Is 10 minutes too late to miss your dinner booking? What about half an hour? And how to do you contact the restaurant when there’s no listed number?
Billy De Luca
You’re deep in traffic, sweating in the back seat. The GPS app says “five minutes away”, but the driver’s eyes – and peak-hour congestion – say otherwise. You know they will still seat you at the restaurant, but you also know a lot of your experience will be lost to the memory of this panic. Is 16 minutes too long to keep the staff waiting without calling? What about 20 minutes? Half an hour? This bus blocking the road doesn’t seem to be moving…
A 10- to 15-minute grace period is common for most restaurants, but there has never been a universal answer to the question, “How late is too late?”
For its 2024 Dining Etiquette Report, crowd-sourced review website Yelp asked 2000 users the question, and 76 per cent considered being more than 10 minutes late to be unacceptable. Google’s AI Overviews pegs the limit at 15 minutes, while other global food publications are even more lenient – but that doesn’t mean your restaurant will be.
Of course, the theatre of dining will play on, even if you’re not there. Buses break down, trains go on strike, and some people still can’t read 24-hour time. But if you’re late, it can inconvenience the restaurant staff, kitchen and other customers. Sob story or not, it can also cost you.
Reservations work like a dam’s spillway, controlling the flow for a seamless atmosphere. They help to arrange floor layouts and stagger seating times, ensuring guests can acquaint themselves with the menu and stopping everyone in the restaurant from ordering at once.
There is a difference between being a few minutes late and significantly delaying a seating. City traffic is unpredictable, especially during peak hours, and major events such as concerts or sports games can affect arrival times across the board. Nonetheless, respect and communication are essential.
Billie Whittaker, wine waiter at Famelia in Newtown, Sydney, knows that reservations often come with a “touch” of lateness – especially for group bookings.
“All we desire is a call or a text and we’ll hold the table,” she says. Her sweet spot? “15 minutes max – with a heads-up!”
Felix Coleman, co-owner of Redfern’s Attenzione! nearby, agrees. “Just contact the venue when possible,” he says. If the restaurant doesn’t have a listed number, or the call doesn’t go through, you can try notifying staff through the reservation platform, or checking if they have a contact form on their website.
“Even an email shows you care,” says Coleman. The point is to try. To make contact, to help the restaurant do its job. Shooting the restaurant a direct message on its Instagram account is still better than nothing if you can’t find a number
“If it’s a smaller place, every seat is prime real estate … just call them.”
Harry McCleod
Of course, every restaurant is different, but no one, especially the kitchen or floor staff, wants to be stuck in limbo, with service paused or, worse, backlogged.
Toby Stansfield, head chef at Attenzione!, feels that “little things” like a cancelled Uber pick-up usually don’t cause much disruption. “If we don’t need the table back, it’s usually fine,” he says. “But it can be hard to get latecomers settled when their tables need turning for the next sitting.”
Working across Yugen and Omnia Bistro in South Yarra, LK Hospitality general manager Thibaut Chuzeville echoes this sentiment. An omakase-style tasting menu at Yugen encourages punctuality and has fewer late arrivals as guests are “more attuned to the timing and flow of the experience”.
Notably, however, Omnia – which is in the same building as Yugen but has an a la carte menu – often deals with late arrivals for its first seating. This can be particularly challenging to manage, says Chuzeville, as “no one enjoys telling a guest they have limited time to dine, but it’s equally important to respect the next booking and avoid delays for the next seatings”.
This tension between the experience and timing of the service can also play out in rural settings.
“Not adhering to the agreed time impacts not only your experience but those around you,” points out Bronwyn Kabboord, restaurant manager at Du Fermier in Trentham, Victoria. Du Fermier has one sitting, with chef Annie Smithers in the kitchen and one other staff member assisting Kabboord.
There’s no strict cut-off for lateness, but being a regional restaurant, Kabboord understands delays happen – “from roadworks or taking the wrong turn” – and encourages guests to notify the restaurant as early as possible and “give yourself extra time!”
“It allows us to prepare and hopefully minimise the impact on your evening and others.”
If you’re running late through no fault of your own, most venues will try to accommodate. If you are polite, staff will try to make space. Melbourne-based waiter Harry McCleod says most good hosts will juggle the tables to look after you. But if it’s going to be more than 30 minutes late? “You’re delaying a booking.”
Chuzeville says some guests may feel genuinely stressed about being late. If this is the case, “it’s our role to respond with empathy while still managing the service”.
McCleod suggests getting in touch as soon as you know you’ll be running behind – especially on a Friday or Saturday night. “If it’s a smaller place, every seat is prime real estate … just call them.”
And if you can’t get through, Billie Whittaker suggests staying open-minded. “You might be offered a spot outside or at the bar.” It’s not everyone’s first pick, “but you’re in the action!”
In any case, Australian restaurants are more accommodating than UK chef Marco Pierre White, who explained to a reporter in 1988 how he dealt with “rude, obnoxious people” who arrive late to his restaurant.
“I just ask them to leave.”
Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.
