When it comes to Valentine’s Day dining, the adage “the early bird gets the worm”, remains true.

By 4.30pm yesterday, the phone was still ringing off the hook at Ascots Restaurant at the Royal Palms Hotel in Hamilton, but maître d’ Arnold Armstrong was turning people away.

“A lot of people wait until the last minute to make reservations,” he said. “We are usually one of the more popular places.”

They were expecting a crowd of about 100.

At the same time, Wahoo’s Bistro & Patio in St George was not quite fully booked, but was getting there.

“When I came in this morning, there were not a lot of names in the reservations book,” Wahoo’s Mikhaela Konrad said. “Now there are quite a lot of people calling at the last minute. Everyone is hoping we still have space. We have about 50 names down.”

Michael Sheehy, operations manager at Divots, said reservations had been quite brisk at his Southampton establishment.

“We expect to be very busy,” he said. “We have a lot of walk-in guests here. It is a busy spot.”

For those people, panic dialling local restaurants, the Henry VIII restaurant in Southampton still had plenty of space open yesterday evening.

“I was surprised when I saw the booking register,” a waitress there told The Royal Gazette. “We usually have more bookings by this time.”

She thought the reason was because Valentine’s Day falls midweek this year.

“That makes it harder for people who work,” she said. “Last year Valentine’s Day fell on a Friday, and it was busy.”

Henry’s is offering a set Valentine’s Day menu for $79 per person.