The best restaurants in this guide are full for weeks. They are also, every night, not quite full. Here is how the gap works and how to get into it.
Know the release
Almost every hard-to-book restaurant opens reservations on a fixed rhythm: Septime in Paris three weeks ahead at ten in the morning, Carbone in New York thirty days ahead at midnight, JAN in Munich in blocks announced on its website. Find the rhythm, set an alarm and have your account on Resy, Tock, OpenTable or the restaurant’s own system already logged in. The first minute decides.
Lunch is the side door
Dinner at Le Cinq may be gone for two months; lunch on a Tuesday rarely is. The same applies to Le Bernardin, Steirereck, The Ledbury and most of the three-star houses in this guide. The kitchen is identical, the menu shorter, the price lower and the room in daylight often more beautiful. We explain the economics in the lunch menu piece.
The waiting list is real
Cancellations happen every day, mostly 24 to 48 hours ahead when the cancellation fee kicks in. Join the waiting list with a flexible party size and a real phone number, and answer within minutes when the call comes. At counters of twelve to twenty seats, The Table, Skina, Atomix, a single cancellation is a whole evening for you.
Bar seats and early slots
Many scene restaurants keep the bar for walk-ins: Carbone Miami, Hawksmoor, Balthazar. Arrive at opening, ask politely and you are usually seated within the hour. The 5.30 pm and 10 pm slots in New York and the 6.30 pm slot in London are the ones that stay open longest online.
Use the hotel
A palace concierge holds tables the public cannot see, particularly in Monaco, St. Moritz and Dubai, where the best restaurants are inside the hotels. If you stay there, ask on the day you book the room, not on arrival.
And if all else fails
Write a short, polite email to the restaurant with your dates, your party size and a sentence about why you want to come. Restaurants are run by people, and people respond to manners. Then cancel anything you will not use; the next guest on the list is you in another city.
Try it
Table FinderChoose the city, the occasion, your budget and a kind of cuisine.Gourmet Weekend PlannerPick a city, one to three days, your pace and your budget.Frequently asked questions
How far ahead should I book a three-star restaurant?
Two months for the famous houses in Paris, London and New York; four to six weeks in Germany and Spain; lunch usually needs a week or two.
Is it rude to ask for a cancellation?
No. Joining a waiting list is normal and restaurants prefer a full room to an empty seat.
Do concierges really have hidden tables?
In hotel restaurants, yes: the house keeps allocations for its guests, and a concierge can also call a chef’s office directly.
