Most guides tell you NYC Resy reservations drop at midnight. They're wrong about almost every restaurant. We've been monitoring Resy's calendar API 24/7 — here are the verified release times for 13 of NYC's hardest-to-book restaurants.
Get NYC Resy AlertsOf the 13 hardest NYC Resy restaurants on our monitoring list, only 2 actually release at midnight ET (Jeju Noodle Bar and Double Chicken Please). The other 11 release between 7 AM and noon ET — most at 10 AM. If you've been setting alarms for midnight to book Carbone, Lilia, or I Sodi, you've been waking up 10 hours early for nothing.
Every entry below was verified by our continuous Resy calendar monitoring. We check each restaurant's booking window every hour and record the exact moment new dates open. The schedule has been stable for the past 30+ days.
| Restaurant | Release time (ET) | Days out | Neighborhood |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double Chicken Please | 12:00 AM (midnight) | 6 days | Lower East Side |
| Jeju Noodle Bar | 12:00 AM (midnight) | 29 days | West Village |
| The Four Horsemen | 7:00 AM | 29 days | Williamsburg |
| 4 Charles Prime Rib | 9:00 AM | 20 days | West Village |
| Monkey Bar | 9:00 AM | 20 days | Midtown East |
| Carbone | 10:00 AM | 30 days | Greenwich Village |
| COTE | 10:00 AM | 29 days | Flatiron |
| I Sodi | 10:00 AM | 13 days | West Village |
| Lilia | 10:00 AM | 27 days | Williamsburg |
| Torrisi Bar & Restaurant | 10:00 AM | 30 days | Mulberry Street |
| Via Carota | 10:00 AM | 30 days | West Village |
| Bungalow | 11:00 AM | 20 days | Midtown East |
| Tatiana | 12:00 PM (noon) | 27 days | Lincoln Center |
A 10:00 AM drop and a midnight drop require completely different game plans. Here's what to do for each bucket on this list.
Stay up. Be on the restaurant's Resy page at 11:59 PM ET with a payment method on file and refresh at exactly midnight. Both venues sell their fresh boundary-date inventory in under a minute. Double Chicken Please's 6-day window means you can plan around weekend dates with relatively short lead time.
Set an alarm for 6:55 AM (or 8:55 AM). The Four Horsemen's 7 AM drop is the earliest of any popular NYC Resy venue — fewer competitors are awake, which can actually improve your odds. 4 Charles Prime Rib at 9 AM is the toughest of the morning bucket; only 30 seats and reservations clear within seconds.
The most contested time slot in NYC dining — six of the city's hardest reservations all drop simultaneously at 10:00 AM ET. You can only realistically target one per day. Pick a target, be on its page at 9:55 AM, and refresh at exactly 10:00:00. I Sodi has the smallest inventory and clears fastest; Carbone and Torrisi typically last 30-60 seconds.
Less competitive than the 10 AM cluster because most "release-time strategy" guides ignore these. Tatiana's noon drop typically yields 20+ slots that last about a minute — strong odds if you're paying attention. Bungalow at 11 AM is one of the more accessible restaurants on this list.
Three NYC Resy venues are essentially impossible to catch at the release moment, no matter how fast you click. Their fresh-inventory drops sell out faster than the time it takes a normal user's request to reach Resy's servers:
For these three, your only realistic strategy is cancellation alerts. Other diners book the table, then cancel a day or two before — that's when an alert service catches the slot the moment it reappears, often before the venue's notify list pings anyone.
ReservationFinder monitors every NYC Resy restaurant on this page 24/7. The moment a slot appears — whether it's a fresh release or a cancellation — you get an instant email or SMS with a direct booking link. Free to set up.
Most guides repeat what was true years ago. We measure what's true today.
For every restaurant on this page, we run an hourly check of Resy's calendar API. We look at the boundary date (today + the restaurant's known booking window) and record whether it's in the bookable calendar yet. The exact hour the date flips from outside the window to inside the window is, by definition, the moment new reservations were released. We've been logging these flips continuously since January 2026.
The booking-window length (days out) is verified the same way — we ask Resy directly: how far out does this restaurant's calendar extend right now? That number is the booking window. For example, our data shows Lilia's calendar extends exactly 27 days, not 14 (as commonly stated) or 28 (as Lilia's own marketing once claimed).
Every entry on this page is currently sold out at the boundary date — meaning the most recent release happened on schedule and was fully consumed. We re-validate weekly.
There is no single time. Every restaurant sets its own drop schedule. Most popular NYC Resy spots drop between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM ET — not midnight, despite the common assumption. For example, Carbone, Lilia, Via Carota, COTE, I Sodi, and Torrisi all release at 10:00 AM ET. Tatiana releases at noon ET. Jeju Noodle Bar and Double Chicken Please are the rare midnight outliers among popular spots.
Carbone releases reservations on Resy at 10:00 AM ET, exactly 30 days before your desired date. The widely-repeated "midnight" advice is wrong — we have continuously verified the 10:00 AM drop via 24/7 calendar monitoring. Tables typically vanish in under 30 seconds.
Lilia releases reservations on Resy at 10:00 AM ET, 27 days before your desired date. Despite many guides claiming "14 days at midnight," the actual booking window is 27 days at 10:00 AM. Slots disappear in the first minute of release.
I Sodi releases reservations on Resy at 10:00 AM ET, 13 days before your desired date. The 30-seat West Village trattoria is one of the fastest-selling reservations in NYC — boundary-day inventory typically clears within seconds. Cancellation alerts are essential.
Tatiana releases reservations on Resy at 12:00 PM (noon) ET, 27 days before your desired date. Kwame Onwuachi's Lincoln Center restaurant has one of the latest release times of any NYC Resy venue. Drops typically yield 20+ tables but sell out within the first 60 seconds.
The Four Horsemen releases reservations on Resy at 7:00 AM ET, 29 days before your desired date. The early-morning window catches most diners off guard, which can work in your favor. Walk-in bar seating is also available for natural wine and small plates.
ReservationFinder operates 24/7 monitoring of Resy's API. We check whether the boundary date (today + booking window) is in or outside the calendar every hour. The exact hour the date flips from "outside" to "in window" is the confirmed release time. We have continuous data from January 2026 for every restaurant on this page.
It's outdated, copy-pasted advice from 5+ years ago when more Resy restaurants did use midnight. Today, the data shows the majority of popular NYC venues release between 9 AM and 12 PM ET. Restaurants choose their own release time — and most have moved off midnight to give their hospitality teams humane hours.
For most restaurants on this list, yes — if you're logged in, on the venue's Resy page 60 seconds before the drop, and have a payment method on file. For the absolute hardest releases (I Sodi, 4 Charles Prime Rib), inventory typically clears within 1-2 seconds, so cancellation alerts are your most reliable strategy.