How to Book a Restaurant on Tabelog in English (Steps and Fees)

To book on Tabelog in English, open the restaurant on Tabelog’s English site or in its multilingual app, choose a date, time and plan, enter your details, confirm your email with a code, add a card and complete the booking. You have a table once the confirmation email with your 10-digit reservation number arrives. Tabelog charges a system usage fee of ¥440 per person, which it generally keeps if you cancel. You pay for the meal at the restaurant.

Only restaurants with an Online reservation label can be booked this way. For the rest, look for a phone number on the restaurant page; the last section covers that case.

What you need before you start

Tabelog’s English help pages don’t say which phone formats the form accepts. Enter a number you can actually answer while in Japan and note exactly how you typed it. Never use a made-up or borrowed Japanese number: if the form rejects yours, contact the restaurant instead. Travelling with a data-only eSIM? See calling a restaurant without a voice plan.

Book in five steps

1. Choose the date, time and party size on the restaurant page, then a plan. Plans range from set courses to seat-only bookings. Open the plan details and read the cancellation policy.
2. Enter the guest details and your email address. Tabelog emails you a verification code; type it into the booking screen.
3. Add your card. Your card issuer may ask you to verify the payment, for example with a password. If this step fails, check with your issuer before trying again.
4. Review and complete the booking. Check the date, time, number of people and plan on the final screen.
5. Keep the confirmation email. It holds your 10-digit reservation number and the link for viewing, changing or cancelling the booking.

Restaurant notes on the English pages are machine translations, and Tabelog warns they may be inaccurate. If a rule matters to you, such as a late-arrival limit, ask the restaurant. Requests such as a birthday plate or a particular seat also go to the restaurant; Tabelog doesn’t handle them.

The ¥440 system usage fee and other charges

• Two people pay ¥880 and four pay ¥1,760. Tabelog says the fee may change without notice, so check the amount on your booking screen.
• The fee is generally non-refundable. Cancel and book again, and you pay it again; reduce your party size, and it isn’t reduced. Tabelog refunds it when the restaurant cancels.
• Adding a new card can trigger a small charge, such as ¥2, to check the card is valid. Tabelog refunds it later, even if it still shows on your statement.

When is the booking confirmed?

The email code is only a step in the form; it doesn’t mean you have a table. Under Tabelog’s terms, the booking is made when Tabelog sends you its details by email or shows them on the site. The confirmation email includes your reservation number.

No confirmation? Check your spam folder and any filter that blocks mail from @tabelog.com. If it still hasn’t arrived, contact the restaurant before booking again. Tabelog’s terms prohibit several bookings under one name for the same time, and a second booking costs another ¥440 per person.

Bookings on Tabelog’s English pages are instant. Other services can leave you waiting for the restaurant’s answer:

• TableCheck may show a booking as Pending until the restaurant accepts it. You then get an email or SMS.
• Hot Pepper Gourmet request bookings and Google booking requests count only once the restaurant confirms.
• Tabelog’s Japanese-language app offers request bookings at some phone-only restaurants; see the last section.

To check a Tabelog booking later, open the link in your confirmation email and enter the 10-digit reservation number. Tabelog then emails you a link; open it and enter the phone number you used when booking.

Change or cancel a Tabelog booking

Open the booking with the link in your confirmation email, your reservation number and your phone number, as above. Then:

• Change: only the date, time and number of people can be changed online, and the course can’t be changed. For anything else, contact the restaurant.
• Cancel: tick the checkboxes and press Cancel. Tabelog emails you to confirm the cancellation. The system usage fee isn’t refunded.
• Fees: the restaurant’s cancellation policy, shown when you booked and in your confirmation, decides any fee. Under Tabelog’s terms, arriving late or bringing fewer people can also count. The restaurant decides whether to charge.

If the online steps fail, contact the restaurant: Tabelog says restaurants manage their own bookings and it can’t change them for you. Marked as a no-show when you did turn up or cancel? Ask the restaurant first, then use Tabelog’s contact form if it won’t withdraw the no-show. Late-arrival limits and cancellation fees differ by restaurant; see running late or cancelling a restaurant booking in Japan.

When online booking is full or the restaurant is phone-only

Where there’s no Online reservation label, look for the Phone number (for reservation and inquiry) line on the restaurant page. A line reading “Reservation availability: Reservation only” means you need a booking to eat there; it doesn’t mean you can book online. On October 5, 2026, 19 of the first 20 Kyoto restaurants on Tabelog’s English site, sorted by rating, had no online booking. Seventeen of them listed a phone number; two listed none.

1. Check other channels. Tabelog’s terms say availability and prices on Tabelog can differ from what the restaurant offers elsewhere. Look at the restaurant’s own website and any service it links to; our comparison of booking apps in Japan covers the main ones.
2. Call during business hours. Calls outside opening hours or on closing days may go unanswered. Both are listed on the restaurant page.
3. Ask a Japanese speaker. Your hotel may make the call; ask what it charges and how it will confirm the result.
4. If you read Japanese, Tabelog’s Japanese-language app offers free request bookings at some restaurants that take phone bookings only. Tabelog calls the restaurant for you, using AI or its support team, and reports the result by the next business day. Course bookings and bookings that include children can’t be made this way.

If you call yourself, these lines cover a simple booking. Change the day, time, party size and name to yours.

You have a booking only when the restaurant agrees to your date, time and party size. Repeat them back before you hang up, and write down the name it was booked under.

Official sources

• Tabelog: How do I make an online booking?: booking steps, email code, card authentication.
• Tabelog: Costs involved when booking: ¥440 per person, refund rules, meal paid at the restaurant.
• Tabelog: Card payment at the time of reservation and card registration: when the fee and any cancellation fee are charged; credit, debit and prepaid cards.
• Tabelog: Small charge such as JPY 2: card validity check.
• Tabelog: Check, change and cancel a booking: reservation number, phone check, what can change online.
• Tabelog: Cancellation fees and no-show disputes: fees set by each restaurant; restaurant first, then Tabelog.
• Tabelog: Missing confirmation email, registered email address, trouble changing or cancelling and requests to restaurants.
• Tabelog Reservation Service terms for international travelers: when a booking is made, fee refunds, late arrival and smaller groups, duplicate bookings, availability elsewhere.
• Tabelog multilingual app: booking seats and courses in the app.
• Tabelog request bookings (Japanese): Japanese app only, calls by AI or support staff, result by the next business day.
• TableCheck: Pending reservations, Hot Pepper Gourmet request bookings (Japanese) and Google: Make a booking: bookings that wait for the restaurant’s answer.
• Tabelog English: Kyoto restaurants sorted by rating: online booking and phone listings on October 5, 2026.

Checked October 5, 2026. Fees and screens can change; your booking screen and confirmation email take precedence.