Restaurant host phone screen questions
The host is the first person every guest meets, and the phone screen is a fair preview of that. Listen for warmth and clarity, then check how they handle a wait list, a full book, and an unhappy guest at the door.
Eight questions, and what to listen for
Ask them in this order. The first two sort the pool; the middle ones show judgment; the last ones settle logistics before anyone books an interview.
- 1
Tell me about your host or front-of-house experience: what kind of restaurant, and how busy did it get?
Listen for: Concept, covers on a busy night, and tenure. No restaurant experience is fine if they have dealt with the public.
- 2
Have you used a reservation or wait list system like OpenTable, Resy, or Yelp Guest Manager?
Listen for: Named systems. Not required, but it shortens training.
- 3
A party of six walks in on a Saturday with no reservation and the wait is an hour. What do you say?
Listen for: An honest quote, an alternative like the bar or a later time, and a friendly tone. Overpromising the wait is a red flag.
- 4
How do you decide which section to seat a party in?
Listen for: Rotating sections, watching server load, table size, and guest requests. Any sense of balance counts.
- 5
Tell me about a time a guest was upset about a wait or their table. What did you do?
Listen for: Listen, apologize, offer what they can, get a manager early. Blaming the guest is a warning sign.
- 6
How comfortable are you answering the phone and taking reservations while guests are waiting at the stand?
Listen for: Comfort juggling both, and a sense of who to serve first.
- 7
Which evenings and weekends are you available?
Listen for: Exact availability. Friday, Saturday, and brunch are the shifts that matter.
- 8
When could you start, and how do you get to the restaurant?
Listen for: A date and a way to get there and home after close.
Red flags on the call
- Cannot communicate guest details clearly after normal clarification
- Would quote a short wait to keep the party happy
- Upset-guest story with no resolution
- No weekend availability
Keep it short
Five questions, four to six minutes. Restaurant host candidates are usually applying to several jobs at once; a screen they can finish between shifts gets finished. Save the deeper questions for the interview, where the candidate has already answered these once.
Ask whether the candidate can perform an essential task with or without reasonable accommodation; do not ask about disability or medical history. Avoid age, family, religion, national origin and other protected characteristics. See the EEOC's hiring-question guidance.
Run this exact screen for every restaurant host who applies
Create a role in PhoneScreen with these five questions, share the link, and every candidate gets the same screen the moment they call. You read the scorecards. First 10 screens are free.
- 1Tell me about your host or front-of-house experience.
- 2A party of six walks in on a Saturday with no reservation and the wait is an hour. What do you say?
- 3Tell me about a time a guest was upset about a wait or their table. What did you do?
- 4Which evenings and weekends are you available?
- 5When could you start?
Common questions
Is a phone screen a good test for a host? +
It is one of the better ones. Hosts spend much of the night on the phone and at the stand, so tone, clarity, and patience on the call are the job itself. The recording lets the manager hear it rather than read about it.
Do hosts need a food handler card? +
Usually not, since hosts do not handle food, but some cities and counties require cards for all front-of-house staff and some restaurants ask hosts to help run food. Check your local rules and ask on the screen if it applies.
Screening for restaurants · More roles: line cook, restaurant server, dishwasher, barista, bartender, forklift operator · Why the same questions for everyone