I don't know if I should tip at a Dim Sum place in the US where the service is from carts.

There is no one who can be specifically identified as my waiter since we are grabbing stuff off many different carts pushed by many different folks as well as having tea brought by someone else.

I was told by one Chinese lady that her brother had worked in a Dim Sum place in Chicago years ago where the workers were given work clothes with no pockets so they could not keep the tips, all of which were confiscated by the owners.

And, I have asked several customers at various dim sum places what they do and gotten contradictory answers.

So, what do knowledgeable flyer talkers do? And why?

Most dim sum restaurants have a "tea" charge per person and this traditionally is considered part of the tips for the dim sum servers collectively since most other restaurants do not charge for tea. (I know some do now.) I usually pay the tea charges plus what I normally pay for gratuities. Many others deduct the tea charges from their tips.

I have never tipped the individual servers though but I am sure you can if you receive exceptional service. They will find a way to stow the money.

They do get tips. The owners do not confiscate them. The tips are pooled collecitvely from the entire restaurant. At the end of the day, the entire tip pool is divided up. This is the reason that they do not have an "incentive" to provide good service as they do in a western restaurant. It is also reason that you will have multiple servers at a table and not one "designated" server. But you definitely should leave a small tip, but no more than 10%.

In the US I tip, if I am happy, 20% at dim sum places. They rarely get good tips and they often get less than minimum wage, so I do more than most people I know. Of course at Tropical Chinese in Miami I feel as though I've landed in Hong Kong; except for the Spanish-speaking clientele, that is. In the SF and NYC places I usually tip less because the service and quality are usually poorer. Why Tropical Chinese is so good I haven't a clue, but this thread is about tipping in Dim Sum places, not the places themselves

Why would a dim sum place be any different? Why just 10%?

There are all sorts of other waiters/waitresses around who take special orders, exchange dirty plates with new ones, etc, etc.

I don't know how it is in the States, but I'm pretty sure it's pretty similar in YVR.

Tips are pooled at the end of the day.

Do not tip at a dim sum restaurant. The managers or owners confiscate all of the tips.

I knew a family who owned a dim sum restaurant and this was common practice in their restaurant and in many other dim sum restaurants.

It is also common practice to use illegal immigrant labour who have been brought in by snakeheads and forced to work long hours for less than half the minimum wage.

In the USA, I tip the same as anywhere else, 15%-20%. If anything, you get "more" service at a dim sum restaurant.

I tip at a dim sum place just as I would any other place.

As someone who goes to dimsum places about once per month, yeah you should definitely tip. If you're in a group, usually one person pays the tip(sometimes 2 people combine) and leaves it under the tea kettle. Now, the tip maybe modified (tip less) if the service was subpar or crappy.

Another tipping thread because of the ambiguities of it all...

A lot of this has been said already but my two bits...
Personally, I tip around 15% (give or take) for dim sum, cart or no cart (and mainly because I'm brainwashed to do so). That's probably on the high end for local hole in the walls and average for nicer places. My understanding as well is that the tea fees serve as service charge/gratuity.

Just as a counterpoint, in conversation, I hear that old timers that frequent local hole in the walls barely tip 10% if at all.
For a whole in the wall, I think a good guideline is 10% topped up (plus tea fees). The reason I say this is because of the assumption that the service is generally subpar relatively speaking (ie. cramped table, takes forever to get refills on tea, have to wipe down your bowl & chopsticks, plates take forever to get removed, etc). Note, however, I'm not complaining per se as it's par for the course. Tip more obviously if you have a better experience.

As to owners taking all the gratuities, I've heard of that practice too but it's likely dependent on the restaurant (owner) vs a standard practice. So as a customer, unless you get friendly with the staff, you probably won't know that it's going on. We used to frequent a neighbourhood joint that was eventually sold off to new owners. A handful of staff stayed on and we got the inside scoop. One of which was that tips that were previously pooled & distributed amongst staff were now taken by the owners. Of course, staff eventually started to ditch (and the restaurant I hear is up for sale again).

10% for clearing empty stuff out of the way and refilling water/tea

I always tip at Dim Sum places.
For my 50th B'day this year we had a party of 41 people(Friends,Flyertalkers and Family)at the great City View restaurant in San Francisco.
Bill was just a hair over $600 and I rounded it up to $700.
Where else can you have a great party for 40 people for $700?

I have always tipped for Dim Sum. In some places, its a top up of the dollar amounts (say HK), to 10% in Canada and 15% in NYC. A running joke amongst my friends is that no matter how hard we try, we have never paid more than $20/per person and even then its a lot of plates and bamboo steamers!