In August, I used OpenTable to get a reservation at a Michelin-starred restaurant in CA (is Sonoma considered Bay Area? I'm not from the US so not sure) about 15 minutes beforehand. Process worked perfectly.
At 8pm, we arrived at a hotel in the area and looked online for a place to eat. By 8:10 we'd booked. By 8:16, we'd ironed clothes, showered, driven and arrived for a great meal. Ringing around looking for a table would've taken too long.
"By 8:10 we'd booked. By 8:16, we'd ironed clothes, showered, driven and arrived for a great meal."
Wow. You iron, shower, and drive a whole lot faster than I do.
While one of us was showering, the other was trying to get the booking, ironing, etc. I am often late to get ready in the mornings but on this occasion I could've set some sort of speed record. It was frantic.
Remarkably, our GPS failed and we were relying on remembering a Google Maps view of the path we needed to take onto and off of the freeway. Fluked that too.
But, as it works out, though, there are a bunch of Michelin-starred restaurants in the Bay Area that are on OpenTable: http://www.michelinguide.com/us/sf_stars_2011.html