Monday is the new Friday in Perth Hungry diners queue outside Jamie's Italian restaurant in the city on Friday night. Picture: Jordan Shields Source: PerthNow MONDAY is the new Friday when it comes to fine dining. Despite the city experiencing a culinary revolution that has seen more than 50 new restaurants open in the past year, getting a booking at some of our top nosheries can be mission impossible. Many outlets expect patrons to wait up to an hour and long queues outside venues such as Jamie's Italian in the CBD are all too common. Scroll to the bottom to see our 6 tips to beat the queues Hospitality Group Training's Iain McDougall said it was leaving many diners frustrated. As general manager of the Perth organisation that trains wait-staff to provide the best possible dining experience, Mr McDougall said his biggest gripe was being spoken to by an answering machine when he tries to book a table at one of the city's new restaurants. "I am certainly not going to queue when I go out for dinner," he said. I'll just walk away from that. Queuing is all about turning the tables over and not about providing a full on dining experience. I go out for dinner not to stand in a queue. And if I get an answering machine I will either take my business elsewhere or send them an email asking the restaurant to phone me so I can make a booking with a real person. How do you beat the queue? Let us know below The trend for many new food outlets is not to take bookings over the phone. Perth's Mr Cool of dining, Clint Nolan, started the trend when he opened his Who's Your Mumma? bar in Fremantle and listed no telephone number on his website. At Varnish on King, the new whiskey bar/eatery in the CBD, it's a similar story. Though the phone number is listed, they discourage phone bookings by directing customers to book online. Like many Perth restaurants, they use the Dimmi online booking system which takes real-time restaurant reservations and can be accessed by a free mobile phone app. "An online system is so much easier to use," Varnish marketing director David Gardiner said. We don't have to pay someone $44,000 a year to sit on the phone and take bookings. The customers understand it. It's an automatic database, there are no stuff-ups. The customer knows instantly if there is a table available. We always hold a few tables back for walk-ins. And we have a hostess out the front on Friday and Saturday nights who will ask punters if they are planning to eat and will escort them in. Mr McDougall begs to differ. "The whole dining experience starts with a personal engagement with the customer," he said. If I was a restaurateur I would ensure that all bookings were personalised by a real person which allows you to reinforce seating times and numbers. And it makes customers feel welcome. I believe diners in Perth are after a dining experience, not about turning up and hoping for a spot in a queue. If you think ahead, well ahead, you might luck out at Amuse, Perth's premier degustation eatery in East Perth, which is booked out on weekends for the rest of 2013. Rebecca Grapiglia and David Gardiner at Varnish, which uses an online booking system. Owner Hadleigh Troy said about 80 to 90 per cent of his customers book online. One way of getting a last-minute booking was to go on the waitlist. "We always have about 10 people on the waitlist every weekend," Mr Troy said. The moment we receive a cancellation we get on the phone. As for phone-versus-online bookings, Mr Troy said online was much easier and efficient for both the customer and restaurateur. "We would rather be attending to our customers actually in the restaurant at night so we leave the recorded message on for the 10 percent of people who book by phone," he said. There are ways to beat the system. Dimmi chief executive Stevan Premutico said punters, particularly the younger ones, prefer the online booking system using their phones when they were out on the town. "There is no need to call 15 restaurants trying to secure a table for Saturday night at 7:30pm," he said. You can search hundreds of restaurants online and check their availability instantly. He said customers who were flexible by choosing to dine earlier or later than peak times or on earlier weekdays often got the best seats in the house and better service. "Monday is the new Friday," Mr Premutico said. Following your favourite restaurants on social media was also a way to snap up a last-minute table as cancellations were often posted online. Becoming VIP members of online reservation systems also meant getting preferential treatment and adding your name to restaurant waitlists was another way of beating the system. A recorded message that plays when diners ring Jamie's Italian says the restaurant is heavily booked for three months. But, according to the nice man on the phone, there is a chance that patrons who come down before 11.30am or 5.30pm won't go away hungry. Staff will also take your phone number and give you a buzz if you decide to go shopping instead. "The more popular times can get snapped up quite quickly but we always have availability at the beginning and end of the day," a Jamie's spokeswoman said. And if we can't guarantee a reservation for you, feel free to come down to the restaurant and pop your name on the door with our host and grab one of our gorgeous bar snacks and a drink while you wait. It's all part of the experience. Be flexible. Instead of going on the weekend, try booking for a Monday or Tuesday. Follow your favourite restaurant on social media. Special events and last-minute tables becoming available are often posted. Be persistent with the phone staff but not annoying. If you can't get through because the message bank is full, keep redialling. Try a walk-in. Many restaurants, such as Nobu, Co-Op Dining and Jackson's, have a corner set aside for walk-ins. Plan in advance. Treat a seat in a top restaurant like you would a seat at a hot show and book it in. Become a regular of a restaurant you really like and staff will remember you. Their online booking systems will record your likes and dislikes, how many times you have been, your average spend and even your birthday.