awkward reservation deposit situation
I have a business associate who is coming to my city and offered to take some colleagues and I to a 2-star meal. Since we know this city better than him, he asked me to book somewhere, with the expectation that he'll pay the bill when it arrives. I've made the resesrvation and put down a large deposit at a 2-star restaurant for a large group. I thought I could just call the restraurant and ask them to make sure he was billed the full amount of the dinner, and then refund me my deposit after we dine (since it is to insure against no-shows) but in this case the restaurant called me to tell me that they couldn't do that and that I need to settle it privately. Like WTF? Am I supposed to ask a generous business partner to bring cash to reimburse me for my deposit? It would be incredibly awkward.
What should I do here? I either eat the cost of the deposit myself, personally (as my company won't pay) or I ask someone buying dinner to also go through the hassle of reimbursing me.
Just curious how other people have handled any similar situation.