The Bristol pub with a four-year waiting list to get a booking for a Sunday roast

A Sunday roast at The Bank Tavern in Bristol - which most people will have to wait four years to try. Credit: Google/ITV News

A pub in Bristol has been named the hardest restaurant in the world to get a reservation at.

The Bank Tavern on John Street near Castle Park has become so famous for its Sunday lunches that the waiting list stretches for four years.

Now the small, independent pub has been crowned "the hardest restaurant in the world to get a reservation" by a new study.

The research, carried out by UK card payment provider Dojo, examined how long customers can be expected to wait for a table to become available. It did this by looking at TikTok views for some of Google's most exclusive restaurants and then confirming their waiting times via their website or Google reviews.

The study found the Bristol pub, which has stood in the same spot since the 19th century, has had to shut its booking list due to how popular its award-winning Sunday roasts are.

The pub is small inside, with just a few tables for diners. Credit: BPM Media

Winner of the Best Sunday Lunch and Good Food Awards, the Bank Tavern stopped taking reservations in March 2022 due to the length of those waiting for a table.

Two other UK venues featured in the top 10 hardest restaurants to get a reservation at.

Chef Heston Blumenthal's three Michelin-star restaurant The Fat Duck in Berkshire was named the seventh hardest with an average waiting time of four months, while The Clove Club in London came in ninth, with just a three month waiting list.

It is not the first time the Bristol pub has drawn headlines due to the lengths of its waiting times.

In October 2020, the pub revealed it was already booked up for Sunday lunch every weekend until April 2023, after being named the best in the UK at the Observer Food Monthly Awards the year before.

The Bank Tavern only has seven tables which, on a Sunday, can only be booked for an hour and a half. The roast menu includes dry-aged rare beef and slow-cooked pork belly served with a mega Yorkshire pudding and all of the trimmings.

But despite the waiting list for Sunday lunch is a mammoth one, tables for dining in the week are more readily available. 

The pub has a three-year waiting list on its Sunday roast dinners. Credit: BPM Media

The hardest restaurants in the world to get a reservation at

1) The Bank Tavern, Bristol, UK - 4 years

2) Damon Baehrel, New York, USA - 1 year

3) Masalawala & Sons, New York, USA - 6 months

4) La Mesita de Almanza, Tierra del Fuego Argentina - 6 months

5) Mesa 1, Punta de Mita, Mexico - 6 months

6) Disfrutar, Barcelona, Spain, - 5 months

7) The Fat Duck, Bray, UK - 4 months

8) Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark - 3 months

9) The Cove Club, London, UK - 3 months

10) Brae, Birregurra, Australia - 2 months