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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

So don't pay for the drinks, but include in the tip if its not the servers fault. If your friend upgraded, that's not a reflection on you. I'm sure the restaurant has seen it before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Past a certain age, isn't it sort of pathetic to not just order what you actually want every time? We're not talking a new Mercedes vs a Toyota, it's such an insignificant sum of money. Why does a complimentary free drink nudge you to go for a more expensive glass of wine, which is only, what, an extra $5-10 a glass? Or some $30 glass scotch over the $12 scotch. If that's what you crave, and you think it's more enjoyable, why not order it every time?

[Anonymous]

Once a waitress quit or something mid shift and we sat foreverrrr waiting for our food. The manager comes over with a profuse apology and ask us if he can get us a drink. My DH and I looked at each other and said, sure why not and ordered normal drinks. I think I got (another) mojito. Anyway, the drinks showed up on our bill. The restaurant was so chaotic at that point, we didn't even want to wait around to get it fixed. So we just left. Terrible!