Charlottesville restaurants filling up for New Year’s Eve

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (WVIR) - If you don’t already have a reservation for dinner Tuesday night, you might be out of luck.

Area restaurants are getting ready for a rush of people wanting to ring in 2020 with a good meal. A special four-course menu is set at Hamiltons’ on First and Main for New Year’s Eve. General Manager Daniel Page expects the downtown Charlottesville restaurant and its extra staff to be busy all night long.

"We do expect to be fully booked," Page said.

Open tables on this special night are few and far between. Revelers were even calling on Tuesday morning to see if they could secure a last-minute spot.

“We begin taking reservations for New Year’s Eve as early as a year in advance, but it begins really starting to get heavy by November or so," Page said.

Trying to make a last-minute reservation Tuesday? Good luck, most restaurants either have very early or very late seating opportunities. A tip from the professionals: if you come into a restaurant, come to the bar on a first-come-first-serve basis.

"Yesterday the phone was ringing quite a bit," Orzo Kitchen & Wine Bar Co-Owner Charles Roumeliotes said.

Over at Orzo Kitchen and Wine Bar on West Main Street, they’re putting champagne and sparkling wine on ice and prepping up a storm inside the kitchen.

"The kitchen is definitely busy with prep. We just cut up and cleaned six sides of salmon, they're making a big batch of Bolognese. So some traditional dishes here at the restaurant that people always go to," Roumeliotes said.

While the co-owner expects to see a steady crowd throughout the night, the restaurant is staying open later this year to spread things out: "It's the end of the year, they're taking a deep breath, and maybe enjoying a nice bottle of wine, something to eat, not have to do any dishes at home. So I just think it's a nice way to finish the year," he said.

“It is obviously tradition that New Year’s Eve is a big night in our culture. It’s something I think of as a celebration of the year to come,” Page said.

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