How to book restaurants in Seoul as a visitor
CatchTable Global step by step, the monthly release pattern, deposits, and what tourists hit, with numbers from 14 Seoul restaurants we watch.
- CatchTable Global, step by step
- Data through November 11, 2026
- Where to book
- CatchTable Global (catchtable.net) is the English version. Some top restaurants, such as MOSU Seoul, sell only there.
- What you need
- A Google or Apple account and a foreign-issued card for deposits; no Korean phone number, per the Korea Tourism Organization.
- When tables open
- Often a month at a time at a fixed Seoul hour set by each restaurant. Otherwise, tables appear at no fixed hour.
- If it is full
- Watch for new openings, or ask about a waitlist or phone booking. Table Alert alerts you; you book.
Where Seoul restaurants take bookings
CatchTable is the one that matters for fine dining. It is a Korean app and website where restaurants post their calendar, prices and rules. CatchTable Global at catchtable.net is the English version, with an ENG switch on its home page. Korean guests use the Korean app.
Naver Map is the other big route. In June 2026 Naver began passport verification for foreign visitors, so they can reserve and pay on it without a Korean mobile number, according to The Korea Times. The restaurants in our data all sell on CatchTable.
Some restaurants still book by phone or take no reservations. Haobin's CatchTable page says 'Reserve by phone'. Tianmimi Hongdae's says only an on-site waitlist is available. Okdongsik offers a waitlist and priority entry (all checked November 12, 2026).
CatchTable Global, step by step
- Open catchtable.net and switch the language to English with the ENG toggle.
- Sign up with a Google or Apple account. The Korea Tourism Organization says no Korean phone number is needed (the page was last updated in September 2024).
- Find the restaurant and open its page. Read the course price, the deposit rule and the party limit before you pick a date.
- Tap Reserve and choose a date, time and number of guests. An open date shows a weekday name, 'Full' means none left and 'Closed' means the restaurant is closed.
- Pay the deposit with a foreign-issued card. On CatchTable Global deposits can only be paid that way, per the same source.
- Arrive on time. MOSU Seoul, for example, holds a table 15 minutes and Mingles holds it 15 minutes too.
Create the account and add the card before release day, not on it.
How release days work
There is no city-wide release time. Each restaurant sets its own, and the best rooms often open a month at a time at a fixed hour on Seoul's clock.
- Mingles: December opened on October 1 and January on November 1, both at 2 PM, per its notices.
- Yunjudang Haebangchon: next month opens at 7 PM on the 15th of every month, per its CatchTable page.
- Choidot: January 2027 opened on November 11 at 1 PM.
- Holiday menus open on their own dates: Soigné's year-end menu opens Monday, November 16 at 3 PM, with the full price paid up front.
Be on the page a few minutes early.
Deposits, refunds and resale
Mingles and MOSU Seoul take a deposit when you book. The refund rule is the restaurant's own. As posted on November 12, 2026, MOSU Seoul refunds in full 3 days ahead and nothing later, and Mingles refunds in full 4 days ahead. Soigné's year-end menu is refunded in full 7 days ahead and in half 2 to 6 days ahead.
Do not resell a reservation. Mingles and Vesuvio Seoul both say paid transfers are cancelled; Vesuvio says the deposit is lost and the account blacklisted.
Walk-ins and waitlists
A CatchTable waitlist needs no deposit, remote or on site, says the Korea Tourism Organization.
Do not count on walking into a fine-dining room. We found no walk-in policy for Mingles or MOSU Seoul; both sell seats through CatchTable and hold a booked table for only 15 minutes.
What tourists hit
- A Korean phone number. Not needed for CatchTable Global; Naver now has a passport route.
- A foreign card. CatchTable Global deposits require one, so a Korean-issued card will not work there.
- Language. CatchTable Global supports English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
- Fake deposit pages. Choidot warns of impersonation sites and says it takes bookings only via CatchTable or phone. Pay only inside CatchTable.
- Booking your arrival day. Soigné's own notice recommends against it and says it cannot change a booking after a travel delay.
What our data says
We watch 14 Seoul restaurants on CatchTable around the clock. 14 of them have 90 clean days; the figures cover the last 90 days, through November 11, 2026. We recorded 1,543 openings, and only 2% were for the same day. Plan ahead.
- MOSU Seoul showed a table on every day of the window, yet the typical one lasted about 5 minutes (as of November 11, 2026).
- Mingles showed a table on 78 of 90 days, the typical one gone in about 3 minutes.
- Eatanic Garden: 69 of 90 days, about 2 minutes.
- 7th Door got new dates at about 12:00 AM Seoul time, and its typical table lasted about 15 hours.
The table below ranks them by how rarely a table opens; the top 10 are shown. Our release times are observed, not published; each restaurant guide states the rule.
Ranked by bookable time: the share of the last 90 days during which at least one table, for any date and any party size, was open on the public calendar. Least first; ties by how fast the typical table went. Restaurants we monitor in full (every party size, every date, every day).
-
1
JUNGDAE CatchTable
- Bookable time
- 6.0 h
- Share of the time
- 0.28%
- Days with a table
- 9
-
2
Eatanic Garden CatchTable
- Bookable time
- 2.3 days
- Share of the time
- 2.6%
- Typical table lasts
- about 2 minutes
- Days with a table
- 69
-
3
Mingles CatchTable
- Bookable time
- 5.7 days
- Share of the time
- 6.4%
- Typical table lasts
- about 3 minutes
- Days with a table
- 78
-
4
Onjium Restaurant CatchTable
- Bookable time
- 6.6 days
- Share of the time
- 7.3%
- Typical table lasts
- about 4 minutes
- Days with a table
- 65
-
5
GiwaKang CatchTable
- Bookable time
- 15.1 days
- Share of the time
- 17%
- Days with a table
- 8
-
6
San CatchTable
- Bookable time
- 45.8 days
- Share of the time
- 51%
- Typical table lasts
- about 50 minutes
- Days with a table
- 87
-
7
MOSU Seoul CatchTable
- Bookable time
- 46.2 days
- Share of the time
- 51%
- Typical table lasts
- about 5 minutes
- Days with a table
- 90
-
8
Y'east CatchTable
- Bookable time
- 65.8 days
- Share of the time
- 73%
- Typical table lasts
- about 5 hours
- Days with a table
- 69
-
9
SOUL CatchTable
- Bookable time
- 73.3 days
- Share of the time
- 81%
- Typical table lasts
- about 4 hours
- Days with a table
- 77
-
10
ZEST CatchTable
- Bookable time
- 79.0 days
- Share of the time
- 88%
- Typical table lasts
- about 2.7 hours
- Days with a table
- 90
Proprietary data: Table Alert checks each restaurant's public booking calendar around the clock; these figures cover the last 90 days, vouched restaurants only, and are refreshed every night.
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FAQ
How to book restaurants in Seoul as a visitor: questions people ask
Yes, on CatchTable Global. The Korea Tourism Organization says you can sign up with a Google or Apple account without a Korean phone number. Naver also introduced passport verification for foreign visitors in June 2026.
For fine dining, CatchTable, in its English version CatchTable Global. Every restaurant in our Seoul data sells on it. Naver Map is the other large option, and some places take only phone or walk-ins.
For deposits on CatchTable Global, yes: the Korea Tourism Organization says they can only be paid with foreign-issued cards. A waitlist needs no deposit. We could not verify which card brands are accepted.
Each restaurant sets its own. Mingles opens a month at 2 PM on the 1st, Yunjudang at 7 PM on the 15th, Choidot on a monthly date. Many other tables appear at no fixed hour.
Some casual places run waitlists, so check the restaurant's CatchTable page. We found no walk-in policy for the tasting-menu rooms we track; they sell seats through CatchTable and hold a booked table only 15 minutes, so do not plan on it.
It depends on the restaurant and the date. MOSU Seoul refunds in full 3 days ahead and not after. Soigné's year-end menu is refunded in full 7 days ahead. Read each restaurant's rule before you pay.
As early as the restaurant releases. The restaurants' calendars reach different distances ahead, shown in our table, and same-day tables are rare, so booking close to the date rarely works.
No. Table Alert alerts you when a table opens at a restaurant you watch, with a link to its CatchTable page. You book it yourself. We never book, hold or resell tables.
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Sources and how this page is made
Written by Jacob, founder of Table Alert. Facts checked against the sources below on November 12, 2026 and re-checked every night, last on . The monitoring numbers are Table Alert's own, refreshed every night. Out of date? Tell us.
- Korea Tourism Organization: CatchTable Global (page last updated September 2024)
- The Korea Times: Naver introduces passport verification for foreign travelers (June 2026)
- CatchTable Global (catchtable.net)
- CatchTable Global: Vesuvio Seoul
- CatchTable Global: Mingles, details and policies
- CatchTable Global: Haobin
- CatchTable Global: Tianmimi Hongdae
- CatchTable Global: Okdongsik
- CatchTable Global: MOSU Seoul, details and policies
- CatchTable Global: Mingles, reservation notices
- CatchTable Global: Soigné, year-end reservation notice
- CatchTable Global: Choidot, notices
- CatchTable Global: Yunjudang Haebangchon
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