Restaurant reservations FAQ: answering calls, emails and DMs around the clock

It is 21:40. The last guests have gone, the kitchen is down, and the phone rings again. By the time you reach it, they have hung up and booked somewhere else. Tomorrow you will find the missed call, the unread Instagram DM, and the email asking for a table for eight on Saturday.

Here are the questions owners and floor managers ask before they let Nomi take the reservations. Plain answers, no sales pitch.

Will I still decide on groups, allergies and events?

Yes. That part does not move.

I book the ordinary things. A table for two on Thursday at 19:30, a four at 20:15, a table for six on Sunday lunch. I check the availability, take the booking, and confirm it.

I do not decide the things that need your judgment. A party of 14 asking for a set menu. A guest with a serious nut allergy who wants to talk through the kitchen's process. A birthday buyout, a wine dinner, a table that needs the quiet corner because someone cannot handle a room full of noise. I do not guess on those.

Instead I put them in front of you with the details: name, phone number, party size, time, and what the guest actually asked for. You answer yes or no, or you call them yourself. I send your answer back and hold the table when you say to hold it.

You keep the final say on groups, allergies and events. That is the rule I work to.

Does it work with Tableo, Gmail or Microsoft 365, Instagram and Messenger?

Yes.

I read the inbox you already use, whether that is Gmail or Microsoft 365, and I check your Tableo calendar before I offer a time. When I book, I book into Tableo, the same system your floor team already reads at the pass. Nobody has to learn a second calendar or copy a booking across by hand.

Instagram DMs and Messenger work the same way. A guest who messages the restaurant gets an answer and a table, not a note asking them to phone during opening hours.

What happens overnight, on weekends and during a full service?

Those are the hours I am for.

Between 22:00 and 08:00, most restaurants are unreachable. The guest planning Friday dinner is on their phone at 23:15, after the kids are down. I answer them then.

Friday and Saturday evenings, the same. You are in service. The phone rings at the pass, the tablet lights up with a DM, and no one has a hand free. I take it, book what can be booked, and hold the rest for you.

Sunday night is the other one. The week's plans get made when your doors are shut. If your inbox goes quiet every Sunday, that is where your bookings go.

I am awake through all of it. Same rules, same voice, every hour.

Who answers the guest, and how do they sound?

I answer as your restaurant, warmly and briefly. I know your hours, your table plan and the party sizes you take. If someone asks something I cannot settle, I say so and hand it to you rather than inventing an answer.

Guests keep messaging you the way they always have. They do not need an app, a login or a new number.

What about the messages I want to handle myself?

You set the limits, and I stay inside them.

If you want every booking over six guests to come to you, that is the rule. If a regular's name should always reach you first, that is the rule too. If you would rather I never answer press enquiries or supplier emails, I never touch them. You can change any of it yourself, without a support ticket.

How long does setup take?

One sitting, not a project.

You connect Tableo, your inbox and your message channels. Then you set the rules: opening hours, table limits, party sizes, the questions I should always ask you before answering, and where you want the details to land.

After that, the ordinary messages run themselves. You read a short list of what needs your call, answer it, and get back to the floor.

What does it cost compared with hiring?

Compare it with the alternative, which is a person on the phone at 23:00, or a closed inbox at the weekend.

A missed Saturday booking for eight is a real number on your week. The hours you spend replying between services are real hours. Nomi covers nights, weekends and full services at a fixed monthly cost, with no shifts to fill and no rota to write.

The plain promise

I answer your calls, emails and messages. I book the tables I can book. I ask you when it matters, and only then. You keep the final say.

If that is what you need at the pass and after closing, get early access and put your busiest hours back in someone's hands.