Toast Tables Waitlist Marked Done? Check History Before Adding the Party Again

Quick answer: Toast's own help article says a waitlist party you have notified is moved to the History tab and marked Done if they don't arrive or respond within 15 minutes of the text. That is the documented reason a waiting party seems to vanish. To bring them back, Toast says to open the History tab, select the party and move it back to Waiting. Before you do that, find the guest, make sure the record is really theirs and that they were never seated, and check that nobody has already added them again. Don't type them in as a new party first. That is how you end up with two entries for one table of four.

This is a workflow guide built from Toast's support articles as they read on October 16, 2026. It is not news: the 15-minute rule appears in Toast's Use Toast Tables article, last updated September 28, 2026, where it sits in the article's frequently asked questions next to a customer's wording: "Waitlist system keeps taking people off the waitlist by marking them as done." We did not run any of this on a live Toast account.

Done is a record status, not a location

Toast Tables tracks a party's record. It does not know where the guest is standing. Two things follow from that.

• Notified means a text was sent. Toast's own status list defines Notified as "Text sent that the table is ready." Its troubleshooting FAQ says guests may not get the text because of a wrong phone number or a carrier problem. A guest who never got the message can't respond to it, so a party that timed out may still be on the patio or in the parking lot.
• Done doesn't always mean a timeout. Toast also marks a party Done when their table is marked Dirty (or Available, if no order was ever started) as the visit ends. A Done party in History may simply have eaten, paid and left. Restoring that party would put a finished table back in line.

So the question at the stand is not "what does the app say?" It is "who is this guest, did they ever sit down, and where are they now?"

Two History views, and which one you need

Toast describes two different things called History in the host app:

• The History tab shows every booking from today, including cancelled, no-show and completed parties. This is where a timed-out waitlist party lands, and where you restore it.
• The History button on a single booking opens that one party's change log. Toast says it shows who edited a booking and when. Use it to check whether this party was ever seated before you restore anything. Toast doesn't spell out whether automatic status changes appear in that log, so if yours doesn't show enough, ask the floor whether the party was sat.

Read the status before you click

Restore a party that timed out

This applies to a dine-in waitlist party that you notified, that shows Done in today's History tab, and that never sat down. It doesn't apply to reservations, online orders or takeout texts.

1. Guest first. Confirm the name and party size with the guest in person. If you need to, confirm the phone number they gave.
2. Check for a second entry. Look at the active waitlist for this party. Another host or another device may already have added them again; Toast says multiple devices signed in to Toast Tables stay in sync within 10 seconds. If they are already back on the list, don't restore the old record as well. Get the manager to sort out which one to keep.
3. Open the History tab and find the party by name, party size and the time they were added.
4. Make sure they were never seated. Check the party's History button, and ask the floor if you are unsure. A party that was seated and finished stays Done.
5. Select the party and move it back to Waiting. Toast says the party returns to the active waitlist.
6. Look before you promise anything. Check that the party appears on the waitlist once, where it sits in line, what quote and timer it shows, and whether a text went out. Toast's articles don't say what happens to any of those after a restore, so don't tell the guest they have their old spot back until you have seen it on the screen.
7. Seat them when the table is actually ready, the normal way. If your restaurant uses the Start Order on POS integration, seating a party starts an order on the POS, so seating is not a harmless way to test anything.

If the Waiting option isn't there, or the screen doesn't match these steps, don't work around it. Keep the guest informed, give them an honest wait and get the manager. Changing or adding records is the manager's call once someone has confirmed which record belongs to this guest.

A fictional Friday at the host stand

This example is made up. It shows Toast's documented behavior and the checks above. It is not a test we ran, and the times don't show how precisely Toast's timer runs.

• 6:40 PM. At a fictional restaurant, Harbor Lane Bistro, the host adds "Okafor, party of 4" to the waitlist with a phone number. Quote: 25 minutes.
• 7:00 PM. A four-top is clean. The host selects the party and taps Send Notification. The card shows Notified.
• 7:17 PM. The Okafor party is no longer on the waitlist. In the History tab the host finds "Okafor, 4" marked Done. The host sent the text at 7:00 and knows it, and the floor confirms nobody seated the Okafors. That fits the documented 15-minute move.
• 7:19 PM. Four guests walk up and say they never saw a text. The host confirms the name and party size, checks the active waitlist (no second Okafor entry), moves the History record back to Waiting and checks where it now sits. The record says Waiting even though the Okafors were already texted, and they are standing right there, so the host talks to them instead of sending another text. Another host gave the four-top to the next party at 7:16, after the Okafor record dropped off the list, so the host gives an honest new wait instead of promising the next table.
• Same night, different record. The host also sees "Ramos, 2" marked Done. That party was seated at 6:05 and the table was marked Dirty after they left. It is a finished visit, so the host leaves it alone.

When the text may never have arrived

A party with no response is not the same as a party that left.

• No phone number. Toast says Send Notification is grayed out if the guest didn't give a number, so you have to find that party by name at the stand.
• Wrong number or carrier trouble. Toast's FAQ says to check the phone number on the waitlist entry first. If the number is right and the message didn't go through, a manager can check the External Connectivity section of the Twilio status website for carrier problems. Toast says a delayed message may still arrive once the carrier recovers.
• Replies depend on your settings. Toast says guests can reply 1 to confirm or 9 to cancel only when auto-response is turned on for that text template in Toast Web. If you don't know whether yours is on, don't assume a guest's reply changed anything; look at the party's status. If your restaurant uses two-way texting, keep it to the booking. Toast prohibits marketing messages through it.

After you send a notification, look for the party in person: call the name at the stand and in the waiting area. Toast's 15 minutes is how the software behaves, not a grace-period policy, and none of the Toast articles we read describes a setting to change it. How long your restaurant holds a table is your own house rule.

Who owns the queue

Pick one host to own the waitlist for each stretch of the shift, and name a manager for anything that host can't resolve. Toast says hosts typically need only the 1.18 Log Into Booking App permission. Changing Toast Tables settings in Toast Web, where the text templates and auto-response live, takes 4.7 Configure Booking, which Toast says should generally stay with managers and owners. Restoring a party happens in the host app, so hosts don't need configuration access for it.

At a handoff, the outgoing host walks the incoming host through every Notified party and anything that went to History since the last handoff. Anything unresolved goes to the manager with the guest name, party size, time added, what History shows and what has already been done. If you are still opening, practice this at your soft opening.

Toast Tables waitlist recovery and handoff card

Copy this card for the host stand. It carries its own limits, so it still works on its own.

TOAST TABLES WAITLIST RECOVERY AND HANDOFF CARD
(From Toast's "Use Toast Tables" help article, updated Sep 28, 2026.
Written from Toast's documentation, not a live test. Check it against
your own screen.)

USE IT FOR: a dine-in WAITLIST party in the Toast Tables host app, handled
by a host signed in with their own login. Not for reservations, takeout
or online-order texts.

WHAT TOAST DOCUMENTS: a NOTIFIED waitlist party that doesn't arrive or
respond within 15 minutes of the text moves to History as Done. A party is
also marked Done when its table is marked Dirty (or Available with no
order) after the visit. "Notified" means a text was SENT, not received.
After notifying, look for the party in person. Don't rely on the text.

STOP AND GET THE MANAGER ON DUTY IF:
- you can't tell which record belongs to this guest
- the record isn't in today's History tab
- it shows Cancelled, No Show, Seated or anything other than Done
  (Toast's reinstate path is for Cancelled/No Show only; manager decides)
- the record shows the party was seated (a finished visit stays Done)
- they are already back on the waitlist under a new entry
- the app shows no Waiting option or looks different from this card
Keep looking after the guest while you wait. Don't guess at buttons.

RESTORE ONLY IF ALL ARE TRUE: guest confirmed, was notified, shows Done,
never seated, no second entry. Guest not here? Leave the record alone.
1. Guest first: confirm name and party size in person.
2. Check the active waitlist for a second entry. Do NOT add a new one.
3. History tab: find the party by name, size and time added.
4. Party's History button / ask the floor: confirm never seated.
5. Select the party. Move it back to Waiting.
6. Check the waitlist: listed once? Place in line? Quote and timer?
   Any text sent? Toast doesn't document these after a restore.
   Don't promise the old spot until you have looked.
7. Seat only when the table is really ready. If Start Order on POS
   is on, seating starts a POS order. No practice seating.

HANDOFF:
Queue owner: ____________ until ______. Manager on duty: ____________
Outgoing host reviews every Notified party and everything moved to
History since the last handoff. Unresolved: tell the manager the guest
name, party size, time added, what History shows, what you already did.
Settings (texts, auto-response, waitlist rules) stay with managers.

Practice it before a busy night

To see what your own screen does after a restore, run it under the test procedure your restaurant has already approved, with a staff member's phone number that they control and agree to use, never a guest's. Pick a quiet period, tell the other hosts first, and don't seat the practice party if Start Order on POS is on. Write down what the waitlist showed after the restore: place in line, quote, timer and whether a text arrived. One run tells you about that day's setup. It doesn't prove every carrier will deliver every text.

What this post does not cover

• Toast's Self-Service Waitlist Stand, announced October 15, 2026, where guests add themselves on a tablet. We don't have verified setup steps, and we don't know whether those entries behave differently.
• Reservations, late arrivals for reservations and reservation reminder texts.
• Devices and app installation. Toast's articles disagree on supported devices, so check Toast's current device compatibility article before buying hardware.
• Kitchen or takeout texts. Those are a different Toast feature, covered in Toast order-ready texts from the POS app.

More guides like this are in the Technology section.

Sources

• Toast Support, Use Toast Tables, last updated September 28, 2026, 12:19 PM (time zone not stated): party statuses, automatic Done, reinstating parties, seating and Start Order on POS, Review Booking History, and the FAQ "Why is my waitlist marking guests as 'done' automatically?" Read October 16, 2026.
• Toast Support, Toast Tables FAQ, last updated September 21, 2026, 11:12 AM: guests not receiving text updates. Read October 16, 2026.
• Toast Support, Toast Tables: The Guest Experience, last updated October 13, 2026, 11:56 AM: text templates, auto-response and two-way messaging. Read October 16, 2026.
• Toast Support, Get Started With Toast Tables, last updated October 1, 2026, 5:33 PM: employee permissions 1.18 and 4.7 and device sync. Read October 16, 2026.