An appetite is developing for 5 p.m. dinner on the town.
No matter their age, a growing number of diners are choosing to eat before sundown, according to reservations trackers.
You won’t hear the term “early bird special” too much anymore. “Happy hour,” “early dinner” and “first dinner” are the terms luring in a new contingent who prefer the evening meal closer to the afternoon. This includes the under-50 set.
“Early diner here, we’re in our 30s and love a 5 p.m. dinner rez,” Wilton Manors resident Kara Sierra, 33, wrote in “Let’s Eat, South Florida,” the Sun Sentinel’s foodie Facebook group. “Nothing better than walking in when a restaurant first opens, taking advantage of happy hour, and being home by 6:30.”
Regine Rossi, a physical therapist from Wellington, agreed.
“I’m 45 (so I think not of an early bird special age quite yet — I have no issues hearing conversation, driving home in the dark, or navigating snowbird season parking lots), but I much prefer eating earlier,” she said. “In fact, I’d rather go to a nice late lunch than dinner — I eat and drink the same, but it doesn’t kill the day off timewise.”
The reservation platform OpenTable found 5 p.m. dinner bookings were up 11% in 2025 over 2024, while 6 p.m. reservations climbed 8%, spokeswoman Sarah Moyer said. At 8 p.m., they increased only 4%. OpenTable says early dining is one of the emerging restaurant trends of 2026, along with softer music, booths and a la carte entrees.
It’s apparently a worldwide phenomenon. According to the 2026 Bacardi Cocktail Trends Report, even cultures that used to eat dinner late are developing an earlier appetite, including 40% of those surveyed in Spain, 32% in Italy and 30% in France. In the United States, Bacardi found the movement is led by young people, namely 34% of those younger than 30.
Many attribute the shift to the COVID-19 pandemic, when so many people’s habits were disrupted.
“After COVID, reservations at our establishments changed,” said Karen Cangelosi, co-owner of Tarantella Ristorante & Pizzeria in Weston and Capriccio Ristorante in Pembroke Pines. “We used to have a large crowd from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Now, 6 p.m. is the busiest.”
Priscilla Sledge is having a similar experience at the restaurant she owns, Baja Cafe in Deerfield Beach, which has seen a 30% increase in early dining.
“Peak time used to be 7:30,” she said. “Now it’s anywhere from 5:30 to 6:30.”
Restaurants are adapting to this evolution. Gabriel Urrutia, an adjunct hospitality professor at Florida International University, said he is starting to see restaurants open as early as 4 p.m. for the evening, offering bar access with snacks or shared tapas plates.
“It’s interesting to see a popular 4 p.m. happy hour,” he said. “It’s good for the restaurants because it allows for flexibility in scheduling and gives the staff more opportunity to make cash throughout their shift.”
Besides COVID-19 and its many upheavals, there are other explanations for this eating evolution. Here are some the “Let’s Eat” early birds provided.
Anxious to get out of the house
After being home all day, many remote workers are ready for a 5 p.m. breakout.
Tamarac resident Angie Prifel said she works out of the house as a finance manager for a health system. When her husband gets home around 5:30 p.m., they often say: “Let’s go out now.”
They frequently head over to Big Bear Brewing Co. in Coral Springs.
“It’s not as crowded then. You can breathe,” said Prifel, 47. “It’s not, ‘It’ll be 15 minutes before we can seat you.’”
An hour later, the situation is very different. “When we leave, the lobby is full,” Prifel said.
Better for digestion
Several readers said eating early gives their dinner ample time to process before they go to bed.
“I’ve been eating earlier (6 p.m. is the sweet spot) because of health considerations,” said Michael Mayo, host of South Florida streaming show “Mike Mayo’s Lunchbox” and a former Sun Sentinel food columnist. “I have reflux issues and can’t eat big meals late at night anymore, particularly if there’s wine or red sauce/spice involved,”
Fort Lauderdale resident Marci Buckles has done some research on this topic.
“A lot of health regimes tout eating early,” she wrote. “It is well documented that your sleep is disrupted if you eat within [two to three] hours of going to bed. If you get up at say 5:30 or 6 and work backward, if you want 8 hours of sleep, and you need to wind down by reading in bed, your bed time will be between 9 and 10. So to properly digest, that takes you to a 5:30 or 6 dinner.”
Prices
Hollywood resident Christine Corbo said she eats out early almost every night because she is surrounded by downtown restaurants offering great happy hours with appealing menus at decent price points.
“You can eat at a different place every day for under $20,” said Corbo, 79. “The food is half-price, you can get two glasses of wine, and it serves as dinner.”
Stacy Rabstein Buckley, of South Palm Beach, agreed: “Eating out has become expensive. We eat early to take advantage of happy hour specials!”
Quieter
Some diners would rather eat later but believe restaurants get noisier as the evening goes on, preventing them from hearing their tablemates and communicating with wait staff. Many are starting to speak out about what they see as extreme sound levels and are doing their best to avoid the din.
“I personally prefer to eat later (7:30ish or so) but find more and more that the music and noise start to ramp up way over the top at those times,” Coral Springs resident Anne Frates said. “Eating out means conversation, not shouting and game noise for my taste. I frequently feel these days that walking into a restaurant becomes an assault on my hearing.”
The reasons are many
Patty Miranda, co-owner of Olympia Flame Diner in Deerfield Beach, said there are multiple rationales for dining early: “Yes, hubby and I, when eating out on weekends, prefer 5 p.m. or first dinner seating. Not a happy hour but a sit-down dining room full service. I’m in the biz and appreciate patronizing a spot earlier or on their slower times, in order to fill their seats, avoid overcrowding, reduce noise, provide less stress on staff/kitchen … Biggest benefit is making connections with the team, while savoring every moment of the leisurely visit.”
Will dinner time keep getting earlier? Boynton Beach resident Theda Densky Levitt already sees this happening.
“It used to be easier to get a dinner reservation early in the evening, but lately 5 o’clock has been difficult to procure and we have been lucky to even get 4:45.”