The booking is decided on the menu. Before anyone reserves a table they read it, check the prices, look for something the fussy one in the group will eat, and see whether you do an early bird or a set menu. Then they check if you take bookings online or they have to ring, whether you are open Monday, and what the last few reviews say. Websites for restaurants in Dublin earn their keep when the menu is current, the Book button works at eleven at night and the reviews are answered by someone who clearly cares.
We look after the site, the reservations link, the vouchers and the Google listing month to month. You run the pass.
The menu people read before they book
A menu uploaded as a PDF is a menu nobody reads on a phone. It goes on the site as text, each dish with its price, kept in step with what the kitchen is actually serving. Lunch, early bird, a la carte, set menus for groups, kids, drinks and wine, each in its own section so Google and the AI assistants that people now ask for ‘somewhere with a good vegetarian option near Smithfield’ can read them. Allergen information, which you already have to provide in writing, sits alongside. When a dish comes off, you remove it from your phone and it is gone before service.
Reservations, groups and the Saturday night no-show
If you take reservations through a system already, the site’s Book a table button opens it and we set the Google listing’s reserve link to match. If you do not, we set up a simple online reservation diary with your sittings, a party size limit and a reminder text the day before. Groups of eight or more are where the money and the risk sit: a table for ten that does not show on a Saturday is the worst hour of the week. A deposit per head for large parties, paid online with your terms stated first and taken off the bill, fixes most of it. The guide on taking deposits in Ireland covers how to word the policy so it is fair and holds up.
Christmas parties start in October
The restaurant calendar is front-loaded. Christmas party enquiries start in October and the December diary is full by mid-November if the set menu and the deposit process are on the site in September. Valentine’s and Mother’s Day sell out on a fixed menu. Communion and Confirmation lunches fill May weekends with tables of twelve. Summer brings the terrace if you have one, and a slow January follows, which is when a January offer posted to your Google listing earns its place. Each of these needs a line on the site a month ahead and a post on Google a fortnight ahead, and the managed listing in Complete does that for you.
Reviews, replies and the Google card
People read the replies, not just the reviews. A calm, specific reply to a complaint about a slow Saturday tells the next reader more about the place than five stars does. In Complete, every diner gets a short text or email after their visit with a direct link to your review box, and when a review comes in we draft the reply for you to approve or change. We wrote up how to reply to a bad Google review because every restaurant gets one eventually and the reply is what lasts.
Photos on the Google card matter as much as on the site: the room with people in it, six dishes shot on the pass, the bar, the outside. We refresh the listing’s photos each month so the card does not show last year’s menu.
Vouchers that pay for the site
A restaurant voucher is the easiest gift in Ireland and most are bought in the last ten days before Christmas, at night, by someone who will not ring you to arrange it. The site sells them in the amounts you choose, the money goes to your account that day, and the code is redeemed at the till. The same applies for Mother’s Day and the odd birthday through the year.
Handover
Your menus with prices and allergens, your hours per service, your reservation rules (largest party bookable online, deposit per head, time limits on tables), your reservation system login if you have one, twelve to fifteen photos, parking and transport notes, and whether you have a private room and what it seats. Ten minutes at the restaurant before service is enough to start.
Plan
Complete is €1,499 to set up and €100 a month and covers reservations, deposits, vouchers, review texts and the managed Google listing. Essentials is €499 and €50 a month for a walk-in neighbourhood spot that wants the site and the listing done right. The pricing page has the full comparison. If a good part of your trade is collection or delivery, the takeaways page deals with the apps and the commission.