Home for Christmas: where to eat when family flies in

When family flies in for Christmas, the eating out you want is usually a handful of meals: a first meal after they land, one or two proper sit-down dinners, a lunch that suits the grandparents and a last meal before they fly back. Book those first, in that order, then leave gaps. On Mosey you can book, set a cancellation alert for a full table and split a group deposit.

Which meals should you book before they land?

Start with the meals that are hard to move. Work out which of these your family will actually want, then book them before you book anything else.

• The big family dinner. One evening when everyone, including the cousins, is at the same table. This is the booking that fills first and the one with a deposit, so it goes in the diary the day you know who is coming.
• The welcome meal. Something easy within a day of landing. People arrive tired, so pick somewhere simple and close, with a menu that does not need decoding.
• A long lunch. Weekday lunches are usually easier to book in the Christmas week than evenings, and they suit older relatives and small children.
• The send-off. The last meal before the flight, timed around the departure rather than the other way round.

A few fixed points with open gaps beat a booking every night. Family home for a short time also want to see friends and sit at the kitchen table.

Moment	What to book	Why it goes first
Day they land	An easy, close meal or an order ahead	They are tired and hungry
First full day	A relaxed lunch	Easy to find, easy for all ages
Mid-week	The big family dinner	Fills first, usually needs a deposit
The days around the holidays	Check opening, then decide	Many places change hours
Day they fly back	A meal timed to the flight	The only one with a hard deadline

How do you get a table in a busy Christmas week?

Book earlier than feels necessary, ask for the less popular times and make the booking itself do the work for you. On Mosey, open a place that takes bookings, tap Book a table, choose the date, time and party size and confirm. The Reserve view on the Home screen shows which places have tables free at your time, so you can compare places instead of ringing round.

1. Book the awkward time. An early evening table or a late lunch is much easier to get than eight o'clock on a Friday.
2. Read the deposit step before you confirm. The app shows the amount, whether it is paid now or only held on your card, and the place's cancellation rule.
3. Choose "hold card only" where it is offered. Your card is saved but not charged, and the place only takes the deposit if you do not turn up.

See how restaurant deposits and cancellation policies work and, for the wider picture, eating out at Christmas in Ireland.

What if the table you want is full?

A full place is not the end of it. Christmas bookings change all the time, because people's flights move, a relative gets ill or a group shrinks. Mosey gives you three ways to catch a table that opens up.

A cancellation alert. Tap Alert me if one comes up on a full place, or open Cancellation alerts in the You menu. Choose a specific day or recurring days, a time range and your party size, then say where to watch: one place, places near you, or the places on one of your lists. When a matching cancellation appears you are notified. Act quickly, because a cancelled table goes to the first person who claims it. See never missing a table with cancellation watches.

The waitlist or queue. For a night that is already booked up, or for a walk-in on the day, join the queue from your phone. You say how many of you there are and when you will arrive, and you are told as your table gets close. The standard option has no fee; some places offer paid options, and the app shows any fee before you pay. See joining a waitlist for a full restaurant.

Last-minute tables. The Reserve view has a Last-minute mode that lists cancelled tables people are offering. If you claim one you pay the place's deposit yourself, and the person who offered it is refunded in full. See getting a last-minute table in Dublin tonight.

If a flight changes and you cannot use a table, the same tools work in reverse. A booking can be transferred to a friend, who has 24 hours to accept, or listed as an offered slot, which gives your deposit back in full if someone claims it. See transferring a restaurant booking to a friend.

What suits a big mixed group?

Look for a place with room to seat everyone together, a menu with plain options and something for a vegetarian, and a pace that does not rush the older end of the table. Our guide to choosing a restaurant that suits everyone in a group has a checklist, and eating out with children covers the youngest diners.

On Mosey, tags help you filter. Places can be tagged by occasion, such as Family Friendly, Celebration and Group Dining, and by practical things such as Kid-Friendly and Outdoor seating. Read the tags, then read the ratings and photos from people who ate there. Each rating is about one dish, with a photo from the table. See reading restaurant ratings and photos.

If the group cannot agree, make a plan. A plan on Mosey lets you pick up to five places and two times from a list, invite the people you follow to vote, and book the winner in one tap. Voting is by approval: each person marks every option they would be happy with, and the option with the most approvals wins. The friends who joined are added to the booking as guests. See the plan a night out feature page.

A plan books tables of up to eight. For a bigger family, the app takes you to a group request instead, which the place answers with a quote. Large groups can also use Gatherings in the Reserve view, which is meant for big tables and private hire. Ask early, and ask about a set menu. The same steps suit any family occasion, such as a communion or confirmation lunch. See planning a group celebration.

How do you split the deposit without chasing everyone?

A deposit on a big table can fall on one person, and that person is usually the one who lives here. Mosey lets you split it. On a booking that needs a deposit, choose Split with friends on the deposit screen and work through three short steps.

1. Save your card. This is the safety net. It pays any share that has not been paid in time.
2. Add the people who are coming. Search by name or username and add them. The screen shows the sum, so you can see about how much each person pays.
3. Send the shares. Each person gets a message with their share and a button to pay it in the app.

The booking shows how many shares are paid, for example two of four. If a share has not been paid twelve hours before the booking, it is charged to the card you saved, so the place is paid and the table is secure. Your own share works the same way. The deposit goes to the place, and Mosey takes no commission from it.

Set the split up as soon as the booking is made, and remember that if the group changes the place's own cancellation terms still apply. See how to split a booking deposit with friends and splitting a group booking deposit. For food you order through the app, a group order can be split too: each person pays their own share before the order goes to the place. The split the bill feature page explains both.

What about children, grandparents and allergies?

Say who is coming when you book, not when you sit down. A place that knows there is a high chair, a walking frame or a coeliac at the table can plan for it.

For allergies, you should not have to guess. In Ireland, food businesses must give allergen information in writing for food that is not prepacked, and it should be easy to find before you buy, either next to each dish or in a clear central place. That is the Food Safety Authority of Ireland's guidance. If a relative has an allergy, look at that information first and ask the staff if anything is unclear.

On Mosey, the Hide dishes that list filter hides dishes by the allergens they declare. A dish with nothing listed means allergens are not listed, which is not the same as safe: ask the place. Our guides to checking allergen information before you order and coeliac and gluten free eating out go further.

For the grandparents, think about the room as much as the menu: a table away from the door and the kitchen, and a place that does not hurry the table. A quiet weekday lunch often suits better than a busy evening.

What should you eat when family wants a proper Irish Christmas?

Many people who come home want the food they remember. The traditional Christmas dinner centres on turkey and ham, with roast potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, gravy and Christmas pudding to follow. If a place serves a set menu in December, check what is on it and whether there is a vegetarian or gluten free path before you commit.

Some people want something other than a second Christmas dinner. Seafood, a chowder, a bowl of stew or a bakery lunch can feel like home without repeating the turkey. See Irish menu words explained, the carvery lunch explained and Sunday lunch: how to choose and book a good one for what is on the menu.

If the family is still around in early January, Little Christmas, also called Nollaig na mBan or Women's Christmas, is a tradition on which women often go out with friends and relatives, and bars and restaurants may host parties that night.

Which days are tricky: Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day?

Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day are both public holidays in Ireland. Plenty of places close on one or both, others open with a shorter menu or shorter hours, and some run a set menu only. Do not assume normal opening on either day. Check the place's page, and if you cannot find the hours, ask. See bank holiday weekend eating out for more.

What about the first meal and the day they fly back?

The first meal is about ease. If your family lands at Dublin Airport, where to eat near Dublin Airport covers what to do when you arrive. Otherwise, aim for something easy to get to and flexible about timing, because flights run late. A table you can move is worth more than one you cannot, so choose a place with a clear cancellation rule and change it from My Bookings if needed. Or skip the table altogether: order ahead from a place that takes orders and collect it on the way home from the airport.

The day they fly back is the one with a deadline. Work backwards from the departure time. Decide when they need to leave for the airport, then when the meal needs to finish, then when it should start. A relaxed late breakfast or an early lunch is usually safer than a long dinner. Tell the place your cut-off when you book so that the kitchen can plan the courses. A gift voucher is a nice thing to leave them for the next trip home: see buying vouchers for Dublin restaurants.

How do you keep the whole week together?

Put it in one place. Make a list on Mosey for the week, add the places you have booked or are watching, and share it with an invite link, so a relative who has not joined yet can still add their ideas. A cancellation alert can watch the whole list. If some relatives would rather a hotel than the spare room, Food Stays in Mosey Travel shows hotel stays built around a meal there; you book the stay on the hotel's own website.

After each meal, rate it by the dish, with a photo from the table. You can tag the friends and relatives you ate with, and they can add their own rating. By the end of the week you have a record of what everyone thought.

If you are home with children or cousins who like a game, the Christmas food countdown is a daily Christmas food quiz in the app and on the website, from door one to Christmas Day, and you can catch up on missed doors after. Share a score without spoilers, in the style of I got 31 of 44. Our page on the Christmas food countdown explains how it works.

More guides to read next:

• Eating out at Christmas in Ireland: how to plan
• How to organise a work Christmas meal for a group
• How to eat well on a short visit to Ireland

More in the food guides.

For a wider view of where people are rating highly, see the ranked lists.