Planning Your Visit
Under-planning the clock is the most common way guests damage their own evening. A nine-course menu is a three-to-four-hour commitment, and the meal is designed on that assumption.
By The Reservation Desk Editorial Team · Published April 15, 2025 · Last updated · 4 min read
Nine-course tasting menu: three to four hours. Salon or à la carte dining: 90 minutes to two hours. Bistro lunch: about an hour at the bar, 90 minutes at a table.
Family-style four-course dinner: around two hours, since the platters arrive together rather than in a timed sequence.
Tell the captain at the start if you have a hard finish time. The kitchen can compress a menu meaningfully when it knows in advance, and cannot when it finds out at course seven.
If you want to slow down, simply say so between courses. Lingering is welcomed; the pass is timing to your table, not the other way round.
The Reservation Desk Editorial Team — Independent research and editorial team
Our editorial team researches fine-dining access, booking windows and menu formats across the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group. Every guide is compiled from restaurant-published information, official reservation platforms and first-hand dining notes, then re-checked before each update.
This guide is compiled and checked against our verification process and editorial policy.
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