A restaurant's phone and inbox fill up with the same practical questions every week. Are you open on Monday? What time does the kitchen close? Where can I park? Is there step-free access? Can I bring my dog? None of these need a chef or a manager, yet they interrupt both.
Restaurant opening hours questions and parking questions are among the simplest to answer and the most common. Getting them right online saves staff time and helps guests turn up without surprises.
Opening hours
Guest: Are you open on Monday evenings? Answer: We're closed on Mondays. From Tuesday to Saturday the kitchen is open from noon until 10pm, and on Sundays from noon until 8pm.
State kitchen hours separately from bar hours if they differ. Guests arriving at 9:45pm for dinner want to know whether the kitchen is still serving, not whether the door is open.
Holiday hours
Guest: Are you open on the bank holiday? Answer: Yes, we're open on the bank holiday Monday from noon until 8pm. Booking is recommended as it's usually busy.
Holiday hours generate a surge of questions. Update them early, on the website and on map listings at the same time.
Parking
Guest: Is there anywhere to park? Answer: There's no car park at the restaurant, but the council car park on Mill Street is a two-minute walk and free after 6pm. On-street parking nearby is limited to two hours.
Be specific about where, how far and how much.
Getting there
Guest: What's the nearest station? Answer: Central station is a ten-minute walk, and the number 12 bus stops right outside.
Access
Guest: Is there step-free access? Answer: Yes, the main entrance is step-free and there's an accessible toilet on the ground floor.
Walk-ins, dogs and children
Guest: Do you take walk-ins? Answer: Walk-ins are welcome when there's space, but tables fill quickly on Friday and Saturday evenings, so booking is safest.
Map listings and your website must agree
Many guests check opening hours on a map app before visiting the website. If the two disagree, guests trust neither, and some turn up to a closed door. Whenever hours change, update the website, map listings and social profiles together, and check them again before every holiday. It takes ten minutes and prevents the most frustrating guest experience there is: travelling to a restaurant that turns out to be closed. Guests who have that experience rarely try again.
Why these small answers matter
Practical details decide whether a visit goes smoothly. A guest who drives around for twenty minutes looking for parking starts their meal annoyed. Hotels face exactly the same issue with parking and arrival times, as covered in parking, breakfast and check-in questions every hotel gets.
Keeping chat answers in step with your hours
A chat assistant on your restaurant website answers "are you open Monday?" from whatever your website says, so it is only as current as the hours page. Write hours as text, not in an image or a social post: kitchen and bar hours separately, holiday dates with their hours, and parking details with street names, walking time and charges. When hours change for a holiday, update the page and refresh the assistant's training so the chat answer changes the same day. Training the assistant on your site takes a few minutes and is easy to repeat.
Some questions are really requests. "Can you keep a table for eight at 9pm on Saturday?" needs the team, because the assistant does not see your reservations. It can take the guest's name, phone number, date, time and party size as a booking request and tell them the restaurant will reply to confirm. Lost property, complaints and anything urgent go to a person; if a manager is online the assistant can hand the conversation over.
Answering them instantly
SpideyChat for restaurants answers from your website at any hour, freeing staff for the guests in front of them. Menu and dietary questions follow the same pattern, covered in menu questions that should never reach your front of house and the allergy question your staff answer every service. Genuinely urgent messages, like a guest who left something behind, are a separate case, discussed in after-hours emergencies.
Check your website and map listings show the same, current hours. Then try an assistant on your restaurant website, or see the features.