How much would you spend to reserve a table at one of the hottest restaurants in town?
Mawn, South Philly’s favorite Cambodian noodle house “with no rules,” has racked up national acclaim over the past year, earning a spot on The New York Times’ 50 Best Restaurants in America list, Food & Wine’s Best New Chef and a James Beard Award for Emerging Chef.
Recently, the restaurant is back in the spotlight, after cancelling multiple reservations made by a scalper who tried to sell tables via the Facebook group Philaqueens, which has about 75,000 members.
“Hi selling a Mawn dinner reservation for this month and February if anyone is intersted!” the scalper posted.
“Eww. Gross … Don’t play with us,” Mawn responded via Instagram story. “All 11 of this person’s reservations are canceled.” The post was set to the music of 50 Cents’ “What Up Gansta.”
Is reservation scalping really a thing?
While scalping has been traditionally linked to tickets for sporting events and concerts, the practice of third parties selling restaurant reservations has become increasingly common in big cities, especially New York and Washington, D.C.
The practice has led to apps like Appointment Trader, which offers a concierge service that allows people to request reservations for hard-to-book places. Sometimes the reservation can end up being pricier than the meal itself.
“Restaurant reservations are a commodity,” said Ben Fileccia, senior vice president of strategy and engagement for the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association (PRLA). “There’s always been that tough-to-get-into restaurant, whether it was 30 years ago and it was Le Bec Fin or 20 years ago and it was Buddakan.”
A bunch of factors — the arrival of the Michelin Guide, America 250 celebrations and the 2026 World Cup games — have increased international attention on Philadelphia and demand for reservations at popular spots. And it’s not necessarily ending on Dec. 31, 2026.
“We’re just going to keep getting more Michelin-starred restaurants every year,” Fileccia said. “Knock on wood, we may get another ‘World’s 50 Best’ here in Philadelphia. It’s not just Philadelphians competing for a table. We’re a true culinary destination. There were three or four different magazines in the past month that said Philadelphia is the [best] place to visit in 2026 in the world.”
For intimate-yet-in-demand restaurants like Mawn, these scalping practices can be a legitimate concern.
Rachel Lorn is in charge of the front-of-house operations at Mawn, which she co-owns (as well as the crudo and oyster bar Sao) with her husband Phila. It is her job to curate the diners’ experience, and she is the one that is juggling all of the messages and bookings. Making a reservation is often the first interaction customers have with the restaurant. Sites like OpenTable, which Mawn partners with, allow diners to input important information like food allergies or special requests. From Lorn’s perspective, when someone else tries to be a middle man, they are interfering with her business and, to some extent, her ability to provide great service.
“On a daily basis, there’s people that are mad or confused why they can’t get reservations and I’m answering to them,” Lorn said. “And then, here this person is getting somehow 11 reservations, and they’re turning around and selling them. It seems so wrong.”
Billy Penn reached out to the person who secured the reservations, and they declined to comment.
A table at Mawn is certainly tough to book. The space is cozy, with only 28 seats. That’s not much room for a popular restaurant with more than 31,000 Instagram followers.
“We have this amazing success, which is great, but we still are a tiny little BYOB in South Philadelphia,” Rachel Lorn said. “I think that it’s easy for people to forget that when they see all the awards and the national attention, but I think this is a good opportunity to remind people that we’re doing the best that we can, and if people are taking advantage of us in this way, that is something that we don’t stand for.”
Beyond loss of control and frustrated regulars, scalped tables can also lead to a loss in revenue for restaurants.
“If these tables are all bought up, or these tables are all reserved by a person, entity or business that wants to resell them, and they don’t resell them, then what happens?” Fileccia said. “The restaurant loses revenue. Servers and support staff lose tips.”
Fileccia is concerned that deep-pocketed diners may cause other issues, too.
“People that could afford to buy a $500 reservation for a time slot and then pay for dinner after that, could sometimes afford to buy a couple, right?” he said. “So then it becomes, which one do they choose to go to at the end, which could leave tables empty.”
Philadelphia is on the case
To be fair, getting a reservation isn’t always an even playing field. Reservation platforms like OpenTable and Resy offer built-in incentives through partnerships with credit card issuers. Holders of cards may receive access to priority reservation windows that aren’t widely available. The difference is that restaurants have the agency to make decisions to opt-in and partner with these platforms and programs.
The type of illicit scalping that happened at Mawn is about to be illegal.
Last week, the mayor signed a bill against reservation scalping practices that prohibits third parties from selling restaurant reservations.
Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who worked with the PRLA and introduced the legislation, said that the law should take effect in roughly 90 days. It will prohibit third-party sites, like Appointment Trader, from selling reservations without permission from the restaurant itself.
In addition, the legislation will make it illegal for people to post and sell their reservations on social media platforms.
“When somebody [sells a reservation] — like the situation that happened at Mawn over the last weekend or so — it would be up to the restaurant to report to the city that an individual was selling the reservations,” said Benjamin Wilcox, Thomas’ deputy director of communications. “So the enforcement mechanism rests with the restaurant itself to notice, point out and notify the city that the scalping is happening.”
While the city will be actively monitoring third-party apps for scalping, the council member’s office is currently working with the mayor to set up a way for people to report scalping reservation practices from individuals. Restaurateurs and food service workers can also reach out to associations like PRLA for guidance and recommendations.
Keeping restaurants in control
Rachel Lorn wants to remind diners that while scoring a table at tough-to-reserve restaurants may take a little more effort, it is not impossible.
She believes that anyone who wants to try Mawn’s food can, with a little effort. After all, the scalper was able to somehow get 11 spots.
The restaurant is first-come-first-served for lunch, and dedicated bookers know when the restaurant releases new tables. What’s more, both Resy and OpenTable have an alert feature that notifies users when desired timeslots become available.
While Lorn would love to accommodate more diners, she said they have no plans to expand.
“We get to curate a whole experience with someone that’s more personalized and that you can’t do in a large restaurant,” she said. “This is our family restaurant that we are building for our family.”
“Some people, their goal is to then go bigger and bigger,” Lorn added, “and it’s just not ours.”
Councilmember Thomas hopes that the bill will let Philly restaurateurs do what they do best, and let diners enjoy the city’s culinary offerings.
“As government, we want to be a support system,” Thomas said. “We understand that there are already enough hurdles and bureaucracy as it relates to doing business in the city.”
“Here in Philadelphia, you can get a taste of so many different cultures,” he added. “And that really is a true testament of our city outside of just the food scene.”
