[Closed] How often do you tip the service when eating out?

In the UK, depends - if it was really good then a good tip. Most of the time a bit of rounding of the bill.

Pretty much always leave 10%, unless service was notably bad.

I don't really like the principle of tipping by default, but I thought it was just the done thing.

At least 50% of places around London will add a service charge on to the bill these days though.

I just give them a big hug.

Ah this thread wasn't what I was expecting.

Pretty much always leave 10%, unless service was notably bad

this is my default position also

Theres two issues really - one is we don't really have the tradition of tipping that other countries do so neither customers or venues have an real expectations about tips.

It used to be a bit different- when my GF worked in posh restraraunts in London back in the day she didn't get paid at all by the restaurant the waiting staff's only income was tips. In that situation though the waiting staff really were your host for the evening and part of your enjoyment of the meal.

The other issue though is more and more though it seems to me theres less and less 'service' in a meal out in the UK as everything becomes more and more formulaic - if all thats happened is you've been brought the laminated menu of meals that are the same all year round, had the food carried to your table and get the obligatory 'is everything OK?' query when you've got your mouth full then what are you supposed to be rewarding with a tip? For all that the meal might actually be lovely but service hasn't really played a part in it.

I tip if the service good and the food, I always have.

I seem to eat in very different places to maccruiiskeen not sure where you go but they sound dire.

Generally eat out in local places that we know are good for both good and service, so habitually tip 10-15%.

Pretty much always leave 10%, unless service was notably bad

this is my default position also

+1

I agree with Drac. 10% ish as a rough rule of thumb, bit more if particularly good or we've made a bit of extra work (like splitting an adult meal for the children because the kids' menu isn't very good).

As above - 10%-ish.

What boils my piss a bit is the way that the tip is sometimes included in your bill but obscured (e.g. "opt svc ch") so that the unobservant, or tourists, will not realise, and leave some more.

You've been here 19years and are still confused ?

I never pay a tip / service added to the bill using card - too often this is simply taken by restaurants as revenue and not passed onto staff. If friendly I will always put cash in hand of the person that served me on the way out.

Google for articles re tips / revenue at Bills, Cote, Le Gavroche for an insight into what really happens in the U.K. Very different to the US or SA.

Strange one here. After being over the Canada where tipping is just the done thing, the service over here always seems so impersonal, and not really worth a tip. If a server is really great, I'll tip, but we have reasonable minimum wage here (compared to the states) and it's not such a "I survive on tips" situation. Servers often don't seem to try/care. Having previously worked as service staff, I was never too bothered about tips, they're nice, but I took the job expecting the wage, anything else was a bonus.

It winds me up when service is included in the bill though. Mrs A and me were desperate and hangry after climbing late one night so any-port-in-a-stormed into a Girraffe on a retail park. We had a burger each, were in there for about 25 minutes total, saw the server 3 times, order, food, bill. I noticed service was included in the bill and when I asked for it to be removed, the poor girl had to go find a manager and faff about for ages. My problem is, when it's included in the bill, that you can never be sure if the money is, in fact, going to the service staff or not. I felt bad for all the messing about she had to do so handed her personally a tip after.

[url= https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/aug/21/how-much-of-your-tip-goes-to-staff-a-restaurant-by-restaurant-guide ]Who gets the tips?[/url]

Not been back to Bills since I read about the tip situation.

I always leave a tip.

3.10 @ Kempton Park - Dusty Carpet (never been beaten).

Or 4.20 @ Lingfield - Dripping Tap (keeps on running).

I had a friend who was a bookmaker, always carried a few charity lottery cards in his pocket for tipping - brilliant solution to the problem.

We always tip unless the service has been mediocre to poor and I explain this to the waiting staff: "I would normally leave a decent tip but your service tonight hasn't been great."

If they don't like it, I don't give a shit. They're in the service industry - even if it's only a summer job.

I generally tip in cash (though rarely cary cash these days, so always ask to make sure the tip will go to the staff).

Waiting on tables isn't the worst job in the world, but you're hardly likely to be living the high life (though someone who works in a pub near me is doing it to top up her pitifully low trainee solicitor's salary*).

I have an approx range of 10-15% in my mind, though have paid more. And sometimes nothing.

As is noted above, service standards in this country are pretty poor.

*Used to be a statutory minimum wage of c16k outside London and c18k inside. Now it's a recommendation, with the only legal requirement being the statutory minimum wage. Arguably waiting on tables is more remunerative....

Almost never. I expect service to be faultless anyway. Every service should be that so its not above and beyond the norm. Why accept anything else? Tipping is a reward for something special or uncalled for. I won't tip unless its going into the hand of the person I appreciate.
I find the idea that we should do it to supllement wages irrelevant.

I tip if they service was very good, average I'll just round up if there was a problem, then nothing.

Always tip at restaurants unless reason not to. As do all.my friends. Never tip in pubs, would tip in cafe it pay at table but not if pay at till.

Thought this had been done before?
(Difference between a service charge and a tip, I mean). Service charge is included in the bill and goes to the restaurant who may or may not share it to all staff. Tip goes to the waiter who may or may not share it with the rest of the staff.
I pretty much always tip as I'm a wimp. Usually in cash, unless I'm on expenses 😉

I'll usually leave a couple of quid or something in a café. I rarely eat in posh restaurants unless it's someone's birthday or some such. Formal meals aren't much fun for me TBH.

The whole notion of adding x% "service charge" onto a bill is just scalping IMHO, it's a way of bleeding free money out of you / making their prices appear artificially low. If the price of the food doesn't cover the cost of someone walking from the kitchen to your table with it, then increase the price so that it does. Sneaking it on at the end of the meal is just dishonest, doubly so given that there's a chance that folk will feel compelled to tip as well anyway. And as a percentage too, what's that all about? Do they deserve more of a tip to carry a plate with a premium steak on it than they do to do exactly the same thing with a bowl of onion rings?

Price your food properly and pay your staff properly, then we can choose to tip for exceptional service and not be made to feel guilty if we don't.

Instead of tipping I give the waiter some wise words of advice, generic but helpful advice, the kind that will hopefully help him/her in furthering a more adventurous future than serving food to tossers like me 😉

We always tip unless the service has been mediocre to poor and I explain this to the waiting staff: "I would normally leave a decent tip but your service tonight hasn't been great."

If they don't like it, I don't give a shit. They're in the service industry - even if it's only a summer job.

🙄

Your friends and wife are miserable B@5*** 😆
HTH
Tip nearly all the time except when particularly poor meal/service.

I always tip - 5 - 15% depending on the service ( less obviously if service charge included) and always in cash on the table so the servers get it - never add your tip to the card amount - it can disappear to the boss without the servers getting it.

I think JC should have promised to abolish tipping in his manifesto, might have just put Labour across the line.

I almost always tip (unless it's already on the bill).

Your friends and wife are miserable B@5***

+1

Embarrassing when you go for a meal with tightwads who don't want to tip.

Embarrassing when you go for a meal with tightwads who don't want to tip.

This. Fair enough if service/food was shite, but generally, tight bastards....

10% normally, often rounded up a bit. Some people I eat with won't tip at all even in USA (father in law!) but most seem close to me IME.

Usually nothing.

I used to, agonised over it, oh you meant to do this or that - it's an Americanism.

TBH 90% of the places we go to now add 'service' to the bill, tucked away at the bottom of the menu in small print 20% is added to the cost of everything for service, most of them also say it's passed to the staff in addition to their salary etc. They'll take it off if you ask but I never have.

I first noticed when we went out with this miserly couple who pulled out the "oh we only had the soup and the chicken" and paid a 3rd of the bill and I wondered why ours was so much more when we had about the same thing.

Always unless the service is actually poor. Even indifferent or average service would still get an average tip, it has to be actually poor for me to not tip.

Normally 10%, sometimes a bit more sometimes a bit less depending on the cost of the actual meal and the simplest number to round to.

Always, unless the service is bad, which is actually pretty rare. I don't think about "above average", just good or bad- the average is good but I don't want to penalise people for doing a good job, just because other people do too.

Waited on tables for six years of my life and I appreciated being tipped.

However, I tend to leave them food vouchers so they can't spend it on drugs.

GlennQuagmire
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Restaurants, 10-25% depending on the place, the service, and the degree of irritation or annoyance my table has offered in terms of special requests. 10% if it's London and they already added it on to the bill. That 10% annoys me as these 'auto-tips' are often creamed-off by the restaurant to form part of the sub-survival wages of the staff. I'd recommend folks working in restaurants like these to move on to a fairer employer as soon as they can.

Bars - very rarely, unless they've done some special order for us.

Proper coffee shops - the change that rounds up to the nearest £ or £1-£2 depending on the quality of their work.

Visiting the USA was really confusing when it came to tipping.

Special requests is the only opportunity to earn a tip in my view. If its just 'standard' service then no tip - that is the minimum i'd expect. The best tip you can give is repeat business. A job is the best thing people can have so repeat business keeps people coming back and increases the chances of the restaurant remaining a viable business and staying open employing people.

Not sure why the restaurant business earns special treatment for tipping. I don't see people tipping other shop attendants even though they provide far more assistance and knowledgable service by and large. In fact under normal circumstances we take the service on offer, albeit good or bad, then ask for/demand a discount. Has anyone tipped a car salesman? someone working at a shop selling TV's when they've assisted in choosing a nice TV? an attendant in a shoe shop that may have made multiple trips to the store room to find a size or shoe to fit your abnormal feet (if you have abnormal feet)?

Always tip in restaurants, 10-20% range.

Not sure why the restaurant business earns special treatment for tipping.

Perhaps to attempt to offset the fact that the service industry in the UK is almost universally dire. It's a stark difference indeed from the US.

The last time I filled up the car, the guy in the petrol station spent the entire transaction jabbering away on his mobile phone in a language I didn't understand. Didn't say a single word to me. I'm reasonably certain that'd never happen across the pond.

My first visit to the US was visiting friends in Louisville, Kentucky. So, a reasonably sized city, but well away from many tourist traps; "real" America if you like. Everyone who served me in shops was polite, friendly and respectful, and they all looked like they were happy to be there. Even the clichéd "have a nice day" was delivered so sincerely. And as soon as they hear a British accent it's like you've visiting Royalty.

@eulach - well spotted!

🙂

Special requests is the only opportunity to earn a tip in my view. If its just 'standard' service then no tip - that is the minimum i'd expect. The best tip you can give is repeat business. A job is the best thing people can have so repeat business keeps people coming back and increases the chances of the restaurant remaining a viable business and staying open employing people.

Not sure why the restaurant business earns special treatment for tipping. I don't see people tipping other shop attendants even though they provide far more assistance and knowledgable service by and large. In fact under normal circumstances we take the service on offer, albeit good or bad, then ask for/demand a discount. Has anyone tipped a car salesman? someone working at a shop selling TV's when they've assisted in choosing a nice TV? an attendant in a shoe shop that may have made multiple trips to the store room to find a size or shoe to fit your abnormal feet (if you have abnormal feet)?

So because you don't understand a widespread social custom, everyone else is wrong?

Do people often accuse you of taking things a bit too literally?

10% in Restaurants generally.

I don't.
It's a nonsense Americanism.
I don't tip the people I buy clothes from.
I don't tip supermarket workers.
I don't tip the corner shop guy.
You bring me food and I need to top up your wages?
No thanks.

seems very typical these day for service charge to be added to the bill without consultation

Our bill last night was for £30.95 including service charge of 12.5%

I left £30 in cash.

We were followed along the pavement as I explained to the staff member that we had in fact over paid as the service was nothing exceptional.

Tricky thing to get over for some people but they understood eventually. We were nearly 400 meters away form the restaurant before they decided to give up

I will be using this policy every time from now on

If any service charge is added to the bill i dont tip.

If its good service ill add a fiver or a tenner. None of this 10% rubbish as that could be 40 quid for a large meal out for a group. thats not on imo.

I don't do CC tips, but usually put some cash into the hand of the server directly unless it has been poor.

Tipping doesn't confuse me per se, but I'm a little confused by some situations; specifically

Yo Sushi - I'm shown to a seat, given four empty glasses so we can dispense our own water, I take my food off the belt, and at the end the 'server' counts up our plates and i pay at the till. How much should i leave in the jar at the till for the 'service'?

Why are tips a % of the bill. It takes broadly the same effort to bring a plate over with a Margherita pizza on as it does to bring over a 35 day aged ribeye steak that costs 3x the price. Why does one justify 3x the tip over the other?

Using vouchers or offer cards - we eat out often enough with the kids that it's worth having a Taste card or searching for offers on line. So you get say 50% off your food bill; and your £65 bill including drinks is then reduced to say £40. Seems unfair to me that the server then gets a recommended £4 tip instead of £6.50 (NB, where I don't pay CC tips I take it off and tip on the total value anyway, but others have in the past looked at me as if I was insane)

Why are tips a % of the bill. It takes broadly the same effort to bring a plate over with a Margherita pizza on as it does to bring over a 35 day aged ribeye steak that costs 3x the price. Why does one justify 3x the tip over the other?

Similar to taxation being a percentage of salary, so are tips. If you can afford a meal costing 3x as much, you can probably afford a tip 3x as much.

I just see it as wealth redistribution on a micro scale.

Conversely - if I've just saved £20 by having the pizza, I can afford to leave a fiver and still be £15 better off. If I've stretched the purse strings wide apart to treat myself to ribeye, there's buttons left for the server I'm afraid 😉

Most people generally tip if the bill is over £50, but not if they're buying a single pint. Young people appreciate it as their wages are so low. I think the reason for a service charge on large tables is the extra effort involved in serving them.

It all depends really, in a pub where you have to order at the bar and pay prior to eating I probably won't tip much, but will still leave something if the servers are nice. In a restaurant where you will be seated and the servers do more than just bring you a plate of food, i'll generally tip 10%ish if it's been decent.

Table service for just drinks will get a bit if a tip as well, depending how many i've had. Ordering a pint at the bar generally won't though unless i've ordered a big silly round or the barmaid is well fit*!!

*I know 🙄

I virtually never tip unless service was over and above. Perhaps Im old fashioned by I assume that good service and food is what I have paid for when ordering, hence the price on the menu. I dont see it as any different to buying anything else. You dont tip the shop assistant for serving you

10% always unless food or service pants then point blank refuse. Worked in restaurants in the states and lived on my tip money. Good waiter people make a good meal great. Please note being a waiter does not automatically make you good at it.

I generally tip quite generously, but then I generally receive very good service...
Having worked in hospitality gives me a greater understanding of the task and how difficult it can be, which I appreciate.
Anyone who thinks the job is just carrying plates from A to B is wholly ignorant.
As I eat out a lot more than most, I do witness some appalling attitudes towards staff from customers who think they are somehow above the people serving them.
If you tend not to receive good service on a regular basis, do check that you do not belong to that category of customer. It's not that the service is poor, it's that the extra levels of service that everyone else enjoys are being held back because they would rather you would leave and not return than receive meagre tips. 💡

With regards to the idea of not tipping because the staff should be paid a decent wage negating the need to tip, I tend to find this view expressed by people who would be far too tight to pay the necessary extra for a meal so the point is moot.
Try working out how much more your bill would be if all staff wages were equal to your own.
Would it be more than a small tip? 💡

There's nothing wrong with sharing the wealth, your wealth, not just other people's. 😉

Minor rantette over, other than to add in reply that I don't just tip in restaurants. Tipped the garage who last worked on my car, and often buy our town street sweeper a pint as he does a bang up job of keeping things nice and tidy.
😀

finephilly - Member

I think the reason for a service charge on large tables is the extra effort involved in serving them.

Never understood this.
You've got a large booking so guaranteed business yet you try and put them off with an increased service charge!
I've taken plenty of large bookings where the customer has mentioned lack of service charge as part of their choosing.

I'd put money on the division of yes nos being pretty much exactly the division of who has worked in service jobs.

I always tip and always go out my way to say thank you. If it was deserved.

I used to work with a girl who put service charge on a coffee (outdoor seating it was generally added) i never got through to her that I got more tips by the customer rounding up.

I've had some recent experiences where the service has been genuinely excellent. The staff have made me feel extremely welcome and have made the experience of eating out considerably more enjoyable than the norm. That is what earns a tip in my opinion. My "norm" might be very different from yours.

The fall in popularity of paying by cash must have a huge impact on whether people tip or not. I tip less often as a result of rarely having cash on me when eating out. I'm not saying that's right, but it's a huge correlation.

Bog standard chains like Pizza Express or Cafe Rouge get a rounded tip of £5 ish.
Better places, where there is more skill or knowledge needed get 10-12%.
A pub for a pint or a coffee house for an espresso get nothing.
a cocktail bar where the drinks are made with skill in front of me get a £1 or 2 per round.

But, around all of this are my unwritten (generally illogical) rules, local independent places I'll generally leave a little more, any difficulty from me will also net them a couple of extra quid as well genuinely outstanding service. Slow service, poor or uninspiring service will get zero or close to.

I always tip in shops if the shop assistant has been polite. 20-30% is about right. When buying a car then only 5% or so, unless it's an Audi.

Generally I don't, because I probably earn less than them these days.

What used to always stop me tipping at all is if the waiting staff clear other people's finished plates, while others at the table are still eating. Instead of enjoying the last bit of their food, many feel obliged to rush it down to catch up with everyone else.

Tip for a car sale? Not unless they knock their commission of the deal as that's his tip.

I never tip in the UK.

I find it strange that people will tip the person who carries the plate from the kitchen to the table but not tip the chef who created their meal.

The tip is for all staff so not really that weird.

The tip is for all staff so not really that weird.

Not if your one the posters above saying you only tip in cash into the hand of your waiter/waitress.

I only tip when everything has been perfect. One annoyance or problem gets no tip. What's the point of a tip otherwise?

What used to always stop me tipping at all is if the waiting staff clear other people's finished plates, while others at the table are still eating. Instead of enjoying the last bit of their food, many feel obliged to rush it down to catch up with everyone else.

Standard practice in Canada this, weirds me out, still. It's bad service over here to have them left sitting as far as I can tell.

I never tip in the UK.

I find it strange that people will tip the person who carries the plate from the kitchen to the table but not tip the chef who created their meal.

The restaurants must love you! Do you go anywhere regularly? Do you find the service has gone down hill?

The tip is generally split between waiting/kitchen staff. Not sure it goes to the chef though as they will be on a much higher wage.

I tip 10% in any eating establishment where you are served at the table unless the service is bad or unfriendly. Yes it's a silly system and I'd rather it was just spread across the overall cost and staff wages were adjusted but unless there is a nationwide law passed this is the system we have and it's unfair to penalise the staff because you disagree with something.

Not if your one the posters above saying you only tip in cash into the hand of your waiter/waitress.

Depends on the place, but they often pool and split tips in a restaurant as it's a team effort at the end of the day....

Unlike the states, our workers receive a minimum wage.....

However I'll almost always tip when eating out in a restaurant..... when I say restaurant I do not mean some effing high street chain..... Carlucios, Pizza Express, TGIFridays, Jamie's, Prezzo, Wildwood, etc.... for me these places suck the life out of creativity, both in terms of the food and the blandness of high streets. In fact I'll go out of my way to avoid them (why is there such a proliferation of these chains in the U.K.?.... I haven't noticed where I live in Germany. Nor do I see it in Austria , Portugal or Italy.

In independent places I'll tip around 10-15%. Pubs I'll tip, but only if it there is proper table service, not order at the bar.

I'll tip bar staff if they have been particularly attentive and I've been in the bar for a while. Same goes for proper cafes.

We went to Bella Italia last night as we received some vouchers as a prezzie.

Left about 15% tip (all our change).
Service was excellent.

Only found out after we got home that the staff are on minimum wage.
😐

Tip well people.

Good service - 10% no problem
Service a bit meh but ok - round up
Would happily refuse to tip for shite service, but can only think of it happening once (taking the kids to Pizza Express)

The restaurants must love you! Do you go anywhere regularly? Do you find the service has gone down hill?

So restaurants want to put off regular income then because of a bad tipper? They must have too much business?!

i find tipping has kind of died a death since we all stopped using cash. not all of them card readers offer you the opportunity to leave gratuity and often ive genuinely had no cash to leave. at first i used to feel really terrible about this but its becoming the norm now...

Only found out after we got home that the staff are on minimum wage.

That's a fairly safe assumption in a lot of places 😐

I leave 10% - only don't if service was poor or slow or the food was below par. Sometimes I don't mind service being slow so long as they keep you engaged/informed and preferably told you at the start.

If there is a service charge on the bill I believe you are within your rights to deduct it if the service was bad - but I've never tried it - service charge is a bit of a cheek if you ask me.

The thing that pees me off the most about bar service or restaurant service or whatever is being studiously ignored. The pub at the end of our evening rides is starting to do this and it really winds me up. Don't walk behind the bar where people are waiting and avoid eye contact at all costs! Just say "I'll be with you in a minute" or "sorry, we're short-staffed tonight - be with you in a sec" etc - anything other than just trying to ignore customers.

mudshark - Member

So restaurants want to put off regular income then because of a bad tipper? They must have too much business?!

Tightwads don't make for very good customers, and aren't conducive towards a good atmosphere in a restaurant. It's better for everyone to encourage them elsewhere, like charging tastecard customers £3 for their lime and soda. 🙂

Tightwads don't make for very good customers, and aren't conducive towards a good atmosphere in a restaurant.

They're worse than fair weather cyclists!

Tightwads don't make for very good customers, and aren't conducive towards a good atmosphere in a restaurant.

Really? Don't most people quietly eat their meal, pay then go? That's all I what I want from other customers when I eat out (I mostly tip though did create this thread about paying a service charge at the restaurant in the hotel I stay for work - http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tipping-at-hotels )