Its famed roast dinner has a year-long waiting list
Braised pork belly at the Bank Tavern(Image: BristolLive)
A Bristol pub and restaurant has made it onto a list of the most exclusive restaurants in the world. Just one of two UK venues to make it, The Bank Tavern in Bristol sits at number six in the top 20 ‘hardest reservations in the world’.
Known for having a waiting list for its renowned roast dinners, and a day of booking that sees tables sell out faster than Glastonbury tickets, The Bank Tavern beats London restaurant Nina in the list – the London venue sits down at number 17.
The list has been put together by restaurant booking experts at Dojo, which ‘hunted down the hardest restaurants to get into across the world’, by analysing reservation waiting times, demand for the restaurant and social media followings to reveal the world’s most sought-after restaurants.
The Lost Kitchen, in Maine in the US, ranks number one in the list. It’s so exclusive that potential diners must send a postcard with their contact information – name, address, phone number and email address – as well as an optional note to the restaurant.
Then they must write the year in the upper left corner, and the restaurant will randomly select postcards, usually in the April of that year, and contact those selected to book reservations.
Another US restaurant sits at number two in the list – Rao’s in New York – which is a member’s only establishment. While it has hosted numerous celebrities over the years, this place is primarily made up of long-standing customers who have secured their spots through years of patronage.
The Bank Tavern in John Street, Bristol(Image: James Beck/BristolLive)
From then on out, Dojo’s list consists of establishments with long waiting times for tables, spanning anywhere from 90 to 365 days. The Bank Tavern was also beaten in the list by Disfrutar in Barcelona, House of Prime Rib in San Francisco, and El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Spain.
According to the stats, The Bank Tavern has a waiting time of 365 days, with bookings for its roasts usually taking place at the start of each new year and selling out in minutes. It has 14,400 Instagram followers according to the data, and receives a monthly Google search volume of 12,100 – all of this placed the Bristol restaurant as the sixth most-exclusive restaurant in the world.
Located on John Street, this year The Bank Tavern opened its diary for 2025 bookings at 10am on January 2 and just 13 minutes later, every slot was filled. On Instagram, the pub’s team said: “2025 Sunday lunch is fully booked. You crashed our website and everything went in 13 minutes.”
The sold-out bookings came just a few weeks after top US rugby star Ilona Maher, who was preparing for her stint with Bristol Bears Womens at the time, visited The Bank Tavern and got to enjoy one of the venue’s highly in-demand roast dinners. Ilona, who is an American rugby union player and one of the stars of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, had just signed a three-month contract with the Bears, which began in January.
When BristolLive visited to try out the famed Sunday lunch back in 2024, one BristolLive reporter dubbed it “a stroke of luck” that they’d managed to get a table due to a cancellation, and described the food as living up to the hype and being “simply incredible” and “time stopping”.
The list in full
Here’s the full Dojo list of the top 20 most exclusive restaurants in the world:
1. The Lost Kitchen, Freedom, Maine, USA (postcard only)
2. Rao’s, New York, USA (members only)
3. Disfrutar, Barcelona, Spain (365 day wait)
4. House of Prime Rib, San Francisco, USA (365 day wait)
5. El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, Spain (330 day wait)
6. The Bank Tavern, Bristol, UK (365 day wait)
7. Pujol, Mexico City, Mexico (180 day wait)
8=. Damon Baehrel, New York, USA (365 day wait)
8=. Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark (90 day wait)
10. La Mercerie, Marseille, France (180 day wait)
11. Mugaritz, Gipuzkoa, Spain (180 day wait)
12. The Little Inn at Little Washington, Washington, USA (180 day wait)
13. Firedoor, Sydney, Australia (180 day wait)
14=. Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy (90 day wait)
14=. De Librije, Zwolle, Netherlands (180 day wait)
16. Mesa 1, Punta de Mita, Mexico (180 day wait)
17. Nina, London, UK (180 day wait)
18. Tsuke Edomae, Austin, USA (180 day wait)
19. Orso, Anchorage, USA (180 day wait)
20. Cafe Lafayette Dinner Train, North Woodstock, USA (180 day wait)