NAME AND SHAME. Restaurant service charges

laalaa · 2 June 2008 at 6:08PM

I dont agree with serivce charges on all bills, however i very much agree with them for large parties. Say over 10 diners.

Its bloody hard work serving a large party, especially if its kids. The table is almost always left in a ridiculous mess, im constantly getting refills for drinks. The kids all shout when trying to order, or completely ignore you to talk to their pals, you need to take birthday cake out and sing. Then cut it up, wrap it, put in party bags. When serving their food, they always forget what they order, or decide that their friends food looks better and they want that.

Then to get left little or no tip is soul destroying.

dangeroussports · 2 June 2008 at 6:54PM

What about having the food delivered at a local community center. There are alot of plus points for doing this, free parking for a start! That way no one has to pay a tip and you dont have to pay for parking. You could also ask everyone to bring a bottle of wine each (alot cheaper)......

I guess if you must go out and use a restaraunt then you should pay whatever their demands are INCLUDING the service charge, even if the service is poor.

If you are a moneysavingexpert then you should be hiring a local community center, buying wine from Sainsburys and have the food delivered and save on the parking too.

Granted it is a bit of hassle and it would make you look like a pauper peseant scum if you did but at least you wont have to pay the service charge.

But for weddings/birthdays/dates I suggest eating out.

I personally pay the service charge because I dont want my date to think Im a peseantscum for not paying a tip.

gunsandbanjos · 2 June 2008 at 7:12PM

laalaa wrote: »

I dont agree with serivce charges on all bills, however i very much agree with them for large parties. Say over 10 diners.

Its bloody hard work serving a large party, especially if its kids. The table is almost always left in a ridiculous mess, im constantly getting refills for drinks. The kids all shout when trying to order, or completely ignore you to talk to their pals, you need to take birthday cake out and sing. Then cut it up, wrap it, put in party bags. When serving their food, they always forget what they order, or decide that their friends food looks better and they want that.

Then to get left little or no tip is soul destroying.

Couldnt agree more! I've worked in restaurants for 8 years and some people are so ignorant its unreal. Its not just kids who cant remember what they ordered either, the number of people who stare at you blankly when you bring their food out is staggering. Or who treat you like scum, patronise you, hit on you, verbally abuse you and then dont leave a tip

On the plus side i serve lots of lovely people who tip well, because i'm good at what i do. If i've just spend the past 2 hours trying to make sure you have a lovely enjoyable night, got you everything you required as quickly as i could, then yes, i expect you to tip.
However i fully understand if you have had a terrible night for whatever reason, then you shouldnt tip your server if they could have rectified it in some way. A tip is to be earned not expected, i would never expect someone to tip if i didnt think i had done my job to the best of my ability.
For clarification the restaurant i work in does add 10% but only on tables of 8 or more(see laalaa's post, it can be really hard work serving a bigger table), however it is optional. Any tips that are not service charge, whether it be cash or on card goes directly to the server, its not pooled and i would never work somewhere that did pool their tips. I work a lot harder than some(not all maybe) of my colleagues and it would annoy me if they got some of my tips. Our kitchen staff are paid a higher wage than FOH staff as they dont get tipped.

Freddie_Snowbits · 2 June 2008 at 7:27PM

On an occasion a couple of Christmas’ ago, I booked local eaterie for some decent nosh, providing a £250 deposit (£5) a head and requested that we have our own drinks waiters (2) for the evening.
I was told that a service charge of £60 would be made for this privilege, and duly added this to the my cohorts dinner charge, which they were happy to pay.
Now Freddie turned up in his best bib and tocker, with Freda in tow, and merriment was had by 49 of us, the Ram having backed out at the last minute. Well good nosh was beheld by all, alas we had no sign of our dedicated waiter/ess to speed up the drinking (Their loss!). Sometime later I duly went to pay the dues, to find the service charge of £60 on the bill. I drew a line through the service charge and explained that our dedicated service was not provide and we would be paying only for the food.
The £60 was enjoyed by a few of my colleagues just down the road where a couple of flagons of ale were consumed with just a hint of merriment and debauchery.

dangeroussports · 2 June 2008 at 7:36PM

dats a phat tale mang. phat.
m8 u nw da coo mang. dats proper stinjy mang,

innit l8r me outta here bovvad aiiiii booyaka

Horasio · 7 June 2008 at 8:53PM

What experience do people have of cover charges in a restaurant?

I was about to tip very generously then I saw the cover charge on the bill and thought it was pretty cheeky, so they got nothing more.

Horasio · 7 June 2008 at 8:55PM

laalaa wrote: »

I dont agree with serivce charges on all bills, however i very much agree with them for large parties. Say over 10 diners.

Its bloody hard work serving a large party, especially if its kids. The table is almost always left in a ridiculous mess, im constantly getting refills for drinks. The kids all shout when trying to order, or completely ignore you to talk to their pals, you need to take birthday cake out and sing. Then cut it up, wrap it, put in party bags. When serving their food, they always forget what they order, or decide that their friends food looks better and they want that.

Then to get left little or no tip is soul destroying.

I agree about the large parties and would feel very upset at a lack of tip.

timtogo · 10 August 2008 at 9:35AM

Visited Tootsies Restaurant (Reading) yesterday and was imposed with the 12.5% - in the actual case our meal cost £17.50 and I would normally have left £20. As it happens I decided to take the change returned and so they ended up with less. The manager at the venue was useless and had already wasted our time with the seating process. I have complained online and will post any reply.

Searcher · 10 August 2008 at 5:01PM

We visited Porter's restaurant in Covent Garden last weekend. The bill came to £100 (2 courses for 4 people with drinks).
A service charge was not added to the bill.

There was an option to add a gratuity when paying by card, so I asked the waitress if they got the money and she said they do. :T

I think this is the first time I've eaten in central London and not been hit with a service charge so fair play to Porter's :T :T

Oh and I had what was probably the best creme brulee I've ever tasted lol

bestyman · 6 March 2009 at 5:05PM

Ok, Here are another 2

Ramseys Maize London added 10% optional that was removed ...£90 odd pounds, not a typo!!!!!!

Strada Leeds also added 10%, also removed but only about £4 this time.

NAME AND SHAME. Restaurant service charges

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free