How much do you tip at restaurants?

[Anonymous]

15-20% at restaurants that appear to have the more traditional pricing/wage structure. I may go up or down depending on service and what we order (for example, a nice bottle of wine with our meal may not get a full 20% on the cost of wine, as it's really no more work than the less expensive bottle - but if we only have water to drink, I'll add a few extra dollars as I know they count on the tips from drinks).

I also get confused at restaurants with the "living wage" or "gratuity included" notices. I usually leave a few dollars, maybe 5%, if the service is decent.

I've also been known to write 0 on the credit card slip, and leave a cash tip for the server. Not sure how that would show up on the monthly report.

[Anonymous]

As someone who has worked in restaurants this makes no sense to me -- no way was the average tip percentage 20%. I just don't believe that. So many people don't tip and so many people leave low tips that you are not going to see an average of 20% anywhere. A few tables with no tip alone will drop your average significantly. Sure, every once in a while someone is super generous, but not often enough to bring the average up to 20%.

That said, I always leave 20%.

[Anonymous]

I’m eating out in a location that pays their servers minimum wage that I’m tipping zero. Otherwise it’s 18 to 20% based on service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20% is my go-to. However, if service is awful, might go down (would have to be really bad due to server, not due to the kitchen being backed up), and if service is great, go higher

I always go up for bad service if the server is nice and apologetic but just kind of sucks at their job. I figure they get low or no tips all the time so those are the ones I tip the most. I have never tipped under 20% regardless of service. Will go up for great service or crappy service from a nice server.

[Anonymous]

20% unless service was awful but I also feel if service was awful, the person might be having a miserable day and I don't want to pile on. 25% for AMAZING service.

We also don't eat out very often anymore. Kind of slacked off since Covid.

[Anonymous]

20% for dine in. I’m surprised at all the people who don’t tip on take out - they are still spending time and energy on making and packing your food that they’re not spending on in-restaurant patrons. I tend to tip about 10-15% on take out and, frankly, felt cheap about that. The exception is something like the coffee shop I like. If I buy a few pastries and they out them in a bag I may or may not put a dollar in the tip jar but I don’t feel the need to tip.

[Anonymous]

Is she calculating after tax/fees? The difference on tipping pre tax/fees vs the total price is usually a couple bucks, which would account for that 3% “drop” she’s seeing.

[Anonymous]

I never tip less than $10 if I am dining alone and $20 if with a friend. If 20% is more than that, then I tip 20%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20% for dine in. I’m surprised at all the people who don’t tip on take out - they are still spending time and energy on making and packing your food that they’re not spending on in-restaurant patrons. I tend to tip about 10-15% on take out and, frankly, felt cheap about that. The exception is something like the coffee shop I like. If I buy a few pastries and they out them in a bag I may or may not put a dollar in the tip jar but I don’t feel the need to tip.

Yeah, no, I’m not tipping on takeout, counter service or any other walk up type of restaurant. With your point of view, you should be tipping the McDonald’s employees. It takes the same amount of effort after all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20% is my go-to. However, if service is awful, might go down (would have to be really bad due to server, not due to the kitchen being backed up), and if service is great, go higher

This. Though one of us includes tax before calculating the tip, the other doesn’t.
Round up more often than not. Also if we take a long time in the space (dally till end of lunch when there’s no one waiting, tip goes up).

[Anonymous]

Pp again. As someone noted above, after hearing too many reports of restaurants not turning over tips on credit cards, I try to rip in cash more often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20% for dine in. I’m surprised at all the people who don’t tip on take out - they are still spending time and energy on making and packing your food that they’re not spending on in-restaurant patrons. I tend to tip about 10-15% on take out and, frankly, felt cheap about that. The exception is something like the coffee shop I like. If I buy a few pastries and they out them in a bag I may or may not put a dollar in the tip jar but I don’t feel the need to tip.

I'd be laughing at anyone who did.
It takes less effort, and usually done by the chef/cook not the waitstaff. So if you want to tip, tip the COOK not the person who walks it 20 feet from the kitchen.

[Anonymous]

I tip 10% or a dollar at a walk up place where you order food and there's no table service.
20% at a restaurant, sometimes 15%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:idk why tip keeps creeping up! menu prices keep creeping up, so, naturally, tips would also creep up because of that. idk why we have to keep increasing our tip percentage.

Restaurant tips have been a standard 20% for good service since I started going to restaurants and I’m 50. Not sure how you think they’re creeping up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:idk why tip keeps creeping up! menu prices keep creeping up, so, naturally, tips would also creep up because of that. idk why we have to keep increasing our tip percentage.

Restaurant tips have been a standard 20% for good service since I started going to restaurants and I’m 50. Not sure how you think they’re creeping up.

I’m 40 and when I was taught how to settle a check in my teens I was taught 15%. It has definitely gone up.

These days I tend to double the first number of the total and then add whatever change to make a round number. So could be more or less than 20%. Eg if the total is 46.24 I’ll tip 8.76 which is 17.8% but since I’m doing it on total after tax I don’t feel bad about that.