Aspen, Dallas, Miami, Palm Beach County and others. 

But if you don't want to have to pay to make reservations, then try OpenTable.com, which is free and serves many cities also (including Baltimore, Washington D.C., Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas and more U.S. cities, plus some cities in Canada and London, too!).  With more than 8,500 restaurants participating, you should at least consider making your reservation on-line rather than waiting for the phone call to go through and running the risk that the person on the end of the line will write you in the book incorrectly or worse forget to write you in at all. 

Of course, there are some tricks to making sure that you can get a reservation in the top places, whether you book on line or on the phone.  You can't usually wait until the last minute.  However, if you're willing to be flexible and you can either go very early or very late, you may be able to be squeezed in with last minute cancellations.  Especially at top restaurants that are located in or affiliated with hotels, as sometimes the people who make those reservations are guests in the hotel and their plans change. 

Don't be afraid to leave your name and number in case of a cancellation or keep calling throughout the day, if you are told it is possible that something could open up.  Sometimes they can.  

If you're getting no where with the regular reservations person, then consider using these tricks.  Some people have been known to obtain the email address of the booker even calling their cell number.  (Bribing a bus boy for information never hurt anyone?!).  At a minimum they should be impressed with your chutzpah!

But an easier point of access is to call the person in charge of the last-minute reservations.  How do you get this information?  Well, sometimes the restaurant may publicize it themselves.  Check the website for the restaurant, if they have one, as sometimes contact information for restaurant reviewers/Press may land you a reservation at the coveted establishment.  

If you do have the time to plan ahead, the optimal reservation time has statistically been shown to be 2 to 4 weeks in advance with hard-to-get reservations.  So if you can plan ahead, do so. 

Of course, there is always one more trick to try.  If you can't plan ahead and you can't afford to pay for the reservation and you can't somehow get a free reservation on OpenTable.com, then try to secure your reservation the old-fashioned way:  Just show up at the venue, and slip your green-back ($20, $50 or $100 whatever is appropriate for the place) to the host/hostess, and see if that will work.  If you try it, remember, they may simply pocket the change and never give you your reservation, but hopefully you'll have more success with that tactic than Seinfeld, who tried this method unsuccessfully in an episode.  But he just may not have delivered a large enough incentive, if you know what we mean! 

Remember, there are some people paying $1,000.00 a year on PrimetimeTables.com, plus applicable fees to make reservations in these places.  If it's important to you, you just may have to anty-up one way or the other!