Recession Spot Check: Which Restaurants Are Full?

Saturday, Mar 21, 2009 | Updated 9:30 AM EDT

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Gourmet pizza is recession proof.

Industry wisdom says that bars are always busy during a recession, while people refrain from dining out. But is that actually true? We checked out several Manhattan restaurants, each at two different times -- a recent Wednesday and Saturday, during a window from 8 to 9 p.m. -- to see who was busy, and who was refolding napkins all night. S

ome results of note: Dovetail, home of the $88 tasting menu, was near capacity on a Wednesday night, as was the private dining room. But poor Secession had only seated eight diners at around 8 p.m. on that same night. Pastis was packed last Saturday, but Hearth could have seated 36 more people. Fickle times! Check out our chart to compare crowds.


	Wednesday			Saturday
Restaurant	Seated	Empties	Notes	Seated	Empties	Notes
Schiller's	90	10	About 15 at the bar	96	4	At or around the bar: 46
Spitzer's Corner	85	35		146	8	Full, save 2 empty booths in back
Shang	70	About 60	Approximately 20 at the bar	66	64	17 at the bar
Back Forty	50	25		63	10
Hearth	69	27		60	20	8 at the bar
Secession	8	72				Closed for private party.
Momofuku Ssam	41	34		56	4	6 people waiting
10 Downing	55	10		65	0
Da Silvano	40	35	Inside only	73	2	Inside only
Otto	164	16		175	5
Scuderia	93	7		88	12
Le Cirque	36	About 50	22 in bar area	77	18	30 in bar area
Dovetail	70	5	Including private dining room	61	14	Not including private dining room
Fatty Crab UWS	57	8		70	4	Wait for 2 at 8:45: 45 minutes
West Branch	130	0	3 mid-size parties waiting	112	18