If you're late, you risk getting into trouble - or do you? Alain Weissgerber und Barbara Eselböck vom »Taubenkobel« verraten, wie viel Toleranz Restaurants bei Verspätungen wirklich haben.
It's familiar: you've booked a table, you're rushing through the streets and suddenly you're five minutes late. Ten. Maybe even fifteen. But how much tolerance is there really in restaurants?
Alain Weissgerber and Barbara Eselböck, who run the 2-star restaurant "Taubenkobel" in Burgenland together, know the challenge from their own experience: "We plan our processes very precisely, so it helps us enormously if guests arrive on time. A delay of up to 15 minutes is usually unproblematic - after that we ask you to give us a quick call so that we can plan accordingly."
Her words make it clear: restaurants are constantly juggling staff, kitchen times and table allocations. Even a small delay can disrupt the process, especially at peak times. A phone call in the event of a delay is not only polite, but also helpful - for both sides.
But what does that mean for us guests? In short: If you arrive late, you shouldn't just hope that everything has already been arranged. It's better to send a quick message and show respect for the work behind the scenes. If you exceed the 15-minute mark, you run the risk of the table being passed on or the meal being delayed. Punctuality remains the best solution, but a quick call not only replaces a guilty conscience, but can also avoid embarrassing situations.
