If I go out for fine dining where meal price is inflated, why should the tip be?

Question

If I go out to a nice restaurant and have dinner and the bill comes to $200.

There are many on this board that say, leave a $40 tip you cheapskate its my right to make that 20%!!!

There are others that say, tip is extra you leave up to 20% based on the service you received. There is no minimum or maximum.

At 20% I can't help but think its an entire sham, that server thinks that is his/her right to be getting paid like a doctor.

I do tip well, if I'm being charged a reasonable price. If I go out for fine dining where meal price is inflated, why should the tip be as well?,Why should the tip be enough to buy a meal and tip at another lesser restaurant?

Please explain.

Answer 1

That's a nice rationalization, but you know what you're doing is wrong.

You know that waiters at high-end restaurants have fewer tables, and each table turns over only 2 or maybe 3 times a night. There is also a much bigger staff that shares the tip (or did you think the waiter gets to keep it all?).

After clogging up this waiter's table for 2 or more hours and having at least 4 or 5 staff members working your table, you still want to pay the same tip as you would if you spent 30 minutes being served by one waiter at a diner?

As to whether the prices are inflated -- The prices are on the menu; if you don't like the price, leave.

In most cases, you are wrong about inflated prices when you consider that true fine dining restaurants need to pay for about 5 times the kitchen staff, a much more highly trained and paid chef and sous chef, higher build-out and maintenance expense, and dramatically higher food costs. But that's not particularly relevant -- since you chose to eat there in the first place, you chose to abide by the customs and practices that prevail. That includes not yelling, spitting on the floor, or stiffing the waiter.

Answer 2

A $200 meal surely includes more courses, more time and more service than, for example, a $20 meal.

If you think about the facts that you were occupying a table for an hour or more... and divide the tip by all the people who provided service -- the waiter, but also the busboy, the person who refreshes your water/bread, the matre de', the bartender or wine steward... that $40 tip doesn't go far.

You probably had a drink or two, a salad, soup or appetizer, main course, dessert, coffee, another drink? How many trips to the table did your server make to take these orders, deliver them hot and fresh, clear the plates, and check on you to see if you needed pepper, refills, etc? If that server provides high level service, he can't cover more than a few tables -- making each and every tip important.

However, I do think that 15% is appropriate anywhere there is table service, and 20% for superior service.

The choice of restaurant is tied to the 'inflated' price -- were there linen tablecloths and napkins? Well-uniformed staff? Larger tables set further apart? A well-known chef? Really, you chose the restaurant for a variety of reasons -- all of which can contribute to the cost of the meal.

Answer 3

I used to work at what was considered a 'fine restaurant'. The prices were huge, and most people who came in spent a lot of money on food and drinks. Suffice it to say that most everyone who came in didn't go out to eat to such places all the time so they spent a considerable amount of money on the bill and the tip. Usually I got between 15% and 20%. For big Christmas parties it was great. If I had 5 or 6 tables who spent $200 each the tips were good too. I had to rely on my tips because the owner only paid me $2.00 an hour. I felt I was getting ripped off by him for getting such a small wage. Sometimes I would work and not get a single table in a night.
Most people who would spend $200 for a dinner would expect to pay 20% for the tip, provided the service was good. If the service was bad then the server shouldn't get anything, in my opinion. If I gave bad service I wouldn't expect anything.

Answer 4

As a waitress in college at a high level restaurant, I'll let you know a few things.

Firstly, have you ever been a server? That may give you a better understanding of the practice of of food service and just how difficult it is.

If you go to a fine dining restaurant and the bill is that high, of course a waiter is going to expect a larger tip because the level of people coming should understand etiquette and tip at a high level; 20% is always great if the server has done a good job.

Ive found that working at a higher level restaurant provides you with more exposure to people who want things done right, and they're mostly willing to pay for it. You should NOT think its acceptable to tip a waitress at a level you would if you ate at Ihop.

I work hard for all my tables and I expect for them to return the kindness and tip me for my hard work. I don't think that people understand that as a server I only make $3.00 and hour.

If you can afford to spend $200 on a meal then expect to tip at that level as well: Who do you think needs to money more?

Answer 5

I am totally against tipping in any form,as I consider it to be subsidising the wages of the staff when their employer should be paying them a proper wage.If everybody stopped tipping,then these greedy mean employers would have to pay a proper wage in order to get staff.I personally can only afford to go out for a meal about 3 or 4 times a year( am a pensioner) and object to having to tip as well as pay for a meal that sometimes is'nt worth the price anyway.I and my husband have worked hard all our lives,but not in a job that anyone has ever tipped us and we have only ever been on very low wages.

Answer 6

Noone says you have to go there. The tip , and they bug me, is for the waitresses and waiters who earn crap money because the restaurants won't pay them,and we are supposed to. I pay 15% in the daytime and 20% in the evening. If service stinks and the waitress is lazy or inattentive,I have left much less to let her know I thought her bad, I have also left up to a 30% tip to a fabulous waitress who was friendly and went the extra mile to give us great service and kept refilling glasses,and kept asking if we wanted anything ,we took her name and will ask for her next time we go there.

Answer 7

Tipping is one of those subjects that people will discuss until the end of time. I actually believe a 20% tip is excessive unless there has been SUPERIOR service and food. I try to tip at least 15% and then I may add a bit more. Please try to remember that restaurants do not pay a living wage to their wait staff and, even including a 20% tip on every table served would never bring wait staff up to par with a doctor's income...I hope you were being sarcastic about that.

This is a good website to refer to about tipping
http://www.tipping.org/tips/worldrates.html

Answer 8

Wait persons are not paid full wages; tips ARE their wages.

At really expensive places, they serve fewer people than at cheap places. (Fewer tables because more courses and other services, and each table is used by one group for MUCH longer.)

If you aren't willing to pay for a meal, including tip, don't eat there, eat somewhere you pay what you want to pay.

I wish we'd get rid of tipping entirely, and they'd just put the real price on the friggin' menu, so it would be upfront.

Answer 9

For one thing, an upscale restaurant doesn't inflate their prices. You are getting the best quality meat, freshest produce, choice wines, trained chefs etc. You aren't at a Denny's. For this you pay extra but it doesn't change the tipping policy. If your service was very good and your meal, you tip 20%. If this bothers you so much, it would seem you are better suited to a Denny's as you don't seem to appreciate the difference.

Answer 10

You pay for what you get. At a fine dining restaurant that includes better service, meaning your server has less tables, spends more time on you, and you usually stay longer at a fine dining place too. Don't take out your cheapskateness on the server, go to a cheaper place.