This Restaurant Is SO Popular, It Has To Close On The Weekends

Considering the fact that it's typically the busiest time for an eatery, it seems pretty counterintuitive to close up shop on the weekend. 

Unless, of course, you're running Dame, one of the city's buzziest dining destinations. 

You see, the English seafood-centric restaurant, which became a foodie cult-favorite thanks to its famous fish and chips, experiences the "weekend rush," well, all week long. With its coveted tables getting booked up weeks in advance, and hundreds of hopeful diners on the wait list, the West Village hot spot doesn't need to cater to the Saturday crowd. In fact, it's more profitable for the place if it doesn't.

As Dame's owners, Patricia Howard and Ed Szymanski, explained to Eater this week, the cost (and chaos) of operating during what's considered "peak" hours on the weekend just isn't worth it. Plus, as Szymanski said, "The weekend crowd is not as fun to work for as the weekday crowd."

Instead, Dame opens up on Mondays, when they welcome walk-ins and typically cater to an industry crowd that's more enthusiastic and respectful of the establishment (Eater recalled a story in which a one-time Saturday night patron demanded a table without a reservation and had to be physically removed from the premises).

Boasting a team that's cut their teeth at iconic spots like the Beatrice Inn, The Spotted Pig, and Cherry Point, it's not hard to see why Dame's become an instant hit since it first opened as a pop-up in 2020. 

If you do hope to snag a table, you can wait to refresh Resy HERE or start lining up in front of the spot before it opens on a Monday. 

[Photos via Dame]