[brewdad]

I’ve seen it both ways. For larger parties most places near me charge upfront. For couples or parties up to 4 the charge hits 48 hours before your reservation or whatever the cutoff happens to be. In one case, I did have to get the bill adjusted because the restaurant forgot the credit our deposit. I think it was an honest mistake since we’ve never had a problem there in half a dozen other visits and it’s only for parties over 8 that they charge the deposit. Seeing as the whole place only seats about 40, they don’t get many large parties.