No card, and no charge
No-shows, late arrivals and cancellations
We do not take a card to hold a table of eight or fewer and we do not charge for a no-show. That is a deliberate choice and it costs us real money. What we ask in return is the ten seconds it takes to click the cancel link in your confirmation email.
If you are running late
We hold a booked table for fifteen minutes. After that it may go to somebody waiting, and we will fit you in when we can rather than turn you away — but on a busy Saturday that can mean a real wait. A telephone call changes everything: a table held for a party we know is on the 7 train is a table we hold happily.
If you cannot come at all
The confirmation email has a cancel link that works right up until the booking has passed. One click, no form, no explanation required. A table cancelled at four o'clock is a table somebody else eats at; a no-show at eight is a table nobody eats at and four covers the restaurant will not get back.
Why we do not take a card
Because it treats every guest as a risk in order to manage a few, and because a restaurant that fines its customers has decided its customers are the problem. We would rather absorb the cost and ask nicely. That only works if asking nicely mostly works — so this page exists, and the cancel link is one click.
Where a deposit does apply
Private dining and any party of 9 or more. A room is held, a set menu is bought in and staff are rostered for it, and the terms are stated in writing on the enquiry before anybody pays anything. Private dining and large parties both spell it out.
When we cancel on you
Rarely, and only for something real: a power cut, a kitchen failure, a burst pipe, weather that shuts the 7 train. If it happens you will get a telephone call rather than an email, as early as we know, and we will help you find somewhere else to eat that night. What we will not do is cancel a booked table to give the room to a larger party — that is a thing some restaurants do and it is not going to happen here.
Not confirming is not cancelling
The confirmation email asks you to confirm. If you never click it, nothing is cancelled — the booking simply shows as unconfirmed on the floor view and somebody telephones you on the day. The link exists so that we can be confident about the tables we hold, not so we can quietly release the ones you did not click.
The rest of the things worth knowing
Tuesday to Sunday · closed Mondays
Book a table
Pick a date, tell us how many of you there are, and the form shows the times we can actually seat that many — not every time we are open. Parties of eight and under book instantly; nine or more becomes a private dining enquiry, because a group that size needs a room and a set menu rather than a table. The twelve bar seats are never reservable, so there is always somewhere to eat here without a booking.