BOI 9/27: restaurant reservations?

We were there one time for Fashion Week. Book any and all restaurant reservations as soon as they will let you make them, like now..

I haven't taken a Rick Steves tour, but folks have commented that the tour meals are filling. The breakfasts might be as well, though I don't know about that in Italy, the land of the coffee-and-cornetto breakfast. I'd be looking at the tour itinerary and asking myself whether I would want to eat dinner at a costly, destination restaurant in the evening if I'd had a large lunch with my tour mates that day.

What about Rome and Florence? Venice completely overwhelms me, so I think we will take RS's advice and do the Cicchetti Crawl.

We’ve taken many RS tours and I spend a lot of time researching restaurants and making reservations for our open nights. I do this knowing it pans out about 50-75% of the time. Sometimes we return to the hotel after a long day of sightseeing so tired that 8:30 reservation plus cab ride looks less appealing. We wind up cancelling and asking the hotel or guide for a decent trattoria within walking distance (the hotel will usually call ahead). Other times we will pal up with another couple and it seems having dinner would be fun. Either way we’ve had some very nice meals. Most have been significantly better than the group meals, although over time those have improved somewhat. So, yes, make reservations knowing your plans may change when your boots are on the ground. We’ve not been to Venice for many years but most meals there were not memorable. I’m not sure what COVID has done to the cicchetti bars.

We're on the 9/7 BOI tour with a few days in Milan before the tour. Following for the same reason.