When I have to tip in restaurants (restaurants with waiter/waitress service where service fee is excluded from the bill), it depends on the overall service. For basic, nothing extra ordinary I usually give 15%. If something impresses me then I'll go to 20% or more.

+1^

+2

We tip 20% almost all of the time, but DH will calculate it on the total before tax, and I use the total after tax - just a preference. I can see his point of view, but I still tend to do it on the after tax amount.

10% of the bill is the max from me.

I'm there to eat not to subsidise staff wages.

Where's the karma button on this forum? :D

I'm Scottish so I'm careful with my money. :p

Hi,

I generally tip 15-17% ( rounded up to the nearest dollar)for service ( 20% for good service) I have not tipped less than that even if the service has been below what you might expect but have not had too many of those experiences.
If I only have a main course with a soft drink ( costing $20 or so ) I have tipped $5
What is the accepted wisdom at buffets- I generally give $2-3 per person ( maybe a $1 or 2 more if the waiter/waitress comes round often with coffee or oj refills without me having to grab their attention)- I do like orange juice in the morning.

I use the pre tax amount to base the tip on.

Regards

TBS

20% is the norm now, 15% is considered somewhat stingy by restaurant folks. With that said, everyone is free to leave whatever tip they feel is appropriate. For me, that's 20% of the total amount.

15% is what the average service gets
20% is for better then average service, they go out of there way
25%+ is for them just being out of this world (maybe only once or twice a year)

17.5-18% is a nice figure. Double the tax in NYC and you have your number.

I agree. I usually leave 20% or more if the bill is just a few dollars.

Yeah, tipping high on very small bills whether for breakfast or not is my norm. The few places I eat where I can get table service well under $10 I will usually still tip $2, sometimes $3 if I keep the server busy with refills.

I usually tip in the 20% range. However, we recently went to dinner with neighbors the other night. I ordered surf/turf and my DW ordered a Filet. Our neighbors ordered meals that were significantly less expensive. Now, the waitress didn't do any more work for us than they did for the other couple. Why should my tip be so much more? Now, don't flame me. I did tip about 21% (I don't like odd totals hitting my bank account). It was just an interesting quesiton that my neighbor asked.

I round down to the nearest dollar of the pre-tax amount, then tip 20% of that amount. Example $16.75 >> $16 >> $3.20 (tip ~ 19%).