Originally Posted by
dpspindler
I ask for the price of beer everywhere I go. I just want to pay the least per ounce as possible. I assume that if prices aren't listed in the menu they're probably high but even so, that has no impact on my tip. What does impact my tip is crappy service and attitude from the server but prices do not. If you are a good server I tip 20%. If the server is crappy I to lip 5-10%. If they are terrible I tip 0 and await their visit to my car to confront me (not a great idea). I ask for beer prices on principle. The server who sighs or is put out by a simple request does not good a good tip from me. Get over yourself server (I say rhetorically)
Half the time I ask, the waitstaff doesn't even know, so it's usually an exercise in futility.
The microbeer trend does seem to be somewhat increasing the frequency of a drink menu with prices in the USA -- especially at higher end restaurants. I guess if you're serving lots of different beers of various quality, it's difficult not to list the prices next to them (could you imagine ordering off a wine menu without prices?). I seem to order beer out more than wine, since the mark-up is often much less. I guess everybody knows what a beer should cost, but few know what a particular wine should sell for, so the restaurants can't "go crazy" with the price. I've been to a lot of nice restaurants where a really good beer is about $4, but a halfway decent bottle of wine is $45.