Get Started With Toast Tables

Last updated: May 15, 2026, 2:25 PM

Managers and hosts can learn how to set up and get started using Toast Tables - Waitlist and Reservations functionalities.

In this Article:

 

Toast Tables Overview

Toast Tables is the Toast-built waitlist and reservations module. It runs on an iPad or Android tablet (the host app) and syncs with Toast Web so managers can configure settings, manage bookings from a computer, and run reports. Hosts can seat walk-ins, add parties to the waitlist, notify guests via SMS, and accept reservations — both in person and online.

 

 

Toast Tables Overview.

 

Toast Tables vs. Toast Tables Plus

Toast Tables and Toast Tables Plus are two tiers of the same product:

  • Toast Tables is for restaurants that operate primarily on a walk-in or first-come, first-served basis. It includes the full waitlist and table-management toolset and supports up to 25 reservations per month — useful for large parties or VIPs.
  • Toast Tables Plus is for restaurants that take reservations online or by phone as a primary booking channel. It includes everything in Toast Tables, plus unlimited monthly reservations and the Experiences add-on.

 

You can upgrade from Toast Tables to Toast Tables Plus at any time.

 

Where You Use Toast Tables

Toast Tables is not one app — it is a set of surfaces:

  • Toast Tables host app on a tablet — your hostess stand. iPad or Android tablet (the host app is sometimes called "the tablet" or "the hostess stand"). Hosts seat walk-ins, manage the waitlist, accept reservations, and notify guests from this device.
  • Toast Tables host app on a mobile phone — limited functionality (home tab and more tab only — no timeline or server tab). Use this only as a backup, not a primary host surface.
  • Toast Web (Toast Tables settings, Overview tab, Calendar tab, Reports tab) — managers configure settings and manage bookings from a desktop or laptop browser. This is the only way to access waitlist and reservation management remotely or from a computer.
  • Online guest pages — when you enable online waitlist or online reservations, Toast generates guest-facing booking links you can share, embed, or surface on Google.

 

Note: Toast Tables is not currently supported on Toast-branded devices (Toast Flex, Toast Go®). Use your own iPad or Android tablet for the host app. See Toast Tables: Device Compatibility for supported models and operating system versions.

 

How to Add or Cancel Toast Tables

  • U.S. customers — add Toast Tables or upgrade to Toast Tables Plus in Toast Shop.
  • Customers in Canada, the UK, or Ireland — contact Toast Customer Care to add or upgrade.
  • To cancel Toast Tables — see Review and Manage Your Toast Subscriptions. Canceling Toast Tables does not automatically remove Toast Tables availability from a previously connected Google Business profile — verify your Google listing after cancellation.

 

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Before You Begin

Applies to: Toast Tables, Toast Tables Plus

 

Permissions needed:

  • 4.7 Configure Booking (Waitlist & Reservations) — required to set up the configuration described in this article.
  • 1.18 Log Into Booking App (Waitlist & Reservations) — required for hosts to sign into the Toast Tables host app on the tablet.

 

What you'll accomplish: A Toast Tables setup that lets your host seat walk-ins, add parties to the waitlist, take online and in-person reservations, and (optionally) accept bookings via Google.

 

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Step 1: Download the Toast Tables App

The Toast Tables host app runs on a tablet at the hostess stand. You need to download the app before any other host-app step works.

 

  1. On your iPad or Android tablet, open the App Store or Google Play.
  2. Search for Toast Tables.
  3. Install the app.
  4. Confirm the device meets the minimum requirements. iPad: iOS 12 or later is recommended. Android: tested and qualified models are Samsung Galaxy Tab S8, Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, and Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 (running Android 11 or later). See Toast Tables: Device Compatibility for the current full list — device specs and OS minimums can change.
  5. If you only have a mobile phone available, you can install the app on iOS 17 or Android 14 or later — but only the home tab and more tab will work. Timeline and server tab functionality require a tablet.

 

Expected outcome: The Toast Tables app appears on your tablet's home screen. You do not need to sign in yet — you'll first finish setup in Toast Web, then sign in at Step 9.

 

Note: Toast Tables can run on multiple tablets at the same time. All devices sync within 10 seconds of any change.

 

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Step 2: Update Your Restaurant Profile

Your restaurant profile is what guests see on confirmation pages, online waitlist pages, and reservation pages. Set this up first so every guest-facing page carries your branding.

 

  1. Sign in to Toast Web at toasttab.com/login.
  2. Navigate to Toast Web > Toast Tables > Settings.
  3. If this is your first time, select Get Started in the Welcome to Toast Tables window. You can skip steps and return to them later.
  4. Under Restaurant Profile, update:
    • Contact number
    • Contact email
    • Restaurant website URL
    • "About your restaurant" description
    • Restaurant cover photo
  5. From this page, follow the links to update your restaurant name, location name, waitlist policy, and reservation policy in their canonical Toast Web pages.

 

Expected outcome: When you preview a guest confirmation page or your online waitlist page, your restaurant name, contact info, and cover photo appear correctly.

 

Note: At any step in setup, you can select Get help with this step to open Toast IQ for in-context guidance.

 

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Step 3: Set Up Your Schedules and Tables

This step defines when you're open for booking, which areas of the restaurant are bookable, and how long each party stays. In Toast Tables, a shift is called a Service Period, and a section is called a Dining Area — if your team uses different words, this is the mapping.

 

Set up the following, in this order:

  1. Service Periods — the time windows during which Toast Tables takes bookings (for example, Brunch 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m., Dinner 5:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.). Toast creates a default Service Period of 6:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m. every day; update this to match your hours.
  2. Dining Areas — each Toast Service Area (Indoor, Outdoor, Bar, etc.) appears as a Dining Area in Toast Tables. Combine, rename, reorder, or hide Dining Areas to control how guests and hosts see them. Hidden Dining Areas are excluded from Toast Tables but stay in your POS.
  3. Table Capacities — minimum and maximum party size per table. Set a flexible range so tables get auto-assigned correctly (for example, a 4-top with min 2 / max 4).
  4. Combo Tables — tables you push together to seat larger parties. Configure which Service Periods each combo is available in and whether the combo is bookable online.
  5. Turn Times — average length of a seating by party size and Dining Area. You can set different turn times per Service Period (for example, a shorter turn at Brunch, longer at Dinner).

 

Expected outcome: From Toast Web > Toast Tables > Settings > Schedules, you can preview your bookable times, see your Dining Areas in the order guests will see them, and confirm at least one combo table option for parties larger than your largest single table.

 

Note: Service areas and tables flow into Toast Tables from your POS configuration. Changes to Toast Web > Menus > Service Areas may take up to one minute to appear in Toast Tables.

 

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Step 4: Configure Your Online Waitlist

Online Waitlist lets guests join your waitlist remotely (from your website, a QR code, or Google) instead of coming in to put their name down.

 

  1. Navigate to Toast Web > Toast Tables > Settings > Waitlist.
  2. Set your Wait Time Estimator:
    • Manual Multiplier — a simple linear formula based on average turn time, number of bookable tables, and an optional buffer time (for example, add 10 minutes to every quote). Best for restaurants that want predictable wait quotes.
    • Smart Algorithm — a dynamic estimator that improves with the more parties you seat in the app. Best if you seat every party through the host app and have customized your General Settings.
  3. To configure the buffer time for Manual Multiplier wait quotes, navigate to Toast Web > Toast Tables > Settings > Waitlist > Wait Time Estimator, select Manual Multiplier, and enter the buffer (in minutes) to add to every estimated wait. Save your changes.
  4. Write a Waitlist Policy. Guests see this when they join the waitlist online or open the confirmation link. Use it to set expectations on cancellation, late arrival, party size, and so on.
  5. Enable Online Access to publish the online waitlist:
    • Toggle Online Access to On.
    • Select which Service Period(s) the online waitlist applies to.
    • Optional: disable online join if estimated wait exceeds a threshold; show estimated wait to guests; allow online join even when there is no wait; integrate with third-party (such as Google); limit availability by Service Period and Dining Area.

 

Expected outcome: When you open your online waitlist link in a browser, guests can join the waitlist, see your wait estimate, and receive SMS confirmation.

 

Note: For the guest-side experience — what the guest sees, what SMS they get, how 2-Way SMS works — see Toast Tables: The Guest Experience.

 

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Step 5: Configure Your Online Reservations

Online Reservations lets guests book a specific date and time on your website, by a link, or via Google.

 

  1. Navigate to Toast Web > Toast Tables > Settings > Reservations.
  2. Set Reservation Increments — how often new reservation slots start within a Service Period (for example, every 15 minutes). Each Service Period can have its own increment.
  3. Set Flow Control — the limit on how many parties you'll seat per increment. This is also called a "cap," "limit," or "max" by some restaurant teams. The limit is a hard cap for online reservations (slots show as unavailable once the cap is reached). Hosts see a warning if they try to book past the cap manually.
  4. Write a Reservation Policy — what guests see when they book. Use it for rules like "We only seat complete parties," "Parties of 8 or more please call the host," or "Late arrivals released after 15 minutes."
  5. Enable Online Access to publish online reservations:
    • Toggle Online Access to On.
    • Select which Service Period(s) accept online reservations.
    • Set Online Reservation Inventory — the percentage of each Dining Area available to online bookings within that Service Period. Setting a Dining Area to 0% blocks online bookings for that area; setting 100% opens the full inventory.
    • Remove any individual tables you want to keep out of online inventory.

 

Expected outcome: When you open your online reservation link in a browser, available time slots appear correctly and a test reservation completes through to a confirmation.

 

Note: If your online reservations show "no times available" even though you believe you have capacity, the most common causes are: (a) no Service Period is active for that date; (b) a Special Date is blocking that date; (c) Flow Control has filled all slots; (d) Online Reservation Inventory is set to 0% for the Dining Area; or (e) Turn Times exceed the remaining window. For step-by-step troubleshooting, see Get Help With Toast Tables: Online Waitlist and Reservations.

 

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Step 6: Plan for Holidays and Special Dates

Use Special Dates to override your standard schedule for a single date — for example, Mother's Day, a private buyout, or a holiday closure. Special Dates are how Toast Tables represents "turn off reservations for the day," "change hours for a holiday," or "block specific time slots."

 

Common scenarios:

  • Turn off reservations or waitlist for a day (no online booking, no host bookings). Create a Special Date and disable the Service Periods that fall on that date.
  • Change reservation hours for a holiday (for example, Mother's Day brunch 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. instead of normal lunch hours). Create a Special Date and override the Service Period start/end times for that date.
  • Block specific time slots on a date (for example, a private event from 5:00–7:00 p.m. but normal service before and after). Create a Special Date with a blocked window.

 

Important: Use Special Dates for one-date overrides. Use Schedules (Step 3) for recurring changes (every Sunday, every weekday, etc.). A common mistake: changing a Schedule to fix Mother's Day, then forgetting to change it back the next day.

 

Expected outcome: A test Special Date on a near-future date correctly blocks (or modifies) reservations for that date when you preview your online reservation link.

 

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Step 7: Set Up Reserve with Google

Reserve with Google adds Reserve a Table and Join Waitlist buttons to your Google Business profile so guests can book directly from Google Search and Google Maps.

 

  1. Confirm that the corresponding Toast feature is enabled:
    • Reserve a Table requires Online Reservations to be enabled (Step 5).
    • Join Waitlist requires Online Waitlist to be enabled (Step 4).
  2. In Toast Web > Toast Tables > Settings > Reservations > Online Access, enable Reserve with Google under the third-party integrations section. Repeat for the Waitlist > Online Access page to enable Join Waitlist on Google.
  3. Confirm your Google Business profile is set up to accept Reserve with Google: see Reserve with Google setup at Google Business (external link).
  4. Wait 24–48 hours for the Reserve a Table or Join Waitlist button to appear on your Google profile. Toast Tables will appear as the booking partner.

 

Note: As of January 2025, online reservations that include deposit rules are fully supported in Reserve with Google. You no longer need to choose between listing on Google and collecting deposits.

 

Note: Google limits each restaurant to two action buttons on the Google Business profile. If you also use Order with Google, the profile will show Order Online and Reserve a Table. The Reserve a Table button will then include both reservations and join-waitlist options after the guest selects it.

 

Common Reserve with Google scenarios:

  • You want to disable Reserve with Google but keep the in-house host app. Toggle Reserve with Google off in Online Access for Reservations and Waitlist. The host app continues to work — guests just can't book via Google.
  • Another booking system is still listed alongside Toast Tables on Google. Confirm you don't have inventory still published in another reservation system. Once Toast Tables is the only published booking partner, Google will eventually surface only Toast.
  • The Reserve a Table button disappeared from Google. Confirm Online Reservations is still enabled in Toast Web and at least one Service Period has online availability. If both are correct and the button is still missing after 48 hours, contact Toast Customer Care.
  • Reserve with Google won't connect / stuck in a redirect loop. Contact Toast Customer Care — OAuth-loop issues require backend investigation and cannot be resolved by self-service.

 

Expected outcome: Within 24–48 hours, your Google Business profile shows a Reserve a Table button (or Join Waitlist) that opens Toast Tables as the booking partner.

 

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Step 8: Connect Other Toast Integrations

Optional. Connect Toast Tables to other Toast products to add features your team uses every day.

 

  1. Navigate to Toast Web > Toast Tables > Settings > Toast Integrations.
  2. Toggle the integrations you use:
    • Start Order on POS — when a host seats a party in the host app, an order is pre-opened for the assigned server on the POS. Held orders appear in red on POS tables. Choose which dining option new orders open under. See Set Up Custom Dining Options for more on dining options.
    • Loyalty — guest information (name, phone, party size) carries from a host-seated booking into the POS order, feeding the Guestbook. U.S. only.
    • Digital Menus — upload a menu URL guests can view from the online waitlist or reservation page before they arrive.

 

Important: If you enable Start Order on POS, train your servers to look for red (held) tables and add items to the existing held order rather than starting a new order. Otherwise, the guest's name, phone, and party size won't carry through to the order.

 

Expected outcome: When a host seats a party in the host app, the assigned server sees a held order on the POS for that table.

 

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Step 9: Set Employee Permissions and Go Live

Hosts and managers need the right permissions to use the host app and configure Toast Tables.

 

  1. In Toast Web, on the left navigation pane, select Employees.
  2. Find and select the employee.
  3. Select Jobs and Permissions.
  4. To use the host app on the tablet, check 1.18 Log Into Booking App (Waitlist & Reservations). You may need to select Override to enable the checkbox.
  5. To configure Toast Tables settings in Toast Web, check 4.7 Configure Booking (Waitlist & Reservations).
  6. Save and publish the employee record.
  7. On the tablet, open the Toast Tables app and sign in with the employee's Toast username and password (the same credentials used for Toast Web). The password is saved for 30 days.

 

Expected outcome: The employee can sign into the Toast Tables app on the tablet and (if they have 4.7) can also configure settings from Toast Web on a computer.

 

Note: Generally, only managers and owners should have 4.7 Configure Booking (Waitlist & Reservations). Hosts typically need only 1.18 Log Into Booking App (Waitlist & Reservations).

 

Note: Multiple devices can be signed in to Toast Tables at the same time and will stay in sync within 10 seconds. If a host cannot sign in or cannot configure features, the most common cause is missing permissions — confirm Steps 1 through 5 above.

 

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