I’ve had reservations at upscale places in LA ask for a credit card up front and threaten a fee if I were to no-show, and some places have minimums for premium tables (e.g. 71Above window tables). A deposit up front doesn’t seem too far out of the question.

I travel all over the Us (Texas, NYC, and Cali mostly) and I've literally never had to put down any kind of deposit or anything of the sort when making dinner reservations, and I frequently make reservations at plenty of nice, upscale places.

Many high-end restaurants in NY, CA, Berlin, Copenhagen, etc. require a deposit. See Tock (all prepaid, https://www.exploretock.com) or Resy (some prepaid, some cancellation fee, https://resy.com).

It's common in San Francisco. Chubby Noodle is an example I booked today for a party of 8.

Auberge in Napa requires a valid CC to make a reservation https://aubergedusoleil.aubergeresorts.com/dining/

Funny enough they also use OpenTable, so no need for this Google stuff — just use the API or book through the site. You can also call them if for some reason that is preferable.

Italy, France, uk. Some of them were not even starred.

I live in Portland, OR and I have to pay up front for a number of places I go to. Usually not the full meal (I think one or two places do that) but there's a deposit essentially that is taken off your bill (or given back if you cancel 24-48 hours ahead of time) at a good chunk of the nice places around.