"It's not very busy on mondays we can just show up and get a table" (to reserve or not to reserve)

   Being from the US, this is what I have always done. Outside of Friday or saturday night or possibly a great steakhouse, you can show up and wait 30-40 min on a busy night or most night get a table right away. ​How many times have you called ahead to an Irish pub and asked for a reservation. Or let's say you wanted to go to your local bar and grill for lunch. You would just show up before 12 or after 1:30 or so if you wanted to be seated right away but otherwise wait 10-20 minutes and you will have a table no problem. 

   After having been to many corners of Europe and especially southern Germany that is simply not the case. Monday night 17:30 you are headed to the local augustiner pub. You re greeted by the staff as you enter with a quizzical look on their face. They proceed to ask "reservert bitte?" (Do you have a reservation). You are thinking, why would I it is monday night. So you answer no, I only need a table for 4, looking at a mostly empty restaurant in front of you, but you notice all of the tables have little table tents with the word reservert on them. They reply I am sorry sir we do not have any openings and proceed to walk away. What do you do now?

   First let's just say that whenever you want to go out to eat in Europe in general it is always good to call and get reservations, even if it is only 30 min ahead of time. You can run into the problem of it being a holiday you don't know about so they are closed. The family has decided to leave for 3 weeks and leaves a handwritten note on the door that they have left till next month. They could have decided it was not busy enough to stay open that night. Or there is a special event and the whole (tiny) restaurant is booked. It is always a good rule of thumb to call and get a reservation. It truly satisfies a German desire to be organized and they love it. 

Second thing is to never be late for your reservation. In Europe 10 min late is the very very most you could be late without losing your cherished reservation. Although they love you making reservations, you have to show up on time or else it is rude and they will take it away from you without hesitation. We also would like to highly recommend calling a restaurant is you are not going to make your reservation and cancel it or move it back an hour or so.

  There are a few things that you do when faced with the situation we described at the outset. You can always just leave and head to the next place. But there are a few other options.

1. If you only want to stay and eat for an hour, make that very clear that you are willing to leave in an hour. They would be very happy to find a table with reservations after 18:45 for you, as they will make you leave upto 15 min before the next reservation.  
2. Always ask if you can sit in the bar and eat. Here in the US it seems they automatically will send you int ot he bar to see if a table is open. In Europe often the bar has reservations, especially the pubs in germany with their Stammtisch (regulars table). but sometimes the relent and seat you in the bar. 
3. Politely ask if you can look at the reservation times on the tables unless they have a clipboard with reservations on it as they have all the info in front of them so they know what is and isn't available. But usually it is just the wait staff of bartender that comes to help you as you enter and end up in the middle of the restaurant when they greet you. I would then walk around the restaurant and review the reservation times and see if there is a place you can squeeze in as they seat more than just one group at a table. so you might be able to join another group of 4 at a 8 seat table or in even large tables. Then ask very politely if it is possible to squeeze in with this group. 
4. Very politely ask if there are any time slots available later in the evening. As there are always overlapping times. But that is eating out 101.
5. If there are reservations that start as you arrive you can always wait 15 min to see if someone no shows for their reservation and swipe it from them as per the rules I have already stated above. 

  These are my suggestions for getting a table at a busy restaurant without a reservation. Just know the Germans love their organization and punctuality above all else. Use their rules to your advantage as we do in so many ways.

   If anyone has tips for eating out in europe please leave them in the comments below.

John Pfeiffer
Travel Addict 
Thirsty Historian Partner and Guide