Carbone is an Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village that serves $47 linguini vongole to guests like Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna. It is not a place where mere mortals score same-day dinner reservations.
Yet on Wednesday afternoon, there were two prime-time seats available in the Resy app for that very evening. Tables were also available at Eleven Madison Park, Tatiana and Don Angie — all restaurants that tend to inspire practically gladiatorial competition for reservations.
The catch? Every last morsel of crispy okra or buffalo milk caramelle would conflict with Game 4 of the N.B.A. finals.
New York City has been electrified by the Knicks’ championship series against the San Antonio Spurs, a historic run that continued Wednesday night with an astonishing comeback victory in the game’s final minutes. And while thousands of fans are packing viewing parties where they can watch Jalen Brunson sink step-back threes, other New Yorkers are jockeying for some of the city’s most competitive tables.
Open seats at 4 Charles Prime Rib, Wild Cherry and other places seem to be getting snapped up more slowly than usual, said Tarek Arafat, the chief executive of TableOne, a reservation-alert service. And last-minute cancellations had ticked upward for tables in the 8-10 p.m. slot — otherwise known as game time.
“Traditionally, these reservations would fly off the shelf almost immediately,” Arafat said.
Though overall reservations on N.B.A. finals game days are up in New York from last year, bookings at the city’s most award-winning restaurants — those with Michelin stars or James Beard awards, for example — have not seen the same surge, according to the platform OpenTable.
It’s not just fine dining. On Friday, Bianca Salcedo, a 25-year-old who lives in Brooklyn, was shocked to see that the line of people waiting to buy ice cream at Caffè Panna in Greenpoint was just a couple of people long. Typically, it wraps around the block.
She ordered the mango sticky rice flavor, then watched the Knicks win Game 2 at a nearby bar. “I kind of scored twice,” she said.
During Game 4, we visited several of the city’s most in-demand restaurants and found diners having better-than-usual luck getting tables.
6:47 p.m.
Semma
At the South Indian restaurant Semma, a little under two hours before tip-off, Mia Seymour stood behind a velvet rope that didn’t seem to be needed. “We almost didn’t come tonight because of the game — it was close,” said Seymour, 25, an investment banker who was dining with co-workers. She was surprised that they had been able to nab a six-person reservation.
Aadit Bhatia and Aurrel Bhatia, above, who had booked their table a day earlier, were just wrapping up their meal. “It was fire,” said Aadit, a 21-year-old Celtics fan who lives in Boston.
7:05 p.m.
4 Charles Prime Rib
At 4 Charles Prime Rib, a steakhouse in the West Village, waiters delivered burgers topped with fat slabs of bacon. All nine of the restaurant’s tables were full, said Ian Andrews, who was checking guests in on an iPad and peeking occasionally at a TV in the window of a sports bar across the street. A man in a Knicks hat and jeans approached and asked if he could be added to the wait list. “You’re number 17,” Andrews said.
7:26 p.m.
Via Carota
The streets of the West Village were packed with Jalen Brunson jerseys and young people trying to set up projectors. A couple dining outside at Via Carota had brought along their 5-month-old, who was dressed in a blue-and-orange Knicks onesie. They had put their names down for a table about an hour earlier, and had lucked out. Their tagliatelle was on its way. “It’s slow tonight,” said Juan Ramirez, who was busing tables.
7:39 p.m.
Wild Cherry
There was no wait for two seats at the bar at Wild Cherry, the buzzy restaurant inside A24’s Cherry Lane Theater. “We’re usually a lot busier right now,” said Aydin Canel, a bartender who grew up a Houston Rockets fan. Shaking a vodka martini, he said he expected to be able to tell how the game was going from the energy in the room. When the scheduled tip-off arrived at 8:30 p.m., however, no one picked up their phones.
8:30 p.m.
Ha’s Snack Bar
The eight-seat bar at Ha’s Snack Bar on the Lower East Side was nearly empty. As patrons sipped wine and slurped oysters, four cooks caught glimpses of the game on a laptop that was resting on a shelf in the open kitchen. “We’re down,” one of them said, pouring fish sauce over a tub of pork ribs.
8:49 p.m.
Minetta Tavern
Minetta Tavern in Greenwich Village was practically obscured by the line of Knicks fans waiting to get into Off the Wagon, a sports bar down the block. One of the fans took a bite of his turkey sandwich. “If you’re smart, you’d walk into a place like this — you won’t have to wait long,” said Jimmy Antoine, above, a manager at the tavern.
The restaurant was not showing the game, so Kobe Cuprill, 25, a security guard, pulled it up on his iPhone. The Knicks were down in the first quarter, and Karl-Anthony Towns was already in foul trouble. Cuprill was choosing to stay positive. “We’re coming back,” he said.
9:37 P.M.
Theodora
By the second quarter, hundreds of people had gathered to watch the game projected onto the wall of a building in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood, where Spike Lee has been known to parade around after a Knicks win. There were groans when Josh Hart missed a free throw and limp cheers when Brunson made one. It was a relatively quiet night at Theodora, a Mediterranean restaurant where dinner lines often start before 5 p.m.
Bo Hamby, a manager there, was not that worked up about missing the game. “Make sure you note that I’m a Dodgers and Lakers fan,” he said.
10:32 P.M.
Bong
Trevor Edwards had waited up until midnight a few weeks earlier to secure a reservation at Bong, a Cambodian restaurant in Crown Heights. He was not willing to give it up, even though he is a die-hard Knicks fan. “I’m a little bit superstitious,” said Edwards, 36, a consultant. He and Ashaki Nehisi, 33, who works in tech, were watching the game on an iPhone between plates of fried dorade and salt-and-pepper shrimp.
The Knicks were trailing, but it wasn’t over yet. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” Nehisi said.
She was right not to give up hope. An hour later, fans streamed out of sports bars and upscale restaurants alike to celebrate in the streets. The Knicks had won it, 107-106.
Christopher Calabrese contributed reporting.
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