Restaurant reservation confirmation email templates (copy and paste)
Type the restaurant, the guest’s first name, the date, the time and the party size once, pick warm or brief, and this page fills seven messages at the same time: the confirmation email with its subject line, the same confirmation as a text, a day-before reminder in both forms, a running-late note that names the minute you stop holding the table, a cancellation reply, and a waitlist message for the night a table frees up. Every text shows how many SMS segments it will cost. Copy, paste into your booking system, send.
Tone
Your seven messages
Confirmation email
Email
Send it the minute the table is booked. This is the one the guest forwards to everyone coming.
Subject
Your table is booked, [date and time]
Hi,
You are booked. A table for 2, [date and time].
We hold the table for 15 minutes past the booking time. If you are running behind, one message keeps it yours.
To move or cancel, reply to this email. We ask for 24 hours’ notice, so the table can go to someone else in time.
See you soon.
Confirmation text
Text
The same booking, short enough to read on a lock screen. Send it with the email, not instead of it.
Hi, your table for 2 is booked for [date and time]. We hold it 15 min past that time. To change or cancel, just reply.
120 characters · one text (160 limit)
Day-before reminder email
Email
Send it the evening before. This is the only message that asks the guest to reply.
Subject
See you tomorrow — [time]
Hi,
A quick reminder — your table for 2 is tomorrow, [date and time].
Still good? One line back is all we need. If the plan changed, 24 hours’ notice gives the table to someone else in time.
To move or cancel, reply to this email.
Day-before reminder text
Text
Send it in the evening, after the email. Ask for the reply here and nowhere else.
Hello, see you tomorrow at [time] for 2. Reply YES to confirm. To change or cancel, just reply.
97 characters · one text (160 limit)
Running late and table hold
Text
Send it once the clock passes the booking time, or paste it back when the guest texts you.
No rush. We are holding your table for 2 until [hold cut-off]. Reply with a time and we will watch the door.
110 characters · one text (160 limit)
Cancellation acknowledgement
Email
Reply within the hour. A guest who cancels early and hears back books again; one who hears nothing wonders whether the table is still theirs.
Subject
Cancelled — your table on [date]
Hi,
Your table for 2 on [date and time] is cancelled. There is nothing else for you to do.
Thank you for telling us early — that table goes back on the floor plan tonight.
To book another night, reply to this email.
Waitlist — a table opened up
Text
Text this one; an email gets read at midnight. Give a deadline, or you will still be holding the table at nine.
Good news. A table for 2 just opened up at [time] today. Reply YES in the next 15 minutes and it is yours.
108 characters · one text (160 limit)
Counts are an estimate; carriers and apps differ by a character or two. Nothing is sent from here — paste the wording into your booking system or your phone.
These are fixed sentences filled with what you typed, not generated text. Read each one before it goes out.
Nothing is sent from this page and no guest list is kept here. Paste the wording into whatever books your tables.
Reservations on a Naratake site come in through your own pages and wait in the back office until you confirm them. That belongs to Storefront Pro, $79 a month; building and previewing a site cost nothing.
Not legal advice. Charging for a no-show means holding a card and saying so before the guest books, and the rules on that differ by state and by country — check your state before you charge anyone.
Assembled in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or stored; close the tab and it is gone.
All fourteen templates with the blanks left in
The same sentences, unfilled, for anyone who would rather type over the blanks inside their own system. Both tones for every message.
Confirmation email
Send it the minute the table is booked. This is the one the guest forwards to everyone coming.
WarmSubjectYour table is booked at [restaurant], [date and time]Hi [first name],
You are booked. A table for 2 at [restaurant], [date and time].
We hold the table for 15 minutes past the booking time. If you are running behind, one message keeps it yours.
[address or parking note]
To move or cancel, call [phone]. We ask for 24 hours’ notice, so the table can go to someone else in time.
See you soon.
BriefSubjectReservation confirmed: [date and time], 2 guestsHello [first name],
Confirmed at [restaurant]: [date and time], 2 guests.
The table is held 15 minutes past the booking time. Cancellations: 24 hours’ notice.
[address or parking note]
To move or cancel, call [phone].
Confirmation text
The same booking, short enough to read on a lock screen. Send it with the email, not instead of it.
WarmHi [first name], your table for 2 at [restaurant] is booked for [date and time]. We hold it 15 min past that time. To change or cancel, call [phone].
Brief[restaurant]: Booking confirmed for 2, [date and time]. Table held 15 min past that. To change or cancel, call [phone].
Day-before reminder email
Send it the evening before. This is the only message that asks the guest to reply.
WarmSubjectSee you tomorrow at [restaurant] — [time]Hi [first name],
A quick reminder — your table for 2 at [restaurant] is tomorrow, [date and time].
[address or parking note]
Still good? One line back is all we need. If the plan changed, 24 hours’ notice gives the table to someone else in time.
To move or cancel, call [phone].
BriefSubjectTomorrow: 2 guests at [time]Hello [first name],
Tomorrow: 2 guests, [time], [restaurant].
[address or parking note]
Please reply to confirm. To move or cancel, call [phone].
Day-before reminder text
Send it in the evening, after the email. Ask for the reply here and nowhere else.
WarmHello [first name], see you tomorrow at [time] for 2 at [restaurant]. Reply YES to confirm. To change or cancel, call [phone].
Brief[restaurant]: Table for 2 tomorrow, [time]. Reply YES to confirm. To change or cancel, call [phone].
Running late and table hold
Send it once the clock passes the booking time, or paste it back when the guest texts you.
WarmNo rush, [first name]. We are holding your table for 2 until [hold cut-off]. Reply with a time and we will watch the door.
Brief[restaurant]: Your table is held until [hold cut-off]. Reply with an arrival time if you are running late, or call [phone].
Cancellation acknowledgement
Reply within the hour. A guest who cancels early and hears back books again; one who hears nothing wonders whether the table is still theirs.
WarmSubjectCancelled — your table at [restaurant] on [date]Hi [first name],
Your table for 2 on [date and time] is cancelled. There is nothing else for you to do.
Thank you for telling us early — that table goes back on the floor plan tonight.
To book another night, call [phone].
BriefSubjectCancellation confirmed: [date and time]Hello [first name],
Cancelled: 2 guests, [date and time], [restaurant]. Nothing further is needed from you.
To book another night, call [phone].
Waitlist — a table opened up
Text this one; an email gets read at midnight. Give a deadline, or you will still be holding the table at nine.
WarmGood news, [first name]. A table for 2 just opened up at [restaurant] at [time] today. Reply YES in the next 15 minutes and it is yours.
Brief[restaurant]: Table for 2 free at [time] today. Reply YES within 15 min to take it, or call [phone].
What a confirmation has to carry
The counter under each text is the reason this page exists. A text holds 160 characters in the basic GSM alphabet, or 70 once it contains a curly quote, an emoji, any Chinese or an accent the GSM table lacks; past that it splits into pieces of 153 or 67, and messaging services bill each piece. The templates use straight quotes and no dashes for exactly that reason. Watch the restaurant name and the phone number as you type: those two are what push a short confirmation over the line.
A confirmation is a receipt, and guests forward it to everyone coming with them. Four facts have to survive that forward: your name, the date and time, how many people, and how to change it. The templates put those first and leave the pleasantries at the end, where a small screen can cut them without losing anything that matters.
Put the table hold in writing, not at the door. “We hold the table for 15 minutes” is a rule nobody argues with when they read it two days early; the same sentence said to a face at 7:12 sounds like a punishment. The cancellation window works the same way, and the confirmation is the one message you can be fairly sure the guest opened.
This page writes; it does not send. Nothing you type leaves the browser, there is no guest list here, and no message goes anywhere until you paste it into the system that actually books your tables. On a Naratake site the table is held the moment the guest books it, with the confirmation code on screen straight away, and once your email and text provider is connected the written confirmation goes out on its own. Reservations sit on Storefront Pro at $79 a month.
A confirmation is only worth as much as the booking behind it. On a Naratake site the guest picks a date, a time and a party size on your own pages, the table is held there and then, and the booking is in your back office with the code already in the guest’s hand — instead of renting a slot on a marketplace that lists your competitors down the same page. Reservations and appointments are part of Storefront Pro at $79 a month; building and previewing cost nothing.
What should a restaurant reservation confirmation email say?
Six lines is plenty: the restaurant name, the date, the time, the party size, how long you hold the table, and one way to change or cancel. Keep that order. A guest reading on a phone sees the first two lines in the inbox preview, and those two are exactly what they came back to check. Anything warmer belongs underneath the facts, not above them.
Should the confirmation be an email or a text?
Both, doing different jobs. The email is the record: it survives, it forwards, and it has room for the address and the parking note. The text is the one read within a minute, so it carries the four facts and stops. Most booking systems will send both. If you have to choose, email at the moment of booking and text the day before.
When should the day-before reminder go out?
The evening before, while people are looking at tomorrow. Ask for a reply in that message and nowhere else — a guest who gets three messages all asking them to confirm learns to ignore all three. If no reply has come by late morning, that is your cue to phone, not to text again.
Can this page send the messages for me?
No. It fills fixed sentences with what you typed, in your browser, and hands you a copy button. Sending on a schedule is what a booking system does. On a Naratake site the reservation confirms itself as it is made and the guest sees the code immediately; connect your email and text keys and the confirmation is sent for you. That runs on Storefront Pro. These templates are here for whichever tool you already send from.