Menulisa
Start free

Reservations & waitlist

Take bookings, seat walk-ins from a waitlist, and keep the night running smoothly.

2 min read3 guides in this topic

A reservation is a table booked ahead of time. A waitlist is the queue of guests waiting for a table right now. Menulisa keeps both in one place so your host always knows who’s coming and who’s next.

What you can do

  • Take a booking with the guest's name, phone, party size, date and time.
  • Add walk-ins to a waitlist when you're full, and seat them as tables free up.
  • See which tables are open right now so you can promise a realistic time.
  • Link a booking to a saved customer, so their visit history builds up over time.

Take a booking

  1. 1Open CRM › Reservations.
  2. 2Add the guest's name and phone, the party size, and the date and time.
  3. 3When they arrive, mark them seated and (optionally) assign their table.
  4. 4Too busy to seat them? Add them to the waitlist instead and seat them later.

The statuses, and what each one does

  • Confirmed — the booking stands; it counts toward the day’s expected covers.
  • Seated — “Seat & open check” places the party on a table (table optional) and opens a dine-in check the POS picks up immediately.
  • Cancelled / No-show — close the booking either way; both stay on the guest’s history so patterns show up.
  • Waitlist entries — name, party size and a note (“quoted 20 min”); seat them straight from the list when a table frees up.

It’s wired into the floor

  • On the POS, bookings have their own page: ≡ › Reservations lists the day by time slot (Upcoming, Seated, No-show, Cancelled) with Seat now, which seats the party and opens their check in one step. The floor keeps the Booked badges and the due banner. (The dashboard’s POS › Floor plan is only for arranging the room.)
  • Seating from a booking opens the check automatically, so the waiter never re-types the party.
  • A big party can hold several tables: pick them all when you book on the POS. The floor marks them Booked together (“Party of 10 · 2 tables”), and seating them opens one check for the whole party.
  • Each booking holds its tables for a Duration (1½ h unless you choose otherwise), so the POS won’t let you book a table that’s already held.
  • On the Mac or Windows main terminal the Reservations page keeps working with no internet; bookings sync both ways when it’s back.
  • Bookings linked to a saved customer appear on their profile timeline.
TipReservations are tracked per branch. If you run more than one location, switch branches using the picker at the top of the dashboard before you add a booking.

Guides in this topic

Was this helpful?

Reservations & waitlist · Menulisa