Tipping for a full service dinner?

[heathriel]

I always do at least 20%, but i recently heard that 18% is turning into the "norm" for "lesser metros".

 

[prncess674]

My BF and I are fine wine drinkers and when ordering $200-$300 bottles of wine it is excessive to tip 20% of an expensive bottle. I don't have hard and fast rules for tipping but if ordering an expensive bottle I usually tip $10 as a "corkage fee" and then tip 15-20% on the Pre tax amount of the food and other beverages. We are well liked at local restaurants so I don't think our tipping schedule is out of line.

On the opposite side of the spectrum we tip more than 20% when we head to our local favorite bar and order buckets of bottled beer (6 beers for less than $10) and crawfish by the pound. We tip based on service which since the prices are so cheap it would be rude to only tip 20%.

 

[seanmci]

But are these tips based on the price of your meal, the price of your meal plus alcohol, or the price of the meal, drinks and tax?

To me, the price of alcohol can be way out of line, so I base the tip on just the meal. Especially at Disney, food by itself can get pretty expensive, I don't need to compound it with the other stuff.

Thoughts?

---Paul in Southern NJ

This can be a bit of a togh call. Let's say a table for 4 at California grill drinks three $75 bottles of wine. The tip on the wine alone can be over $40. Considering the mark up on wine in a nice restaurant is already very high it can really rack up the cost of dinner. Tough call.

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

Exactly what gymbomom said!

 

[plutofreak]

From a server herself, I tip around 20-25%, but bad service will not get that, There are some in the service industry who tip good no matter what but not me, I know the job it really isn't that hard, so if I get bad service you will not get a good tip.

When guest ask me how much of my bill is 15% I usually tell them to double the tax, and that will be 16%.

Also this is my pet peeve. If you get a discount, you tip on the original amount not your new discounted amount.

I like this thread, keep it up

 

[janice1234]

most of the time servers need to tip the bartenders. so if a couple is sharing a nice bottle of wine, and if the server is not tipped according to the alcohol sale, the servers tip in turn gets handed over to a bartender, who simply hands the servera bottle of wine.

 

[Harambe]

We tip 20%, Easy way to calculate - say the total of the bill is $84.00 - just remove the last digit and double that - 8.40 x 2=16.80 - and then we round up or down to the nearest buck.

It would take something very wrong for us to leave a smaller tip - and NEVER reduce the tip because we didn't like the food! That is not the server's fault.

 

[Gymbomom]

I thought if some other things, some have been mentioned already.
If you use a coupon or get a discount tip on the amount BEFORE discount.
If you sit for an extreme amount of time at a table, remember that when tipping. Like if you have a buisness meeting, or linger for a long time with a friend. That server could have had that table sat two or three times in that span. I am not saying tip triple or anything, just leave a couple of extra.
If you order drinks from the bar, and your tab gets transfered, tip the BARTENDER on that alcohol, not the server. Otherwise, the bartender doesn't get the tip, the server will. Servers usually tip the bar at night, but they usually don't add more from getting sales from the bar.
Also another example of tipping on the service not check...
My mother and I had a bite to eat at On the Border before a movie the other day. We ordered a special they had for $9.95 and split it. We also had water. So our bill was like $10.81. We had taken the table for a good amount of time. Now our server even knowing we had not ordered 2 drinks, queso and two entrees like a normal table, treated us well. She gave us good service. So should we have tipped her only $2 for our check? We gave her $5. I know people won't agree with us on this one, but I thought she didn't give us $2 service she gave us the same service as a $30 check, so we tipped accordingly.

 

[eeyore45]

I thought if some other things, some have been mentioned already.
If you use a coupon or get a discount tip on the amount BEFORE discount.

If you sit for an extreme amount of time at a table, remember that when tipping.

I know people won't agree with us on this one, but I thought she didn't give us $2 service she gave us the same service as a $30 check, so we tipped accordingly.

I agree, it is important not to be selfish.

Now do you tip at the Starbucks, and fast food places? They have tip jars popping up all over... (Chipoltes etc)

 

[psimon]

I agree, it is important not to be selfish.

Now do you tip at the Starbucks, and fast food places? They have tip jars popping up all over... (Chipoltes etc)

Stirring the pot, so to speak isn't tipping at Starbucks (where they do have a tip box) like tipping at McDonalds (where they don't)? Where do you draw the line between DOING THEIR JOB vs adding something to the service they are supposed to be doing?

Like I said.... just stirring the pot!

---Paul in Southern NJ

 

[CourtasanSatine]

Since I stink at math I usually tip a basic amount based on what I order(anywhere from 3-5 bucks)

 

[Gymbomom]

I agree, where do you draw the line????
I was Albertsons (grocery store) and the guy in front was passing out samples of some bakery item. There was a plastic jar beside him that said tips and had a few dollars. I was so suprised!!!!!!!!!

Personally if I pay cash at Starbucks, I throw the coin change in.

 

[cityofweasels]

I don't know about tipping a higher % at a nicer restaurant. By the fact that their prices are higher they get more. A waiter on a $50 check works just as hard as a waiter on a $100 check but the higher price restaurant waiter gets twice as much if you use the same %. I base my tip more on actual service rather than the type of restaurant.

Well, the baseline for what's minimally acceptable service changes as you go up the restaurant scale, so if you normalize it and compare apples to apples I guess it works out the same as a percentage, though the $100 check guy ends up with more. But as for working as hard... A waiter at, say, CG or Citricos should be expected to know what seems to be especially good tonight and what's over-rated, any special request off-menu things the chef does that are worth trying, be able to discuss ingredients and preparation methods without referring back to the kitchen, quickly gauge the level of conversation you're interested in, rank the chardonnay in order of oakiness, all kinds of stuff I wouldn't expect out of a server at, say, a mid-scale place like Tony's town Square (which I like, it's just not that kind of place.). So I think the server at the $100 place does work harder for his/her 20%.

 

[floridagirrl2]

We start at 20%, based on the total of the bill, including the meal, drinks, and tax. We rarely tip below 20%, and that's only if the service was not good. We often tip a bit over 20% because fortunately the waiters/waitresses/servers we've been encountering have been pretty good.

While at Disney, or anywhere else, we tip the same way.

Agree with all this. 15% tip is considered a bit low these days.

 

[MHopkins2]

My view on "capping" a tip on a pricey bottle of wine is the same as the argument (not posted - yet - on this thread, but I've seen it before) that the server doesn't deserve more of a tip for the $30 filet than for the $15 chicken. If you have the bucks to order the filet / bottle of Dom, you have the bucks to tip your standard percentage (whatever that percentage might be) on that order.

Similarly, the server has absolutely no control over how "overpriced" the alcohol is. If you can afford to order the $10 martini, you can afford an extra two dollars in tip.

 

[kathylovesdisneyworl]

We tip 20% on our total bill, including drinks. Can't say about bottles of wine since we don't drink it. But I think what some people may not know is that most wait staff are tipping out to bussers, food servers and bartenders on there total sales for the evening. So if at a finer resturant where the prices are higher you decide that 15-20% is to much, the server still gives the support staff there percentage of the total bill, not what you left as a tip.

 

[Aimee K]

most of the time servers need to tip the bartenders. so if a couple is sharing a nice bottle of wine, and if the server is not tipped according to the alcohol sale, the servers tip in turn gets handed over to a bartender, who simply hands the servera bottle of wine.

When I was a server, (Not at WDW) we were expected to tip out the bartender 5% of total tips, and the bussers 10%. The $200 bottles of wine were included in our end of the night tally, and thus, we were expected to tip everyone out based on totals that include pricey, over the top items. The IRS also has expectations about the tips we receive and bases that on the records kept by the restaurant. I think we HAD to claim a minimum 12% of total sales. One expensive bottle of wine might not throw this off, but two or three would. We'd have to pay taxes on a tips that weren't given, and 'share the wealth' of tips we didn't receive.


Aimee K

 

[GrumpyLuver]

Also I do not believe the waiter/tress should be tiped on the tax (just the sub total..the tax has nothing to do with the service).

I agree, I normally tip 20% on the pre-tax amount.

 

[UKDEB]

We don't have this whole tipping culture in the UK and many people wouldn't consider tipping at a restaurant over here (although we do). Judging by the frequency of 'tipping' threads on these boards, it's a practice which causes a huge amount of confusion and resentment (on both sides), even for you guys who are used to it.

We are currently in Orlando having spent 11 days driving down from Washington, DC. We've checked in and out of hotels so often I'm diizzy! At each one, we tipped the valet to take away the car, the guy who removed the luggage from the trunk, the bell-hop to take it to the room, the bell-hop to remove it from the room, the valet to bring back the car...you get the picture. Quite apart from being expensive, the whole thing is total hassle and there's this 'expectation' thing hanging in the air. At some places we only had $20 bills and ended up dishing them out like confetti! I'd rather pay more for my hotel room or meal and have them pay these people a proper salary.

By the way, we always tip at least 20% on the full amount of our check including tax and expensive wine.

 

[Gymbomom]

I hear you Debbie. I can be cheap with the whole valet thing to, and bag handling. We switch resorts often and if we don't have a car. WOW!! It can be expensive. I mean if you tip the guy who picks it up at OKW, then the guy that drops it off at BWV, it can be up to $30!
I though this was an interesting sight, I don't agree with everything, but thought it was a good standard.
http://www.tipping.org/tips/TipsPageTipsUS.html