Tastecard / View Card / Toptable - Service Charge Saints & Sinners

sheer_vanilla

A new thread to help identify restaurants that put out offers for food (eg, 50% off food bill, 2-4-1 meals etc) and then charge an ''optional'' Service Charge (SC) on the amount of the bill before the discount.

As an example, if the restaurant offers you a 50% discount on food and your original bill is £40 which then should become £20, by logic the SC should be on the £20 (if 12.5% making it £2.50) not on the £40 (which makes it a whopping £5).

On a £20 bill if you are forced to pay a £5 SC then there's something very very wrong. It makes it a 25% SC!?

This can be a handy guide for people wishing to eat out on these offers and knowing what to expect from restaurants based on people's experiences so please do keep adding any helpful information you may have!

I can start with a few London ones..

- The Thai Restaurant, Fulham - On Full Bill = Sinners
- Walmer Castle, Notting Hill - On discounted Bill = Saints
- Antonia's - On Full Bill = Sinners
- Delima - On discounted Bill = Saints
- Miss Q's - On Full Bill = Sinners
- Royal China, Putney - On Full Bill = Sinners
- Thai Square, Putney - On Full Bill = Sinners
- Zen China - On Full Bill = Sinners
- Dalchini Hakka - On Full Bill = Sinners
- Satori Robata - No SC
- Haozhan - On Full Bill = Sinners
- Made In China = On Full Bill = Sinners
- Thai By The River = On Full Bill = Sinners
- Pizza Expresses = No SC
- Carluccios = No SC
- Plum Valley Fine Dining - On Full Bill = Sinners

Quentin

What's the point - the charge is optional, so pay as much or as little as you want to. How can you be "forced" to pay an optional charge?

sheer_vanilla

Quentin wrote: »

What's the point - the charge is optional, so pay as much or as little as you want to. How can you be "forced" to pay an optional charge?

The point is for people to know what to expect as I mentioned. If you know that a particular restaurant is going to put an effective 25% SC on your bill then you are prepared in advance to either let them know at the start that the bill should not have a SC or that you'd like to have the SC only on the discounted bill or at the very least be prepared for battle etc.

This helps people know what to expect and therefore makes it a little less stressful when dining out. If someone wants a peaceful dinner they may look here and note restaurants that don't put a SC on and pick those instead. The idea is primarily to make people aware of what to expect and to beat the unfair system, which according to me can only be a good thing..

holidaysforme

OP, i think this is a great idea, and means that you are forewarned.:)

Quentin

What's the difference between an "optional" s/c and a tip?

Surely you just pay it if you want to, and decide how much yourself?? Or is there a difference to do with getting 2 for 1 deals?

If it's a tip for the waiter, then maybe you should base how much to tip on the "true" value of the bill, rather than the discounted price as the waiters don't have any say on the management's decision to accept these cards.

But if you don't want to pay it, then don't!

sheer_vanilla

Quentin wrote: »

What's the difference between an "optional" s/c and a tip?

the optional SC is automatically printed on the bill when it comes to you. so if you do not want to pay a £5 SC for a £20 dinner you then have to embarrass yourself for no fault of yours by asking them to take off the optional SC and you'll leave what you want to tip in cash. some can get quite rude and snotty about it but as it's ''optional'' they take it off after a bit of grief.

a tip on the other hand is what you leave without being pressured into when you get a bill with no SC on.

Surreystarlet

Two more for the taste list:

Beit Eddine - Service charge on full amount (which they demand you pay otherwise they hold you hostage in the restaurant.....)
GBK - no service change (there is a tips pot by the checkout)

mynameisdave

I've only used my Taste Card at 2 places when I had the trial and neither charged anything for service. Are we wanting that recorded or is this just for those that do add the charge?

Cheshire Cheese Fusion Pub in Crewe and Faulkerner Bar and Kitchen in Chester. However, the latter did charge me for Soda water so its just as bad in my opinion!

yowmer

Great idea to list. Here are some others:

- Pasha - On full bill
- Strada - No SC (from what I recall)
- Zizzi's - No SC
- Navajo Joes - No SC
- La Barbe - On discounted bill

sheer_vanilla

- Cafe de Thai, Notting Hill, London - On Full Bill (& very strubborn about taking it off. Dirty looks galore and under-breath-mutterings)

- Kitchen Italias, London - NO SC!

- Awana, London - On discounted bill

- Mango Tree, London - On discounted bill

- Masala Zones, London - On Full Bill

lyster101

We ate at a dirty little restaurant today. Cafe Mode in 57-59 Endel Street is a squalid, uncomfortable establishment. The food we ordered was awful and the service complacent. For example, I mistakenly ordered the 'King Prawn' spaghetti. At £13.95 it had a premium of £2 on anything else on the menu so I expected a speciality. There were certainly NO king prawns and what prawns there were, were less than half a cm in length and, of course, no shell. This description was a blatent lie and I grossly misled. Also, all starters were tiny - we paid £6.50 for a single slice of foccacia with goats cheese and pesto on it and £4.95 for 6 tiny doughballs and 10 slices of sausage.

But I'm not as interested in complaining about the food. They have to pay something for what they prepare...

It is the service charge I object to.

Firstly, as ordering through Taste London, they decided to base the service charge on the pre-discount amount. This would have been circa 20%. As the service itself was shocking, and in addition to the poor food in general I refused to pay the service charge. However, short of cash I had to pay by credit card and there was no option to pay without this charge and they refused - 3 times - my objections and that I could either pay the Tastecard discount plus the service charge or the full amount without service charge. Clearly this devious business offsets the discount with their 'optional' service charge, regardless of how they treat their customers. I felt intimidated and helpless.

I intend to chase AmEx in a few days (I spoke to them today and I cannot do anything until they 'see' tte transaction on my statement) to dispute this. In the meanwhile, does anyone have any suggestions about what I should do? Has anybody had any success with the 'paying under protest' idea as this is what I did today but it seems I have already been rendered helpless by inputting my PIN. Any ideas would be welcomed.

Moreover, I suggest everyone avoid this horrible place and go to one of the genuine local establishments.