If a manager or bartender told you your drink is on the house, would you...

[Anonymous]

(More of a service gesture or apology, no flirty implications.)

Anyways, when offered a complimentary round would or do you alter your drink to get something more expensive or would you get what you usually order or what you had already planned to order?

This happened to us over the weekend and the couple we were with, the husband ordered an expensive scotch he was clearly not going to get on his own dime. I thought that was a little uncouth but maybe that's a normal thing to do?

[Anonymous]

Order whatever you want, but don’t change it if you already ordered. And tip very generously.

[Anonymous]

I might get an $8 beer instead of a $6 one, but not a $30 drink compared to a $6 one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I might get an $8 beer instead of a $6 one, but not a $30 drink compared to a $6 one

+1, I might go up a tier on my glass of wine, but I think it'd be tacky to go over the top on the order.

[Anonymous]

As a former longtime bartender I never offered one on the house to customers on their initial order.

If I offered a drink on the house it was always after they ordered it and when delivering them the drinks I would say, this round is on me to purposely avoid people who do what the husband did. I would always ring it to my house check.

The house check is based on your ring, so if I ring $1000 for my shift, I was allowed to ring $100 on my house check. Usually you ring way more than $1000 a shift so I always had a pretty big house check.

People usually tip pretty well and you use the house check to build business so people come back and become regulars.

[Anonymous]

If you don't normally drink a specific expensive scotch or bourbon, would you even know they gave you the expensive stuff?

[Anonymous]

Whenever I have had this offered in this sense, as a gesture vs. a comp where something went wrong, it was after the drink was ordered, not before.

[Anonymous]

It depends on what the apology is for.

[Anonymous]

I'd get whatever I was normally going to get. That man lacked class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on what the apology is for.

Yes, if it’s for having to wait an extra 10 minutes for my table, then nothing fancy. If you spilled a glass of water on me at the start of my meal, I’m upgrading.

[Anonymous]

I would let it go, most people would not upgrade but like the bartender said, it goes on a house check so the server is not really paying for it.

If a server offers you a free drink because they like you, the polite thing to do is to include the full price of the drink in your tip, so you do pay for it. If it is offered to make up for an error, then you should still tip on it but don't pay for the drink.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on what the apology is for.

Yes, if it’s for having to wait an extra 10 minutes for my table, then nothing fancy. If you spilled a glass of water on me at the start of my meal, I’m upgrading.

What do you mean by upgrade? Are you referring to mixed drinks or wine? If I'm doing cocktails, my go-to is Tanqueray and tonic. I've had every expensive top shelf gin and still prefer Tanqueray. It seems so weird to me to order a more expensive gin just because it's on the house. Same for vodka, if you're drinking martinis for example. I guess tequilas can get up there in price, and scotch and bourbons can be pricey. It would just feel so embarrassing to order a single expensive scotch or tequila and then order the less expensive one you usually drink the next round.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would let it go, most people would not upgrade but like the bartender said, it goes on a house check so the server is not really paying for it.

If a server offers you a free drink because they like you, the polite thing to do is to include the full price of the drink in your tip, so you do pay for it. If it is offered to make up for an error, then you should still tip on it but don't pay for the drink.

It was a manager. It was some kitchen issue and our food took quite a bit longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on what the apology is for.

Yes, if it’s for having to wait an extra 10 minutes for my table, then nothing fancy. If you spilled a glass of water on me at the start of my meal, I’m upgrading.

What do you mean by upgrade? Are you referring to mixed drinks or wine? If I'm doing cocktails, my go-to is Tanqueray and tonic. I've had every expensive top shelf gin and still prefer Tanqueray. It seems so weird to me to order a more expensive gin just because it's on the house. Same for vodka, if you're drinking martinis for example. I guess tequilas can get up there in price, and scotch and bourbons can be pricey. It would just feel so embarrassing to order a single expensive scotch or tequila and then order the less expensive one you usually drink the next round.

That's you. I'm either drinking wine or scotch. Either way, an upgrade is usually available

[Anonymous]

Your friend's husband is kind of a loser for his action.