In short
To accept restaurant reservations online, create a booking page, set when and how many guests can book, choose how requests are confirmed, then make a test booking before sharing the link.
Start with the rules your team can actually run
A booking form only helps if the times it offers match your service. Agree on service hours, dining duration, online party sizes and who reviews requests before opening the calendar to guests.
Menupresso provides a free restaurant reservation system with one calendar per account. It is a direct booking page and reservation list, not a diner marketplace, floor plan or table-assignment tool.
- Availability: your restaurant timezone, weekly service windows and closure dates.
- Capacity: the guests you can accommodate across overlapping bookings, allowing for walk-ins and other channels.
- Confirmation: immediate acceptance or review by a member of staff.
- Guest information: a clear restaurant name, contact instructions and any arrival guidance.
Create the calendar and identify your restaurant
Sign in and open your booking calendar. Select Create booking calendar if you do not have one yet. If you already have a calendar, use it rather than creating another account for the same booking flow.
A new calendar starts published. Select Unpublish while you prepare it if you do not want the public link to accept bookings yet. You can still edit the settings.
Under Settings → Booking page, check the restaurant name and add a useful description. Your logo, colors and heading font are optional. Use the footer note for practical information, such as how guests should contact you about a larger party. Do not put private staff information on the public page.
Select Save changes after editing. Saving settings and publishing the calendar are separate actions; a paused calendar stays paused until you publish it.
Set service hours, notice and closure dates
Open Settings → Availability. Check the timezone first: the same clock time in another timezone is a different booking. Add the service windows for each day and leave closed days without a service window.
If you close between lunch and dinner, use separate windows instead of one continuous day. Add holidays and private events under Closed on. A closure takes that date out of the regular weekly schedule.
Set how far ahead guests may book and the minimum notice your staff needs. A same-day booking with two hours of notice is a different policy from accepting guests at the next available start time.
Set capacity for overlapping bookings
Under Settings → Availability, set Capacity to the number of guests you can seat at the same time. Then open Booking rules to set the smallest and largest online Party size, Dining duration and Start times.
Start times control how often a booking may begin. Dining duration controls how long it occupies capacity. Offering a time every 30 minutes does not mean those guests leave after 30 minutes.
| Booking | Time | Guests |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmed | 18:00–19:30 | 6 |
| Pending | 18:30–20:00 | 8 |
| New request | 18:30–20:00 | Up to 6 |
Both existing bookings overlap the new request: 6 + 8 = 14 guests counted. With a limit of 20, a party of 6 fits the capacity check; a party of 7 does not, even if the maximum party size allows it.
This example assumes no other overlapping reservations and that all other booking rules allow the request. Pending requests count too. Review them promptly so an undecided request does not keep blocking availability.
Guest capacity is not table availability. Six spare seats spread across occupied tables may not fit a party of six. Leave room for walk-ins and use manual approval when staff must check the actual seating arrangement.
Decide what confirmation means
Under Booking rules → Confirmation, Automatic accepts a valid booking immediately. Use it only when the published capacity and availability are reliable enough to accept guests without a seating review.
Manual approval leaves a new request pending. The guest sees Request sent, not a confirmed table. Your team reviews the request in Reservations, updates its status and contacts the guest using the details provided.
Do not promise an automatic email or SMS approval message as part of this workflow. Plan who contacts guests after a manual decision and how quickly they will respond. The optional Telegram connection alerts the restaurant; it is not a guest-confirmation channel.
Enable Phone number if the team needs it for follow-up. Explain relevant arrival or change instructions on the booking page, then save the settings.
Keep the list consistent during service
Check pending requests before service and whenever a new request arrives. Add bookings taken by phone or in person to the same reservation list so the online calendar can account for them. Cancel bookings that are no longer going ahead.
Update closure dates for private events and check the public page after changing service hours, duration or capacity. If no times are offered, check the timezone, minimum notice, booking window, party-size limits, service duration and overlapping reservations before assuming the calendar is broken.
Reservations are removed 30 days after their reservation date. This is an operational booking list, not a long-term guest-history system. Use a separate, appropriate process if your business needs longer-term records.
Common setup questions
Can I take reservations without a restaurant website?
Yes. The published calendar has its own public booking link. Guests do not need a Menupresso account or app.
Does a digital menu need to be set up first?
No. The booking calendar can be created separately. If you already have a menu, check any restaurant name or logo used as starting values rather than assuming they are current.
Can it automatically assign tables?
No. It checks guest capacity and overlapping times. Table combinations, seating preferences and walk-in decisions remain with your team.