It can be a double edged sword. A restaurant near me got written up in the NYTimes and a few other "foodie" publications. What used to be a plan a head a few weeks reservation turned into the place selling out the month in less than 10 minutes.

The owner, recognizing that eventually the hype would die down and locals are his lifeblood, had to come up with all kinds of creative ways to make sure at least half his seats went to locals.

It's been about five years now and it's still not an easy reservation but I no longer have to logon at 12:01am on the 3rd of the month to score a seat two months from now or go attend a street concert on a random Tuesday afternoon in order to get early access to the reservations list.