Service Charge in Restaurants

dmv said:
How did that work out for you just out of curiosity
Click to expand...

There is strength in numbers. When a restaurant has seven or eight barking on about the extra charge being applied simply because we are a group, they have no problem backing down. Often these places will not allow people to pay as an individual but we break down the bill and pay minus the 10% additional charge. We should be getting 10% off for dining in a group!
 
I usually tip 10%, but calculate the 10% on the price of the meal less the price of the wine. There's a big mark-up on wine, so I don't see why I should pay a tip / service charge on top of that. Am I just being mean?
 
PMU said:
I usually tip 10%, but calculate the 10% on the price of the meal less the price of the wine. There's a big mark-up on wine, so I don't see why I should pay a tip / service charge on top of that. Am I just being mean?
Click to expand...

I know where you are coming from although having done my waitering stint years ago you were always delighted if the drinks were adding up.

In theory the restaurant shouldn't be concerned if you ask to decide your own tip but of course they are taking some of it from the waiting staff.

A group of of six is harder to deal with so does deserve a bigger tip than a smaller party (from experience)
 

whats the difference between 6 at one table and 3 couples ?? same amount of people.
 
Stifster said:
I know where you are coming from although having done my waitering stint years ago you were always delighted if the drinks were adding up.
Click to expand...
I can see where you're coming from as well, but it's not 'years ago' now and we do have one of the highest minimum wages in the world.
 
I really hate service charges.

We were in a restaurant for a Xmas do and we were being charged 10% for the waitress to get us drinks €30 a round and they were putting €3 just for the girl to walk 5 feet.

So I said 'to hell with this' and decided to go the the bar myself to get the drinks myself and they still tried to get me for the service charge.

Needless to say it didn't go down very well
 
Ron Burgundy said:
whats the difference between 6 at one table and 3 couples ?? same amount of people.
Click to expand...


I haven't had experience in the restaurant trade but surely 6 people needing to be served their starters/mains/deserts at roughly the same time would constitute more management and effort (in the kitchen and on serving) than 3 separate couples.
 
Sylvester3 said:
I haven't had experience in the restaurant trade but surely 6 people needing to be served their starters/mains/deserts at roughly the same time would constitute more management and effort (in the kitchen and on serving) than 3 separate couples.
Click to expand...
No. Less effort if anything. Certainly not worthy of a premium.
 
Lollix said:
No. Less effort if anything. Certainly not worthy of a premium.
Click to expand...

I would agree with Sylvester on this - if you have 6 people with up to 6 different meal choices, it's far more difficult to get all of those out at the same time than a table where there are just 2 different choices.

That being said, I don't agree with automatic service charges, no matter how many are seated at the table.
 

But 3 couples are 6 people who might all want different menu choices and are at different tables so more walking ???
 
Ron Burgundy said:
But 3 couples are 6 people who might all want different menu choices and are at different tables so more walking ???
Click to expand...

Plus the restaurant should be aiming to minimise all waiting times anyway, and I don't believe that they wouldn't just leave a few dishes under a heating light (whatever they call them) in these circumstances while waiting for the others to be completed.
 
Sylvester3 said:
I haven't had experience in the restaurant trade but surely 6 people needing to be served their starters/mains/deserts at roughly the same time would constitute more management and effort (in the kitchen and on serving) than 3 separate couples.
Click to expand...


Surely they train their staff for this? Why should the consumer pay for staff management? The prices listed are the prices I want to pay and if I want to tip then thats my perogative, that is the way dining should work in my opinion. We are getting far too American whereby the employer can get away with passing everything onto the customer (ala the tipping mentality where the customer is basically paying the employees wages instead of the employer)
 
Ron Burgundy said:
But 3 couples are 6 people who might all want different menu choices and are at different tables so more walking ???
Click to expand...

Yes. more walking (but careful talking about that or they'll be charging for wear and tear on the restaurant floor next!) My point is that co-ordinating 6 meals and getting them all to 1 table at the same time takes a little more work in the kitchen than organising meals for 3 seperate tables, where there is a need to get just 2 meals to arrive at the same time for each table.
 

Good, my answer to that is do i care ?? Just give me the food and service i expect at a reasonable price without adding on charges here there and everywhere.

Its a business and if customers don't see it as value for money they show it with their feet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register