Do You Tip At Restaurants?

[Syaoransbear]

Originally Posted by Rua

Jayney Mack!!!! $200 for a tip!! OUCH.

Was that a Michelin Star restaurant?

There was 6 of us, and with everyone getting at least one appetizer, an entree, a desert, and of course drinks+wine, it came to around $1000 pretty easily. The place we went to also uses only local organic food, so I'm pretty sure their prices are jacked up like 400% just because.

[onyx'girl]

$1000 tab + tip for a party of 6.....2.5 hours of enjoyment, I could think of so many better ways to spend that $!

[Cassidy's Mom]

Me too, Jane! At our favorite restaurant (has been on the San Francisco Chronicle's top 100 list several times and received the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence) we can have a fabulous meal for two including salad/appetizer, entree, dessert, and wine (corkage only, for wine from our own collection) for under $125 including tax and tip.

[Mac's Mom]

I always tip. If I'm with another couple who doesn't tip, I'll tip for them too. Waitressing is hard work.

[MissLilyBean]

Originally Posted by Mac's Mom

I always tip. If I'm with another couple who doesn't tip, I'll tip for them too. Waitressing is hard work.

Us too. We went out with this couple once and the night went really well. Service was stellar. At the end of the meal, they said they had the tip and threw a $5 on the table. (The bill was about $70!) So we discreetly threw another $10 in with it. The woman ended up seeing this anyway and actually had the audacity to go back and pick up her $5. I was appalled!

Needless to say, we never dined out with them again unless it was fast food.


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[LoveEcho]

I always tip at least 15% (15 is for terrible service... though if it's HORRIBLE I will do less... that only happened once). If I see wait staff super stressed out and dealing with kitchen mistakes, etc, I usually up the tip significantly, even if my food was wrong/slow, etc. I've never worked front of house but I've worked back of house as a sous chef, and I will say that the waiters got the brunt of our mistakes. The worst is when those mistakes are actually due to management/ownership. I remember being at a Chili's once and a totally out of line customer reaming the young, young waitress-- who was in tears. For something that was NOT her fault, at all (not anyone's actually)... I had a $50 in my wallet and left it for her. I hope it cheered her up.

We did go to a restaurant in Salt Lake City... the Copper Onion... OMG. The waitress had a full section but she was still SO attentive, and knew EVERYTHING on the menu intimately... knew the best wine and liquor pairings, etc. I LOVE places that make you feel like you're the only ones there! This place was a splurge but I gave her like a 40% tip anyways, because it made our vacation-- years later, we STILL talk about the Copper Onion and our waitress, Janelle.

We used to live near a locavore restaurant that when it started, was a GREAT deal-- $120 for BYOB cork fee, two appetizers, entrees, and a dessert. It started getting a lot of buzz in Zagat and Bon Apetit, and the NYC snobs started coming in droves. Their service WAS phenomenal... you'd go once and you were a "regular" for life. Then they started jacking the prices up and seating more people than the wait staff could handle... it was really sad to see. The last day we went, that same meal cost us over $200 and our waiter, who we'd gotten to know well over the couple of years, was MISERABLE. Poor guy.

[Syaoransbear]

Originally Posted by onyx'girl

$1000 tab + tip for a party of 6.....2.5 hours of enjoyment, I could think of so many better ways to spend that $!

I completely agree. My in-laws are foodies, though, so they like spending lots of money on food. And my FIL is a specialist surgeon, so they certainly have the money to do so. They say they'd rather spend money on a really nice meal than things, for some reason. They go out for supper to fancy places like twice a week I'm pretty sure, but I think at the moment it's because my SIL, her husband, and their two children live in their house and they try to get away from them as much as possible , and you can't bring those children to nice restaurants so it's kind of a way to exclude them without straight up telling them they can't come.

But it seems so ridiculous to me. I mean, you are paying for something that eventually just ends up in the toilet. What a waste! Chrono could have so many toys instead .

[shepherdmom]

Originally Posted by Syaoransbear

I completely agree. My in-laws are foodies, though, so they like spending lots of money on food. And my FIL is a specialist surgeon, so they certainly have the money to do so. They say they'd rather spend money on a really nice meal than things, for some reason. They go out for supper to fancy places like twice a week I'm pretty sure, but I think at the moment it's because my SIL, her husband, and their two children live in their house and they try to get away from them as much as possible , and you can't bring those children to nice restaurants so it's kind of a way to exclude them without straight up telling them they can't come.

But it seems so ridiculous to me. I mean, you are paying for something that eventually just ends up in the toilet. What a waste! Chrono could have so many toys instead .

Actually I kind of get it. Our kids are grown, dogs are spoiled, we have plenty of "things". We don't go for $1000 dollar dinners (no surgeons in this family) but we do go out for a nice dinner every few weeks. Its kind of like a "date night" for us old folks. We don't do movies, or concerts, or clubs so a dinner out is a nice treat to ourselves.

[LoveEcho]

I get it, too. It drives me NUTS to pay a lot of money for crap frozen food (which is all there is where I live..), but I LOVE going to places with innovative fare... and the chance to get out with my husband. I am an avid cook (used to work as a sous chef and did side work as a personal chef...now just an at-home foodie) so it drives my husband nuts to spend a dime on stuff we could make at home just as well, if not better For me, it's more about the experience though! I love getting dressed up, even if it's just to go to the pizza joint down the road.

[onyx'girl]

Originally Posted by Syaoransbear

But it seems so ridiculous to me. I mean, you are paying for something that eventually just ends up in the toilet. What a waste!.

I have said no so many times to my kids when they always wanted to stop for fast food...and that was my mantra! I'd rather give them $ for something that didn't end up there and would give them more pleasure than a fat filled 10 minutes.
Or save it and give it to a needy cause.

We do go out, but usually for special occasions. A 3 generation family Mexican restaurant just closed at the end of the year, and we went out to enjoy it one last time. Our bill for 4 was about $100. Service was slow and not great, but did they really care? They knew they were closing!

My kids aren't into being with mom and dad anyway and it was ok, but I can't really say it was a good time. LOL! This was one of the 'higher moments', we were laughing about Ryan's hat that Tori bought him for Christmas. The server asked if we were all together when she brought the check...that was another laugh.