Tips for Making a Reservation at a Restaurant

Making Restaurant Reservations

When you plan an evening out, to ensure you have the best experience possible you should make a reservation. Just as you would call someone before stopping by their home, you should call a restaurant before showing up for a meal. Pre-arranging a table is a courtesy you show the staff of the restaurant, and it ensures that they are ready to give you a wonderful dining experience. 

Most mid- to upper-tier restaurants require reservations, and it is a good idea to make your reservation at least a week before. Often new, trendier places fully book far in advance so be prepared to make a reservation months ahead of time. Here are some other restaurant reservation tips that will help ensure you have a great experience:

Confirm
It's a good idea to call the day before your reservation, just to ensure you're still on the restaurant's books. Mistakes happen, and should something have happened to your booking this gives the restaurant a chance to prepare accommodation or you a chance to look for other options.

Be on time
It’s a good idea to show up 5 to 10 minutes before your reservation time. If you’re running late, call the restaurant and let them know. That way, they won’t think you’ve skipped your reservation.

If you need to cancel, do it as soon as possible
Restaurants plan their business according to the reservations they have. If you need to cancel, let them know as soon as you can, so the restaurant has the opportunity to fill your spot with another reservation.

Don’t be a serial canceller
If you make a habit of canceling reservations—especially at the last minute—you might find it affects your dining experiences. Many restaurants participate in databases that keep track of problem customers and habitual reservation cancellers.

Definitely plan ahead for special occasions
Holidays like Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day and other special occasions are hectic times for restaurants. If you're planning a special outing on one of these high-traffic days or nights, then it's essential to think ahead and try to book your table a few weeks in advance.

Make your life easier with reservation apps
Thanks to mobile technology, you live in an era when it's easier than ever to make a restaurant reservation. There are a variety of apps that make reserving a table at your favorite restaurants as easy as pushing a button. While OpenTable is probably the most well-known reservation app, other popular apps include I Know the Chef, Resy, Yelp Reservations, Reserve, Nowait, Spotluck, and Allset. 

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