Are restaurant reservations truly essential?
 

Gang,

Everything I read says "you better make reservations or else" for restaurants, whether in Rome, Florence, Venice, or wherever.

However, I was in Rome back in 2000 and never had a problem getting into a restaurant on any evening, even during peak hours. Basically we'd wander around til we found one that caught our eye and go in.

I'm heading back to Italy in two weeks .. should I be concerned with reservations or not? Have things changed? I'm not planning on going to any fancy expensive places.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

My experience is that if you are looking to eat at the stock places frequented by visitors from North America, and particularly those hyped in US-published guidebooks, then yes it pays to book. But if you are happy to go to one of those mid-range, often utter memorable but not especially hyped restaurants that fill Roma, Firenze and Venezia, then absolutely no need to book. As my Italian mentor (looking over my shoulder at this very minute), says: "I wouldn't think of eating at a restaurant that requires me to book in advance. No would any self-respecting Italian. It would just destroy the magic of the moment. Deciding now, immediately, that we'll eat out."
Nicky
www.hiddeneurope.co.uk

If you do not have a particular place, or places, picked out than I would not worry about making reservations. You will get a table someplace.

There is a misconception mentioned on this site that it is more difficult to get a table at "fancy, expensive" places. Frankly, in my own (albeit limited) experience, I find that restaurants like this in Italy, with exceptions, of course, would tend to cater to tourists and might be EASIER to get into than the places favored by locals. If a place is crowded with locals at meal time, this might (might!) mean that it is a good place offering good value. A place that has lots of tables left at popular dining hours might give me a bit of pause.

I have to say that I disagree with Hidden Europe. At the risk of hectoring, I spent a week in Rome recently and I cannot tell you how many diners we saw being turned away because they had not reserved ahead. This happened over and over every night. Most of the places I ate at were listed on the SlowFood Italian website and were packed with Italian diners. None were tourist places of the type which HiddenEruope has described. Remember this was January. The same thing happened last winter in Florence at a somewhat out-of-the-way place in the Oltrarno that I have not seen listed in any guidebook and was, in fact, recommended to me by a Florentine friend who insisted that we book at least a day ahead. We did, and we were glad that we did becaue many were turned away at the door and not a foreigner among them.

To each his own. If you have a particular place in mind, book ahead to avoid disappointment.

Just compare it to your own city. I live in the Dallas area. I can get in almost anywhere with no reservations on Mon.-Wed. As the weekend nears, places fill up and it's hard to get in most places on Friday and Saturday nights. However, as locals, we know of a couple of pretty decent restaurants that never seem crowded, thus suitable for a last minute Saturday night dinner.

I assume that a similar situation exisits in all major cities. The "hot, happening" places are booked solid for months. Most places are busy on weekends. Of course, not being a local, one is unaware of the decent places that are never crowded.

If any place with decent food will do, then probably not. If you know you want to try a specific place because of reviews you've read, then yes.

We never make restaurant reservations when we travel and we never have trouble eating where we choose to eat. We rarely eat at restaurants mentioned in guidebooks, so maybe we're missing some life-changing meals, but honestly we've always eaten quite well. We both have pretty sensitive palates, and, without going into details, I'd say we "know" good food, but we have no interest in how many stars a restaurant has, who has eaten there, where the chef previously performed, etc. What we are interested in is well-prepared food, something which is amazingly easy to come upon in Italy! :)

In all the years we've travelled, the only time we had a reservation at a restaurant was in Lenno (Lake Como) and the reservation was made for us by our hotel manager -- AND we ended up politely leaving the restaurant after finding it not to our liking.

Again, maybe we're missing out on something absolutely spectacular, but we're too impulsive to be restricted by reservations...especially when we spend the day passing by so many wonderful places to choose for meals!

I think the same common sense sould be applied that one would use in any city. For example if you were to ask if you need to make reservations in NYC, the answer would depend entirely on what you are seeking. Can one dine out (and dine well) each and every night in NYC without reservations? Absolutely! However can you dine in places such as Per Se, Daniel, Bouley, Babbo, etc. without reservations? Possible, but not likely. I image it would be similar in most any other city - tables in top restaurants are usually hard to come by, but lesser known, local places are usually happy to accomodate walk-ins. Not to say that these places do not fill up also, but it is unlikely that EVERY such place will fill up. If one is filled, move on to the next.

Unless you have specific restaurants in mind that you would like to try, I think you can do just fine without reservations. Often if I am out and about during the day and I see a place that looks promising I will pop in and see how booked they are. If necessary I will make reservations for later that evening or, if I really want to eat there, later in my visit.

we found Venice particularly difficult, at least in September. We'd wander and restaurants would be very full. And the Italians tend to linger over their meals longer...the restaurants don't plan to turn the tables like they do in the US. So fi there was nothing, the maitre d' will simply send you away, not tell you there will be a table in an hour.

In Florence it was hit or miss. Some places we simply couldn't get into.

All in all, while I don't think you have to make reservations weeks in advance, I think it is a good idea to make a reservation on the day of. I always have the hotel call ahead to a place, perhaps that caught my eye the day before, to make a res for that evening.

Yes, forgot to address Venice. I found it essential to book ahead in Venice, even during my last visit which was in January a couple of years ago. There is an overabundance of tourist traps and the good places popular with locals or more discerning tourists (NOT the "fancy" places) can defintely be booked out. At this time of the year you will find that more than a few Venetian places closed, making it even more important to book ahead unless you just want to take your chances and eat anywhere or risk waiting a long time for a table.

Despite HE's mentor, to whom I defer with all due respect, I have been to many restaurants in Europe where we have been the only tourists and have:

A. been told to come back in a couple of hours or

B. been seated because we have reservations when others have had to wait or

C. been told that an almost empty room is full.

Small restaurants, especially, might have only one seating between 8:00 and 11:00 PM.

If you know where you want to have dinner, it's a good idea to reserve.

((I))

When my friends in Florence invite me to dinner, they always make a reservation. These are not tourist spots, but local places, some out in the countryside surrounding the city.

For myself, I have done both and will continue to do so. On nights when I am with a group and left to do the planning, I will reserve. ON nights where my main goal is to decide where I want to dine when I get there, I will not.