Restaurant Reservations in Korea: When to Book, How, No-Show Penalties

At a glance

• 🚶First check whether they take bookings

  Noodle shops, cafes and ordinary barbecue places may be walk-in, and some take no bookings at all.

• 📈Penalty standard 10% → up to 40%

  Announced by the Fair Trade Commission on 18 December 2025.

• 🍣40% is for reservation-based restaurants

  Omakase and fine dining. General restaurants are 20%.

• 📩Only if disclosed in advance

  Deposit, penalty and refund terms must be told to you first.

For the following, check about a reservation first.

• Restaurants that may be busy — more so at typically crowded times such as Friday and Saturday evenings or public holidays.
• Fine dining and omakase — where a course is prepared ahead, the restaurant runs on bookings.
• View restaurants — if you want a rooftop or riverside table at a particular time.
• Large groups — worth asking ahead at any restaurant.

Noodle shops, cafes and ordinary barbecue places may take walk-ins, and some do not take bookings at all. If you are unsure, use the methods below to find out whether the restaurant accepts reservations.

On 18 December 2025 the Fair Trade Commission announced a revision to the consumer dispute resolution standards, raising the penalty benchmark for restaurant no-shows.

A reservation-based restaurant is one such as an omakase or fine-dining venue that buys and prepares food against the booking. If it falls through, the ingredients are discarded that day and the seat cannot realistically be resold at short notice. The revision cites a food-service cost ratio of around 30% as part of its reasoning.

One condition attaches: the restaurant must tell you the deposit amount, the penalty amount and the refund basis in advance, by an accessible means such as a text message, for the standard to apply. Check that you received that notice when you book.

• Catchtable — a restaurant reservation service with an English interface. Search for the restaurant to see whether it takes bookings there.
• Naver reservations — if a restaurant's Naver Place page shows a booking button, you can reserve from that page.
• The phone — restaurants that do not take app bookings are booked by phone.

If calling in Korean is the obstacle, ask your accommodation's front desk whether they can call for you. Whether they will help varies by property.

You need three things: date and time, number of people, and a contactable number. Without a Korean number, ask the restaurant or your accommodation whether you may leave the accommodation's number.

If an app booking will not go through or your time is not available, switch to the phone or ask your accommodation; failing that, check whether the restaurant runs the walk-up waitlist below.

Some restaurants take no reservations and run a walk-up waitlist instead. If it works by entering your name, party size and a contact number into a tablet by the door, also check how they will let you know when your turn comes.

This is where a Korean mobile number is sometimes required. If you do not have one, speak to a member of staff and ask to go on the paper list, or ask whether you can leave your accommodation's number. If the wait is long, it is worth also asking whether you can look around nearby and come back, and what happens if you are not there when your name is called.

• "예약하고 싶어요" (yeyak-hago sipeoyo) — "I'd like to make a reservation."
• "두 명이요" (du myeong-iyo) — "Two people."
• "몇 시에 되나요?" (myeot si-e doenayo?) — "What time is available?"
• "예약 취소하고 싶어요" (yeyak chwiso-hago sipeoyo) — "I'd like to cancel my reservation."

If you cannot make it, use the last phrase to cancel in advance. The penalty can depend on when you cancel.

Frequently asked questions