Can you show up a bit late for your reservations or will your places be "stolen"

[straker 15]

If I reserve a table for after work "17:00"  but do not get there until 18:00 or 19:00 will the places still be available?

[robinson100 12,792]

Sorry, but "a bit late" is NOT an hour or two, but maybe 15 minutes!

As for a reserved table being "stolen", well, any busy restaurant will most certainly want to make use of all available tables whether you dain to turn up or not.

To my mind, it would be incredibly selfish to book a table and to turn up two hours late expecting the table to still be available.

[maxie 602]

No. And depending on the restaurant you might get charged a fee. Some fancier places have started this because they were having massive problems with no-shows. 

If you are delayed by ten minutes or more, it would be polite to call and let the restaurant know. Do now expect your table to be available after more than 15-30 minutes (depending on the restaurant). 

One or two hours is not late. That's a no-show. 

 

[BayrischDude 2,071]

I worked in a well known and large restaurant / pub in a large German city about 12 years ago.  The rule was 20 minutes past the reservation time and the table would be given up.  I can't think of any restaurant that would hold a table open for 1-2 hours.  Granted, in Germany one can stay at a table long after the meal is eaten and not be asked to vacate, but an expectation of holding the table... for what might seem indef, will not happen.

[CincyInDE 3,227]

This is in the Oktoberfest thread, and I pinky promise you they'll give out your seats if you're an hour or two late. 

[yesterday 1,979]

See here, not sure its valid for 2023, but for late year ..., you need to check this closer to the book time

 

https://www.bigboytravel.com/europe/germany/munich/oktoberfest/how-to-get-table-reservations/booking-cost/

 

Booking times are fixed depending on the day, area of the tent and the session you want and the day

 

Start times for evening can be in the range from 3pm to 6pm, its varies per tent, book very early or you will not get the tickets, note you must buy 10 tickets or the whole table.

 

Looks like the Hacker tent is not too far off your required time slot, do not be late you will lose your booking, allow alot of time to get to the tent, is will be very full and slow moving