People who turn to food delivery services like Uber Eats do so because it gives them flexibility on when they can place orders.
Sometimes this gets complicated when restaurants on Uber Eats say they’re unavailable. We looked into why this happens and what you can do when it does, so keep reading!
If a restaurant says it’s currently unavailable on Uber Eats it might be because it’s cut off customers’ ability to order. This happens if the restaurant is swamped or understaffed. There might also be an issue with the restaurant’s Uber Eats tablet in [currentyear]. If a restaurant on Uber Eats is unavailable, you can only wait or order from elsewhere.
Continue reading to find out everything you need to know about restaurants being unavailable on Uber Eats, including a deeper dive into why it happens, other similar issues, and more!
How Does the Uber Eats Tablet Work?
Uber Eats sends the restaurants that successfully partner with it a tablet that they can use to manage operations.
If a restaurant doesn’t want to or can’t use the tablet, there’s also an app for them specifically that gives them access to most of the same functionality.
Restaurants can set their own hours on the tablet and this determines when customers can place orders, but the restaurant also has to be online and active in order to receive them.
If the restaurant logs out of the tablet, turns it off, runs out of power or anything happens that means the restaurant is offline, the status changes to unavailable.
In some cases, restaurants go offline intentionally in order to stop new orders from coming in, e.g. if they have a large backlog to fulfill or they’re close to closing time.
If you run into this issue, you can either order from a different restaurant or wait for it to come back online.
Why Does Uber Eats Say a Restaurant Is Closed When It’s Not?
If a restaurant on Uber Eats says it’s closed when it’s not, then it’s because the restaurant has changed its status on the tablet.
As we’ve stated in the section above, restaurants can change their status to “unavailable” through the tablet but they can also change the status to closed.
This option allows them to keep new orders from coming in but they can stay online and still handle the ones they already have.
When this happens, your only options are to wait it out or order from a different restaurant if you’re in a hurry.
Why Isn’t Uber Eats Working?
If Uber Eats isn’t working it’s usually because the service is down and you can check online to see whether that’s the case.
Sometimes it might be because internet access on your device is limited, but you can easily verify whether this is the case by testing your connection on other apps or services.
If these options don’t work, it might be an issue with Uber Eats on the device you’re using and you could try restarting it to see if that fixes the problem.
If you’re using the app on your phone and restarting it doesn’t work, you still have the option to use the Uber Eats website.
Whatever the reason, Uber Eats doesn’t stay down for long and you can usually wait a short while for it to start working again.
Why Is Uber Eats Taking Long?
Uber Eats might be taking long for one of the following reasons:
- Your delivery driver is stuck in traffic
- You ordered from a restaurant that took long to prepare the order because it was large, complex, or the staff was swamped
- You didn’t give a good enough tip for drivers to accept your order fast enough
- Bad weather conditions make it harder for drivers to navigate or drive at normal speeds
If Uber Eats fails to find someone to deliver your order, it will be canceled, you’ll get your money back, and you can try ordering again.
What Time Does Uber Eats Close?
Uber Eats is a 24/7 service, so it never closes.
However, the service could be functionally closed in situations that effectively mean you can’t place orders and have them delivered, including:
- Late at night if you live in a place that doesn’t have 24-hour restaurants nearby
- If you live outside the delivery radius of restaurants in your area
- If you order when there aren’t any drivers available to pick up your order
- If you live in a place considered unsafe where drivers aren’t willing to make deliveries
What Happens If I Order From Uber Eats If the Restaurant Is Closed?
If you order from Uber Eats and then notice the restaurant is closed, you might be eligible for a refund.
However, this isn’t something you need to worry about because it doesn’t happen often.
It occurs when you place the order very close to when the restaurant’s status changed to closed.
As soon as this happens, you should report it to customer service in order for the refund to get processed.
Uber Eats says it doesn’t consider refund requests for incidents reported more than 48 hours after they occurred, so you should act immediately.
To learn more, you can also read our posts on Uber Eats order canceled, Uber Eats order never arrived, and what time does Uber Eats stops delivering.
Conclusion
If a restaurant on Uber Eats says it’s unavailable, it might be because the restaurant is offline on the Uber Eats orders app or tablet. Uber Eats issues this tablet to all restaurants that partner with it to manage operations on the platform and they need to be online to receive orders.
Restaurants can also change their status on Uber Eats to unavailable on purpose in order to keep new orders from coming in. This is often done if there is a large backlog to get through or if the restaurant is nearing closing time.
