Couldn't think of best place to pose this question, so thought I would go here.

I was a server in college and have always been a believer in appropriately tipping. I'm generally at 20% for most meals, unless the service was just not good.

My question for everyone is, do yall tip the same % of the meal, no matter the price per meal? If you go to a nicer restaurant and your per person price is in the $50-$100 range, do you still tip the same percentage as you do when your meal was $25 per person? I'm not talking total bill, but per seat. Of course if there were 4 of us with $25 meals, I would tip $20. But if there were 4 of us with $80 each, would $64 be an expected tip?

When I order a drink at a bar, I always tip the same, whether a call or top shelf.

Curious on yall's take.

Always ~20% regardless of total bill. (if decent to good service)

20% of bar tab for cocktails or $1 for beer for a tap house/ice house.

I'm not inclined to tip that much (if at all) at restaurants with an 'order at the bar/window' policy.

yeah, 20% even on the higher per seat tabs. I used to not tip that high if I bought wine by the bottle, since the bottle price shouldn't be driving the tip, per se, but F it, I just tip 20%+ and roll with it now.

This pretty much sums it up.

Appreciate the feedback.

Damn... I should have been a server at a nicer restaurant. Same amount of work, more money!

20%, typically round up to the nearest $10 and give them cash.

If it's $17, they get a twenty.

I appreciate every person going to work in this country, especially restaurant employees.

Fast casual, window orders, to-go, if I'm standing when I order no tip. Bar drinks excluded.

I know someone that was a server at Pappas Bros Steakhouse in Downtown Houston. He said (and confirmed by a manager I knew) that there were multiple nights that he'd clear $2,000 in tips.

I'm standard 20%, the one exception I've debated in my head is nice dinners where we order a $200-$300 bottle of wine. I mean does the server really deserve an extra $60 because the bottle was more expensive? Everytime we've been in this situation I've still given around the 20% of the total bill, but not sure it's necessary....

rooftop18403 said:

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Fast casual, window orders, to-go, if I'm standing when I order no tip. Bar drinks excluded.

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Yep, and I know it's dumb but it makes me angry when they ask for a tip on the receipt. Especially if it's a place I've never been, they ask for a tip, then they don't even bring me my food, either. They hand you a buzzer or call your name.

My base is to round to nearest 5 dollar amount and tip 20%. I'll go up or down depending on how good the service is. If the service is excellent, I'll tip 30%. I rarely go under 15%. After serving tables for 5 years, I understand that many of the issues that may happen are out of the server's control. I can tell the difference between server issues and kitchen issues, so I have to know that the server is the one slacking on the job for me to go under 15%.

I work in the service industry now, and I was a bartender for a while back in college. I'm pretty forgiving to most servers, you never know what's going on when things aren't going exactly well. I tip 20% + on average, takes something really bad to do less than that.

One thing I found out from friends who waited tables is that the breakfast crowd generally tips a lot less than others. The prices are generally cheaper, and the customers can linger, just sit there drinking coffee, not letting the tables turn over very quickly. I generally overtip at all breakfast places due to that information.

If you go to an upscale restaurant and the sommelier suggests a nice bottle that you end up enjoying, do you tip them?

Assuming service is acceptable I usually do the "double the tax" trick which puts my tipping at ~16.5%. Exceptional service gets 20% and special treatment or anything above and beyond gets weighed on an as needed basis.

As it pertains to higher end places, I generally cap my tipping at around $50. If I'm paying a, let's say $300 bill, I'll probably tip $50 even if service is exceptional. 16% is $48, 20% would be $60. I feel like a 2 hour dinner experience with exceptional service is worth $25/hr for the waiter. Food service is not a highly paid industry nor is it a highly skilled industry. $25/hr, in my mind, is pretty damn good for that, and I say that as someone who has worked in that industry.

ScapeGOAT said:

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If you go to an upscale restaurant and the sommelier suggests a nice bottle that you end up enjoying, do you tip them?

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I guess I've never really encountered a situation where I felt the need to do this. One of my first times talking to a sommelier he recommended a wine twice the budget I told him and not really of the same profile we talked about. I know this isn't the standard, but I guess it still jaded me. No, I didn't go with his wine, we picked something else.

But generally, my wife and I look at the food menu, discuss what we're going to eat, I then look at the wine menu and will pick something based on the price we want to spend and pairing it with what we eat. Yes, just about every time a sommelier sees someone interested in the wine menu they'll come talk to me and I've had some decent conversations with sommeliers about regions or styles. But honestly, other than the back end work of choosing the wines to stock, never felt any of them have really added value to the meal. It's part of the reason I've always included the wine price in the 20% I tip but still am not convinced it's necessary. I mean I'm already paying a 2-4x markup for a hundred plus dollar bottle of wine. Shouldn't that be covered in that markup?

Edit to add: This entire wine conversation is why my wife and I have found a short list of BYOB restaurants that are higher end and we really enjoy and that's where we generally go for our nicer dinners, especially if we want to enjoy higher end wine. Kind of sucks, cause I love places like Pappas. But I'd rather go to a BYOB place and have a good meal and a great $150 bottle of wine then to Pappas and a great meal and a good $300 bottle of wine.

For work travel, they get what ever is left on my daily allowable limit.

I am old enough to remember when a 10% tip was considered fair and 15% tip was considered god like generosity. So, if it isnt work related, twice tax.

I always tip 50% minimum now.

DP

ScapeGOAT said:

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I know someone that was a server at Pappas Bros Steakhouse in Downtown Houston. He said (and confirmed by a manager I knew) that there were multiple nights that he'd clear $2,000 in tips.

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That is absolutely insane. Sad part about this world is there are people that probably work just as hard for $50 a night. The percentage of the bill thing still blows my mind.

this is why I generally don't go to steak houses when wife and I go out.

I find that other restaurants you can always find an interesting wine less than $80. Seems only the steakhouse model still follows the 3-4 times markup.

TheFunnierPhideaux said:

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Assuming service is acceptable I usually do the "double the tax" trick which puts my tipping at ~16.5%. Exceptional service gets 20% and special treatment or anything above and beyond gets weighed on an as needed basis.

As it pertains to higher end places, I generally cap my tipping at around $50. If I'm paying a, let's say $300 bill, I'll probably tip $50 even if service is exceptional. 16% is $48, 20% would be $60. I feel like a 2 hour dinner experience with exceptional service is worth $25/hr for the waiter. Food service is not a highly paid industry nor is it a highly skilled industry. $25/hr, in my mind, is pretty damn good for that, and I say that as someone who has worked in that industry.

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If they're having to tip out to other staff, that $25/hr gets whittled down pretty quick.

20% is standard for me (the company I work for limits gratuity to 20%), unless it's really good service, then I bump it up to 25%. For counter service where I have to get everything myself, it's usually a dollar or two. If they're bringing drinks and food out, I do 15%.

Pretty eye opening topic but then again, all the cities I've lived have been on the simpler side of dining establishments. For most service, I still think 18% is generous and will typically default to 15%; I also genearlly will not tip on the cost of alcohol because it's no more work for the server than iced tea.
I don't believe it is the responsibility of patrons to worry about waitstaff making $20/hr or if they are struggling at home to make ends meet. IMO, that burden rests with the owner.

https://onefairwage.site/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/OFW_NRA_Exposed_1.pdf

HTownAg98 said:

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If they're having to tip out to other staff, that $25/hr gets whittled down pretty quick.

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If I'm their only table, perhaps so. That's not generally how that works though. And in restaurants where it is a 1:1 ratio, the service is usually good enough to necessitate that case by case basis I mentioned. For me anyhow.

15% plus whatever it takes to jump it up a buck or two to an even amount. You deserve no more of a tip for the effort serving an expensive meal/drink/bottle of wine than anything else. Your $/hr should be just fine.

I tip 15-20%, depending on how easy the math is for me.

TheFunnierPhideaux said:

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Assuming service is acceptable I usually do the "double the tax" trick which puts my tipping at ~16.5%. Exceptional service gets 20% and special treatment or anything above and beyond gets weighed on an as needed basis.

As it pertains to higher end places, I generally cap my tipping at around $50. If I'm paying a, let's say $300 bill, I'll probably tip $50 even if service is exceptional. 16% is $48, 20% would be $60. I feel like a 2 hour dinner experience with exceptional service is worth $25/hr for the waiter. Food service is not a highly paid industry nor is it a highly skilled industry. $25/hr, in my mind, is pretty damn good for that, and I say that as someone who has worked in that industry.

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In my experience the waitstaff at high end restaurants is a completely different quality level than your casual dining joint.

Tipping off of percentage is so weird to me.

Very casual dine ins I start at $5 and go up. Normal steakhouse level I start at $10-15 depending and go up. Very nice I start at $20 and go up. Gratuity added gets nothing extra from me.

Vernada said:

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TheFunnierPhideaux said:

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Assuming service is acceptable I usually do the "double the tax" trick which puts my tipping at ~16.5%. Exceptional service gets 20% and special treatment or anything above and beyond gets weighed on an as needed basis.

As it pertains to higher end places, I generally cap my tipping at around $50. If I'm paying a, let's say $300 bill, I'll probably tip $50 even if service is exceptional. 16% is $48, 20% would be $60. I feel like a 2 hour dinner experience with exceptional service is worth $25/hr for the waiter. Food service is not a highly paid industry nor is it a highly skilled industry. $25/hr, in my mind, is pretty damn good for that, and I say that as someone who has worked in that industry.

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In my experience the waitstaff at high end restaurants is a completely different quality level than your casual dining joint.

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Exactly. When I go to Bohanan's in San Antonio, it's a ~$150-$200 hill for my wife and I. I usually end up tipping $50+ To the waiter for the service, then another $20 to the assistant. It's worth the experience. Fabulous. But very few places fall into that category I find.

Do y'all tip on the pre tax line? We tip on the bottom line - doesn't seem right,but never adds that much.

We are in a small town, so basically know most of our servers. We always tip at least 20%.

edit: This gets us great seating & service!

+1 on bottom line

You have to really piss me off not to get tax times 2. If I feel they've made some effort they get 20%. We double if we stay past 60-90 minutes since that probably screws them over on getting another patron in. Holidays we like to give more because who the hell likes to work on those days.

I typically take the bottom line check amount, round it up to the nearest $10, and then tip 20% on that.

If it's good service or I am a regular, I'll round up the tip to the next $10. So sometimes it'll end up being 30%.

If it's crappy service and they don't care, they're getting 15% rounded down to the nearest dollar.

Bragging about over tipping is a flex I will never understand.

Duncan Idaho said:

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Bragging about over tipping is a flex I will never understand.

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This is literally a thread about tipping and what others think. If you consider it a flex, that probably says more about you than the poster.

EDIT: Also... if you consider 20% tip a flex... I don't know what to tell you, my dude.

The post above mine is about young 30%+