What software should a Canadian restaurant use for table bookings?

A reservation module built on the floor plan beats a plain calendar. The calendar says 25 people are coming at 8 pm; the floor plan says whether you have a free table for six.

Short answer

A good module ties each booking to a specific table, not just to a number of seats.
Bookings sit in one list per service, in the same application as the menu and orders.
It shows free and reserved tables for each time slot, by room.
Guest contact details are personal information; keep them only as long as needed.
Choose software where reservations, menu and orders share one set of data.

What the software must do

Show free and reserved tables for each time slot.
Let you pick a table of the right size for the party.
Show bookings by day and by time slot.
Support rooms such as the dining room, terrace and bar, if you run more than one area.
Ask how the cancellation policy is stated before guests confirm.
Live in the same application as the menu and orders.

What to check under Canadian rules

Booking details are personal information under PIPEDA and, in Quebec, Law 25.
Promotional messages need consent under Canada's anti-spam law (CASL).
State the cancellation policy before confirming; check provincial rules for deposits.

Practical example

Imagine a Friday with 25 bookings at a 60-seat restaurant and some no-shows. Each empty table is seats you cannot sell again that evening.

A calendar does not show which tables are free before the rush. A floor plan does.

Common mistakes

Using a generic calendar that knows nothing about tables and their size.
Keeping phone bookings in a notebook and online ones somewhere else, so the two never match.
Not stating the cancellation policy before confirming.

How 4restaurants.net helps

The floor plan and the bookings sit in the same application as the evening's orders.
Bookings are recorded per table, per room and per time, so the host sees each service clearly.