Do you Tip?

I hear that @datto is a big tipper when we go to #governorspleasure & #Oxfordtavern

 

Only if the service is excellent, and then I tip generously. Generally no though.

We went to ARIA for dinner last week - Matt Moran's restaurant I think. I think my wife tipped $5. I was embarassed to see that... the bill was about $350 for 2 of us.

 

Where I was a waitress tips were NEVER disbursed.. Management used the funds to purchase lotto tickets on our behalf... Whilst they were buying their own lotto tickets.

 

Nothing. Or if it was good, probably $20.
But $350 is taking the **** as it is. I was given a voucher, otherwise wouldn't have gone.

 

Tipping $5 at a $350 meal is like picking up a 5c piece off the ground at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day.

A $50 tip would have been probably the most appropriate.

pinkboy

 

No way would I tip $50. Their money is adequate for what they do. (What I did throughout university).

 

I used to tip whenever I saw a garter but it got me into trouble esp at weddings.

When I was a taxi driver I'd say 20% of passengers would give a tip.

One fella left a $500 tip on the back seat. He left it in his wallet along with credit cards and personal papers. Guess he was really happy with my service!

 

Hi S
I wont go back to Jamie O the service and the food was very average, perhaps other franchises in other States are great? but Perth a no go.

 

Was it the expensive wine?
What was the food like?

 

I generally round up the bill when I go out In Australia for a large meal.

A few times when I have gone to pay the waiter has entered Zero through the tip section before handing the terminal to me for authorisation. . . .On one occasion complaining to me that it was a nuisance and they should be able to delete that part of the procedure.

In America I tip 20% to reflect the poor wages of service staff. Waiters are taxed there as if they got the standard tips so when you don't tip it costs them money.

 

Sometimes - it all depends on the service/experience we had. Generally speaking - the service levers in Aus don't come close to the US!

Cheers

Jamie

 

It's the third time I've been there. It's nice but I've never been blown away. But $58 for a small rack of lamb is ridiculous. We didn't even have a bottle of wine, just a couple of glasses.

 

Wow, that is expensive.

 

Been to a few of his around the world, never been that impressed either. I'm a little hard to impress though - Would rather a decent serving of something simple done well.

Out of interest and an active attempt to derail the thread - My favourite restaurants I think at the moment are - Stokehouse at Southbank, Brisbane (the entrees omg, but very expensive), and Spice Den at Casuarina. Aren't too many others that we return to over and over.

 

I've heard they've all gone under administration. So you may not have to avoid it much longer. Could be a rumour though. Have not researched for facts. For a claimed Italian restaurant I found the food rather ordinary. Highlight being the garlic bread.

 

Hey Bran, hopefully you had the Duck Consumme.

Well worth that $5 tip any day...

 

I have been to Aria a few times with the better half and it has always been excellent.

Although one time we were forgotten during a degustation menu and were duly compensated with some outstanding wine to make up for the small faux pas.

Overall. Very good.

 

Garlic bread isn't Italian, it's regional - from the south!

 

Tipping depends. In Australia, its usually limited to "keep the change", or if the service at a restaurant is excellent, I'll tip.

In the states, I tip everywhere, everything, all the time (except those pretzel/hotdog street vendors in NYC). Most of the time the staff are required to pool the tips, even the ones that are collected in cash, and the tips are divvied out between front and back of house staff. Often, the employer will require that a waiter/tress contributes a % of their total table billings for the day to the tip pool, so if you don't tip they are going to be out of pocket. Personally, I'd rather see the "service fee" and tax rolled into the prices, so you know what you're actually going to pay, without the mental gym-mathtics while you're reading a menu. It is what it is though..

Once, I was very jet-lagged arriving in NYC, and thinking I'd read the meter right, handed over a fistful of $ to the taxi driver and told him to keep the change, thinking I'd given the ordinary 15+% tip (meters don't include taxes). He didn't say anything, but literally threw my suitcase on the street, slammed the boot and drove off. Once I picked my jaw and suitcase up off the street, I worked out that I'd only given about $1 as a tip on a $40-50 fare... oops.