I can't imagine taking a 15-year old to such a place; I've been to a few restaurants fancy enough that they're up around $150/person for the food bill these days (none recently enough to have paid that much; I think my wife and my record for the two of us was barely over $200), and while they'd be mostly wasted on me now, they'd sure as HECK have been wasted on me at 15.

(Of course, I don't drink much; I know people who can drop half that bill on a bottle of wine.)

Given that this was a ski resort, I'm wondering if this is a case of tourist traps having their own rules and expectations. In one of the other really recent tipping threads someone (Ancien Maestro?) was talking about the Disney resorts and that the on-resort restaurants had gone to a clear expectation of a 25% tip.

I'm not sure how one is supposed to know that a given tourist trap has its own rules, or if you're only visiting once for a couple days, why one should care.

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Weird tourist-trap expectations aside, 15% is still a perfectly acceptable tip anywhere normal in the US, and on a $500 bill (whether pre- or post-tax) $100 is a generous tip (over 20% if the $500 was after tax.)