"Do you suppose NYC restaurants have had people phone in phony reservations before? Maybe they have a way of dealing with it?"
Maybe - it would be interesting to get a report back and find out if they have ...
Any NYC restaurant that is considered "hot" will request a phone number for confirmation when the reservation is made. And they will call back to confirm. Those that are less than "hot" will had the table for exactly 10 minutes before giving it away. And those that aren't "hot," it doesn't matter. Nobody is showing up, anyway.
If this item makes the news, then it'll pack the place for a week before dying out. The same thing happened when the Water Club refused to serve employees of GE
We used to make reservations every half hour in When we were in New York and didnt know what time we would all meet at a place/