I keep hoping things improve. - Software Engineer OpenTable Employee Review

2.0
Jun 17, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Extremely great work-life balance, and I'm almost shocked to read other's who wrote that as a con. Most of the employees in SF have families and tend to leave around 6pm every day. Almost all my colleagues are super friendly and great to work with. Plus, we're all foodies! I've never found so many great places to eat in the city than during my time here at OpenTable. There's a lot of passion for making the best restaurant experience. Everyone from the bottom of the company really believes in the mission.

Cons

With that said, where do I begin with the cons? First off, the CEO is hardly around and makes bizarre low-level decisions without entrusting of his direct reports. Another exec is completely out of touch with their org other than a couple projects that interest them. This makes communication a gigantic hurdle and employee promotions a struggle. Another team came in from an acquisition with an *extremely* toxic employee who insults everyone around them causing stress and damaging to the culture and still manages to get praised by the exec team. We have a very tiny budget for anything that increases employee happiness. Only a few employees have standing desks, and there's only a couple boxes of fruit for 400+ employees, and we share low quality Costco sugar snacks. The office manager does care about this problem, but there's little they can do given the unreasonable constraint on budget.

Explore other reviews about OpenTable

5.0
Mar 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great place to work - really good work life balance and culture.

Cons

Not much to say, everything is good

1.0
Jun 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

* It's a great brand * Great partners * Decent product with strong distribution

Cons

* Management style was heavily top-down, with decision-making concentrated among a small group of senior leaders. * This was the same when they were all working at KAYAK under the same group * I observed what I felt was preferential treatment of certain employees (notably of a certain ethnicity - IYKYK), which negatively impacted perceptions of fairness and inclusivity within the organisation. * The workplace environment could be highly stressful, and concerns raised by employees were not always addressed effectively. * Staff wellbeing, retention, and morale appeared to be ongoing challenges during my time with the company.

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