Award wining restaurant - complaint

shaking said:
MrMan we didn't eat everything there was plenty of food left on the plates and we had a half bottle of wine not 2.5. We would have had more had anyone being around to offer us a drink!
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sorry i read 2 and a half where you had actually said 'courses for 2 and a half bottle of wine'
 
Originally Posted by FLANDERS`
What sort of place pre-adds service charge for two people

Avoca on Suffolk Street also adds a service charge, regardless of number of diners
 
fitzg said:
Originally Posted by FLANDERS`
What sort of place pre-adds service charge for two people

Avoca on Suffolk Street also adds a service charge, regardless of number of diners
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Thanks for the tip, another spot I wont be visiting then!
 
left to their own devices the average tip left in an irish restaurant is 3%
that is a fact. you pay them peanuts....

service added to bills is fine if the service is v good and warrants it, if it is not, then you are entitled to ask for it to be removed. This is something that needs to be done more.

also, a restaurant can only really react to feedback on the night. If a dish isn't good enough, it shouldn't be paid for. A good restaurant will know this and deal with it there and then based on feedback.

If this restaurant has this shabby service and food for any period of time, a great thing happens, people stop going. It also requires people to name and shame such restaurants. Its a great democracy we live in.
 
Some times you eat the food literally because you're sat there so long and you're starving.

It's dificult though for an establishment to take your complain seriously if your plate is clean. Complain after the first bite. No point complaining about it when it's eaten and the chef can't see the problem.
 

Where did you get that 3% figure?

Whatever the average works out as, in my experience working in and frequenting restuarants, people either pay a tip or dont. When they do it is usually around the 10 to 15% so the 3% figure, if not made up, is certainly misleading.

You are entitled to ask anything you want, but if the service is stated as being added and is not at the discretion of the customer then you are no entitled to have it removed no matter what the level of service.
 
David_Dublin said:
but if the service is stated as being added and is not at the discretion of the customer then you are no entitled to have it removed no matter what the level of service.
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How can you state that service charge is not at the discretion of the customer. One goes to a restaurant for food, not to give tips. I always used to give a tip and in the last fortnight I have stopped. Unless the service is exemplary they can get stuffed. Too many stories of the staff not getting the service charge so I have no hard feelings. If good, leave them cash otherwise and things might improve. Nobody is ever thanked for a tip so they just might remember you next time you go in for leaving nothing. The way things are restaurants should be happy with your custom.
 

the 3% is an average. indeed some leave 10%. its an average from a study of IRISH restaurants in 2005 and it hasn't imporved since.

Consider not leave tips in restaurants that do not go to staff. if in doubt, just ask. and it the service is not up to scratch, have it removed from bill. simple.
 

The staff get paid a wage don't they? I don't agree with this effective obligation to give them another 10-15% of the bill as a tax-free tip. I don't tip the bus driver in the morning, do I? I'll tip for great service, or where the atmosphere is good - I won't tip for derisory service which is all too common in Ireland.
 

course they get paid a wage, not as much as the bus man, €8.65 per hour mostly. their job is mostly thankless, and even thought of as beneath plenty irish people these days. they don't earn enough to pay tax, so stop attacking them. There is no obligation to tip and thats how it should be. when you get pleasant service and they go beyond taking an order and putting a plate in front of you, then tip. And, as another posted - if you never tip, never expect anything out of the ordinary.
 

Nobody has attacked waiting staff, many jobs are thankless so that doesn't make them any more deserving of tips than anyone else. should you also tip people at the deli counter? I always tip min 10% but that is purely from habit and my inability to look stingy (sad but true) but i will definitely be reassessing this habit as for one thing dining out has become a rare occurance and another thing is out of the ordinary service is not what I'm after, it is good food, polite service, and nice atmosphere. I don't see why I should pay a tip because the waiting staff have achieved their job description.
 
I agree MrMan.

I usually tip (about 10%) but sometimes don't. The food and service have to be above average to get a tip from me and if it's below average someone will get an earfull.

I complain a lot more now than I did, say 5 or 10 years ago - and I mean valid complaints. I have left without paying on a few occasions due to poor food/service or when asked if I enjoyed my meal (when I didn't, particularly) I will tell them "not really" or equivalent.

I don't know why I haven't always had this attitude - I guess I'm getting less self-conscious as I get older. I highly recommend complaining - it's very cathartic.

There's a way to do it too - just be matter of fact and polite and say it all with a smile - Irish people are generally bad at complaining IMO as they seem to either say nothing and silently seethe or else simply explode.

But that's another thread in itself
 
MrMan said:
Nobody has attacked waiting staff, many jobs are thankless so that doesn't make them any more deserving of tips than anyone else.
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the issue of "tax - free" and "i don't tip the bus driver" is an attack on many hard working and low-paid/thanked restaurant waiting staff.

if its not, then what is the relevance?

simply choose to go to places with nice friendly staff, and tip them accordingly when they do a good job, especially when over and above what they are supposed to do.
 
Precisely.

If I want better than average, I'll stay at home, cook for myself and serve myself, because I'm smarter (and bigger) than your average bear.

That's a right load of twaddle.

I don't tip checkout staff in supermarkets, I don't tip the newsagent who sells me my Irish Times and lottery ticket on Saturday mornings or the cashier who takes the money for my fuel fill, coffee and bagel on Sunday, the receptionist in the doctor's office, the ESB meter-reader or the guys who collect the bins. I don't tip airline pilots, ground or cabin staff, ships captains, train drivers, traffic cops, fire-fighters, ambulance technicians, lollipop ladies, security staff. librarians or road sweepers

So what is this thing with food and beverage servers that convinces them and their customers that they are worth more than the wages they get paid?

Vive la France and "service compris" on the menu.
 
There are plenty of places that say on the menu "a service charge of x% is applied to all..", this is particularly the case where groups of 6 or more are included. In this case the service charge is not at the discretion of the customer. A tip is always at the discretion of the customer.
 
meatmonger said:
the issue of "tax - free" and "i don't tip the bus driver" is an attack on many hard working and low-paid/thanked restaurant waiting staff.

if its not, then what is the relevance?
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I've worked as a waiter in my time. I've also worked as a kitchen porter in my time. Believe me, that is much, much harder work, often not as well paid as waiting tables, and no tax-free tips. The belief among waiting staff that they are entitled to tips is what really bugs me, along with their whining about how they need tax-free tips to supplement their wages. What's so wrong with only tipping for very good service i.e. above and beyond what customers are entitled to expect from waiters doing their job competently? In my experience, for waiters in this country to give you merely ordinary service would be a massive step up in their service levels.
 


by law, even if this is written on the door / menu or anywhere else, you can ask for service charge to be removed at any stage. it is suggestive, not compulsory. that is a fact of law and your right. use it.

to simply sever a plate of food in front of someone does not require or deserve a tip. its a process like flying on a plane, or buying a newspaper in a shop or a bus trip. If you have special requests / are given extra help in sorting your meal, having wine/water poured for you just at the right time, are having your kids meal that you brought in with you heated up, are being given great recommendations on dishes / wines that you woulkd have missed otherwise, then it stops being just a process (like a KP simply processes dirty pots etc). At this point the person deserves a tip, they have gone beyonf the process.
 
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