Tipping in restaurants

[Kilroy]

Who much do you leave when tipping in restaurants?



Patrons:

Would the quality of the food influence your tip?

What would you tip if:

• Service was outstanding
• Service was average
• Service was somewhat dissapointing ie: a bit slow
• Service was poor
• Service was terrible

Buffet service

• drinks from server
• coffee & water from server

Servers:

• What do you expect?
• What would be a "WOW nice tip"?
• What would be disapointing?
• What would be an insult?

If someone under tips would you think they were dissatisfied with the service or the food, or just cheep?

[jeffc]

Patrons:
Would the quality of the food influence your tip?
What would you tip if:

Service was outstanding - 20%

Service was average - 10-15%

Service was somewhat dissapointing ie: a bit slow - depends if it was the waiter's fault or the kitchen. if the waiter was nice, helpful, available, etc. and explaining the situation, then I would still give them 15%. If not, it would drop rapidly.

Service was poor - 10% or less

Service was terrible - nothing and a discussion with the manager.

We had breakfast at Woody's downtown yesterday morning and I have been there dozens of times. The waitress was great, but they had a problem that the kitchen wasn't getting the orders they punched in so it took about 40min to get breakfast (while trying to entertain a hungry 3 year old ) She offered to reduce our bill by 50% which was great. In the end, she was doing her job but a glitch messed things up. I gave her 20% on what the bill would have been.

[jvincent]

For casual dining / family restaurants I'll go 15% for average service and 20% or more for good service. We're usually talking about $40 for two here (usally no booze or a single beer) so tipping "big" is only an couple of bucks, so it's not a big deal.

For fine dining with wine, I'm usually in the 15% to 20% range, but we're generally talking about a lot more cash.

I will say that I've been pretty lucky with my eating out and have never had to return food that wasn't prepared well.

[hoolio]

I like to go 15%. You really have to screw up or be an ass to get less than that, but unless my order is screwed up to the point where even I won't eat it, and the server makes it their #1 priority to rectify the situation, I don't really plan on tipping more.

I figure that unless I'm past the 12 beer mark (for the day, not at the Restaurant), I'm generally fairly easy to please/deal-with as a patron, so I'm not making your job hard enough to deserve any more than 15%.

[1972Apex]

20% minimum, unless the service really sucks, in which case I make a point of mentioning it. Higher than 20% if the service is really good.
Also if you are just getting an inexpensive meal such as a $4 breakfast you should tip certainly more than 20%.
If you have a regular restaurant you go too and are used to tipping 10-15% you are probably not getting the service you could if you tipped more generously

[big mac]

Usually tip 15%. If we get a server that honestly friendly and not phoney and they do a great job---20% no problem, they have made the experience an event. When we get poor service (and it has happened) we leave .01.---talk to the manager before leaving.

If a buffet we get our own coffee and water but hope to be served drinks

I think most "average good" eaterys expect 15%----the "upscale" places remind you to tip and EXPECT 20% wether the service was good or not! Sorry.

If you dont get tipped----too many reasons---but I think the main reason would be service.

What is great is-------- fantastic service: honest-friendly "real" server: decent food at an affordable price.

The closest I've come is The Pepper Garden---Baton Rouge--Lone Star on Baseline

[NoBack]

20% min

Glad to hear Pepper Garden is that good.
I got gift certificates for there at Christmas

[Shivas Irons]

.
Also if you are just getting an inexpensive meal such as a $4 breakfast you should tip certainly more than 20%.

Good call, as a rule of thumb I leave a minimum of $10 even if my breakfast was only $4. Any server who can keep my coffee topped up deserves a good tip, and 15% of $4 is SFA.

[g8r]

The problem with bad kitchen service is that most restaurants automatically take a % of waitress/waiter sales for a kitchen/bar tip pool. So the kitchen staff get the same tip no matter what, waitress gets kinda screwed in those situations.

Usually its somewhere around 5% of sales.

I'm usualy in the 15-20% range, although, I'm not a big fan of the %tip....cause if I order a $5 appetizer or a $25 steak the amount of work is the same, but for some reason i need to tip more (or less) I never tip less than $3 if I get food. Its too bad the custom isnt more standard....like $5/person for a meal or something like that.

[Wilster]

The service will determine the tip... for me anyways.
If the server is helpful and pleasant (or appears to be) she'll get a reasonable tip , but for those just going through the motions it'll be no more than the 15%

[spackler]

I pretty much always tip 20%+. It's a crap job, and I'm sure they have bad days too, what's a couple of bucks anyway. I'll give more for exceptional service, but I don't dip below 20% very often.

[fundonny]

Unless it's bad service, I tip too much. If it's bad, I'm at 15% exactly down to the penny.

[big mac]

We usually try and give the tip directly to the server rather than adding it at the cash or on you Visa---sometimes the cashier thinks your cheap---what the hell she didn't serve you

[Indio]

I'm with Donny on this one.... I tip to freaking much even if it is bad service.....

[jonf]

I'm going to weigh in on behalf of the cheap. I'm usually in between that 10-15 percent area. But hey, I'm poor too. Maybe if I have money I'll start tipping more, but that won't happen for a while. Also, as someone who has worked retail repeatedly, I find it hard to convince myself to tip lavishly when I've worked long hours for minimum wage with no tips whatsoever. Not saying I don't think tips are deserved, but from my perspective (as someone who is poor, cheap, and never got the benefit of tips in an equally ty occupation) I am less liberal with them than others.


As a side note, what are peoples' opinions on tipping delivery drivers?

[jeffc]

I pretty much always tip 20%+. It's a crap job, and I'm sure they have bad days too, what's a couple of bucks anyway. I'll give more for exceptional service, but I don't dip below 20% very often.

perhaps, but I know a lot of people that made a lot of $ as waiters and waitresses. Don't forget that most of this is tax free, since the gov't has no idea of how much they really make since there is no T4 for a tip jar. There are a lot worse jobs that pay a lot less than being a waiter.

[jonf]

perhaps, but I know a lot of people that made a lot of $ as waiters and waitresses. Don't forget that most of this is tax free, since the gov't has no idea of how much they really make since there is no T4 for a tip jar. There are a lot worse jobs that pay a lot less than being a waiter.

however, the reason they make a lot of money is that they get tips. Stop the tips, and they get 6 bucks an hour

[spackler]

perhaps, but I know a lot of people that made a lot of $ as waiters and waitresses. Don't forget that most of this is tax free, since the gov't has no idea of how much they really make since there is no T4 for a tip jar. There are a lot worse jobs that pay a lot less than being a waiter.

Yeah I know, it's still a crap job though and I wouldn't want to do it. I got paid $20/hr, plus tons of OT at double and triple that, to work in a paper mill summers when I was in high school almost 20 years ago. Great money, but it was the worst job I ever had, and I wouldn't do it again for 10x the price. There's a reason there's good money in some jobs, you can't pay most people to do them.

With two kids, we're not hitting Beckta's every time we go out, so if an extra $2 or $3 on a $50 bill makes someone happy, and means great service on return visits, why not?

[jeffc]

however, the reason they make a lot of money is that they get tips. Stop the tips, and they get 6 bucks an hour

i'm not sure what your getting at? No one would do it for $6 an hour. In europe, they get paid more than that but by no means do they get anywhere close to what we tip. On an $80 EUR bill, the norm in most places is a few euros. If you left 15 or 20 Euros, the waiter would probably marry you.

I'm simply saying that there are a lot of worse jobs out there making minimum wage. I spent 3 summers working in a slaughterhouse. If you want to talk crap jobs, have I got some stories for you.....

[jeffc]

i tip on service. Good service, good tip. no service, no tip. there is too much of an expectation these days for tips where minimal service is delivered. it used to be you tipped for good service, these days its pretty much expected - that is its not earned.

[jonf]

i'm not sure what your getting at? No one would do it for $6 an hour. In europe, they get paid more than that but by no means do they get anywhere close to what we tip. On an $80 EUR bill, the norm in most places is a few euros. If you left 15 or 20 Euros, the waiter would probably marry you.

I'm simply saying that there are a lot of worse jobs out there making minimum wage. I spent 3 summers working in a slaughterhouse. If you want to talk crap jobs, have I got some stories for you.....

No, I agree, there are a lot of crap jobs out there that don't get tips. I'm just saying that you can't base the decision not to tip based on the fact they make plenty of money, because if everyone then went by that same logic, then they wouldn't be making good money any more.

[jeffc]

i'm not, I'm basing it on the service. I am a service freak and really there is very little excuse for not offering good service these days on a consistent basis. If I don't get good service it pretty unlikely I will return.

[sharkshooter]

Tips I give are for, and directly related to, service.

Great service 20%
Average service 15%
Poor service 5-10%

I also tip taxi drivers (round up to nearest $5 (or $10 if the fare is over about $50)) valet parking attendants ($2-$5 each time they bring the car up), hotel maids ($3-$5 per day), coat check ($2/coat), etc. provided, of course, that the services are good and friendly.

[g8r]

coat check ($2/coat)

I only tip the coat check at the end of the night....once my coat is safely on my back, I never understood tipping someone BEFORE they provided the service to you.

[sharkshooter]

I only tip the coat check at the end of the night....once my coat is safely on my back, I never understood tipping someone BEFORE they provided the service to you.

That goes without saying.

[Kilroy]

OK, so it seems we have settled on 15% average perhaps 20% + for exceptional service.

What would you leave at an all you can eat buffet where the servers only bring coffee and buss the tables?

[1972Apex]

OK, so it seems we have settled on 15% average perhaps 20% + for exceptional service.

What would you leave at an all you can eat buffet where the servers only bring coffee and buss the tables?

Same thing... First of all, buffets are usually cheap (inexpensive?) and because usually I hang out at an all-you-can-eat buffet for quite a while

[sillywilly]

someone in my building ordered pizza and it came to $70... they tipped $2 and the driver was furious! He was swearing at them, calling them cheap #$## and a few other things. The weather wasn't the greatest yesterday either. Should a pizza guy get more if the weather was bad and he got you your food on time??

[jeffc]

I rarely go to buffet's so I have no idea.

For Pizza guys, $2-3 or about 10% usually. On a $70 order, i'd probably give him $10 since for group things, we always have more $ than what the order is worth after we all pitch in.

[jonf]

someone in my building ordered pizza and it came to $70... they tipped $2 and the driver was furious! He was swearing at them, calling them cheap #$## and a few other things. The weather wasn't the greatest yesterday either. Should a pizza guy get more if the weather was bad and he got you your food on time??

Why, though? It's his job to deliver your pizza. Do you tip the postman? This is what I don't get. The delivery guy adds nothing to the dining experience. He gives you your food then leaves. I understand tipping waitresses, as they are an integral part of the whole dining experience. I just don't get tipping the delivery guy. The only reason we do it is so that the actual pizza place doesn't have to pay them a decent wage.