How to Score a Booking at Totti’s Bondi (Without the Stress)

I've talked more friends and visitors through a Totti's reservation than I can count, so let me save you the midnight stress. The surest table is booked online through Merivale the moment your date opens - but if you've left it late, same-day walk-ins are genuinely welcome and cancellations reappear online all the time. Here's exactly how I'd go about it.

Where

At the back of The Royal, 283 Bondi Road (corner of Denham Street), Bondi

Book via

Merivale online booking (merivale.com/venues/tottis)

Phone

+61 2 9114 7371

Walk-ins

Same-day walk-ins welcome (limited)

The room

A 185-seat restaurant and courtyard; the woodfired bread is non-negotiable

How I'd book it

Reservations run through Merivale's own system on the Totti's venue page - that's the one platform to use. Tables release a set window ahead of time, and that window shifts, so don't trust a fixed number you read on a blog. Open the booking calendar, scroll to the furthest bookable date, and work backwards from there.

• Jump on the booking page the day your date first opens - lunch and prime dinner slots go fast.
• Have your details ready (name, phone, card if requested) so you're not fumbling as tables vanish.
• Bend on timing where you can: an early lunch or later dinner beats the 7pm-Saturday scramble, midweek beats the weekend, and a table of two or three slots in where a table of eight won't.

No booking? Don't write off a spontaneous visit. A limited number of walk-in tables are held back each day, and your odds are best if you turn up early rather than at peak, keep the group small, and are happy to perch wherever they can seat you - a weekday afternoon is your friend. Failing that, a quick phone call the morning of can turn up a cancellation the website hasn't caught yet.

If Totti's is fully booked

If your date's a wash and nothing's opening up, you're not stuck - this stretch of Bondi is thick with Italian and special-occasion tables. For wood-fired pizza a short stroll north, Da Orazio Pizza + Porchetta is my go-to; for a long, leisurely Italian lunch with a sliver of ocean, Bondi Trattoria has held down Campbell Parade for years. If it's the occasion you're chasing rather than Totti's specifically, Icebergs Dining Room and Bar brings the same handmade-pasta-with-a-view drama (book that one just as far ahead), while Lola's Italian & Bar is the easier walk-up when you haven't planned a thing. For the full spread, browse our roundup of Bondi's best date-night restaurants and the best restaurants in Bondi.

A bit of history for context: The Royal has anchored this corner of Bondi Road since 1902, and Merivale opened Totti's at the back of the pub in December 2018 with chefs Mike Eggert and Khan Danis. That pedigree is exactly why the room stays busy - and why a little planning pays off. Order the bread.