I'm a foodie who never wastes time waiting in line... Especially not in New York City! There are so many amazing restaurants and five-star food trucks to choose from, so there’s no excuse to waste time waiting in a long line to enjoy some good carbs and calories. Another word of advice from an NYC Foodie — Always make a reservation... especially if you can earn cash, just by dining out. Here's how I book reservations to the trendiest city hot spots and those “exclusive” restaurants that are so hard to get into (like Carbone).

Earn rewards point.

I love the OpenTable app because it is great for filtering out dining options to a T. The app lets you filter restaurants by location, food genre, location, price point, etc. You can even filter dining options by specific neighborhoods, which is awesome for the NYC peeps who never know what neighborhood is considered what… like the difference between SoHo and Chinatown. It’s very user-friendly in that way.

And the best part about booking with OpenTable — the rewards, of course! They make it so easy to earn points to use toward rewards by offering “Bonus Point Tables,” which also helps restaurants pick up traffic during off-peak times. This actually works out perfectly for weekday diners like me because I just rack ‘em up and use my points towards $20 Amazon gift cards. I know that points can be redeemed on a complimentary entrée during your next reservation, but I’ve heard from quite a few fellow-foodies that they are actually difficult to redeem because not all restaurants accept these dine-in rewards, which seems odd because these restaurants participate in the reservation app program. But that’s okay with me because I just want the gift cards to use on my reoccurring Amazon orders. OpenTable is actually part of Booking.com, so you can use your reward points towards hotels. Rake up those points!

Download the OpenTable app and start racking up those bonus points to use towards your next entrée or an Amazon gift card.

Earn cash back on dining out.

Seated is a new app that I just discovered on the NYC subway this year, which was then reinforced by a sponsored Instagram story that popped up in my feed a few months later. At first, the advertising made the app seem too good to be true, but it’s actually real. You can actually get paid for eating out. Yes, this is a real perk! You can literally earn cash back on dining out by simply making a reservation on the Seated app, then when you add the tip and sign the check after dinner, snap a picture, and submit your receipt with the total. Depending on the venue, you could earn up to 30% cashback. I typically eat out 4 days per week, and restaurants can get busy on the weekends, so this app is definitely worthwhile.

Download the Seated app today and start cashing in on dining out. Plus, for $5 in rewards, use promo code BIANCA327.

Gain access to exclusive restaurants up to a month in advance.

And then there was Resy… It’s not my favorite reservation app, but I know better that I need to keep the app installed. Resy doesn’t really connect users to great rewards or anything like that. The app simply serves the functionality of making reservations, which is fine. However, Resy is great for getting into those exclusive restaurants that never have reservations available because they’re always booked with a line out the door, like Carbone or Eleven Madison Park. I’ve only ever been to Carbone once, and it was 11 PM on a Monday night. And the wine selection was so good that I took Tuesday off.

Generally, the app is pretty user-friendly and allows you to search for reservations by cuisine type, location, or specific restaurants. I recommend adding restaurants to your “Hit List,” so that you can easily track your bucket list of good eats right on Resy. That’s actually my favorite feature on the app that allows me to view my whole foodie wish list on a desktop later.

Download the Resy app to start getting into those Michelin-rated restaurants everyone is raving about and can’t get a reservation.

Some Exclusive NYC Eats