Yes, in the US, you should tip by percentage of the bill, even in an expensive restaurant.
One should plan for that as an expense when dining out.

Yep ... there were 2 bottles present :-)

Think about what you're saying. Why "Should" :-) who made that rule? Step back for a second and think about it. You're too nice. You feel like you have to be that way? Why?

As said before the waiter is serving fewer tables with less turnover. Therefore he/she depends on the 15 to 20 percent of the higher cost meals to make a decent wage. Out of the $50 dollars you gave your waiter I would not be surprised if he took home around $30 after taxes and tipping out. If you can afford $400-$600 dinners you can afford to leave an appropriate tip.

You SHOULD because people make their living off those tips.

Being very generous I'd say the average bill at an Applebee's is $40. 15% tip is $6/table.

Let's say the waiter at an upscale joint has 1/2 the tables as the waiter at Applebee's (to offer that better service) and gets 10% vs 15%. The only way your statement would be true is if the average bill at the high end restaurant were less than $120 which is highly unlikely given the previous poster spent $480.

Whilst I don't think the server in this case was working the volume someone at a cheap bar would, I typically see a server in a nicer higher end restaurant serving 6 or so tables during dinner. If every table was tipping ~ $100, that is ~$600 over the course of 2-3 hours, or $200 per hour. Even allowing for taxes, tipping out, etc. that is a hell of an hourly wage.

This whole 'it's how people make a living' just doesn't really fly when we are talking about high end restaurant servers (different ball game at a roadside diner etc). They make FAR FAR FAR in excess of minimum wage (which, incidently, they would receive if customers tipped absolutely zero on each and every check) and by many high-end restaurant servers' own admissions, make six-figures annually.

As the others have said, you should have tipped at 20% even though it was an expensive dinner. I can see the wine argument, yes, but leaving $50 tip for a $500+ dinner was really, really stingy and inappropriate. I'm surprised frankly that the other couple or your SO did not comment on this.

Pretty much. Don't like leaving the 15%-20%, then don't go out to eat at nice restaurants.



So if you don't believe that the tip should not depend on the bill, then why will you leave 15-20% on a smaller bill?

Since you'll leave a $50 tip at a nicer restaurant, I'm assuming then you'll also leave a $50 tip at an Applebees since the tip amount doesn't depends on the bill amount.

I can agree with most of what you are saying. However, that 2-3 hours is more like 7-9 hours when you include opening and closing. Yes there are serves in very high end restaurants that make over 100k but I would speculate that they are few and far between. The argument that I am trying to make is that tipping 10% in any American restaurant is inappropriate unless the server was down right awful.

I countries where service (tip) is included - it is calculated over the entire bill.

In NY service is not included - but it is customary to calculate it the same.

Last night I saw someone leave $4.75 for a $4.25 drink. The change portion consisted of one quarter some dimes and nickles. That seemed seemd a bit on the cheap side to me. How hard would it to have just thrown down a $5 bill?

I'll clarify ... even though I am sure you didn't respond for me to clarify ... instead you wanted to shine with your logic by proving how my logic doesn't make sense. Some people like to do that to feel better about themselves. Psychology 101.

Anyway .... I don't use a "rule" when I leave tips. I tip well if I want to. If I see that here is a girl working probably for $10/hour and she was nice and suggested things that we liked, I'll give more than 20%. I do not go by a rule. I give what I feel like giving.

Our server smiled, asked what we'd like, opened 2 bottles of wine and came by 3 times to see how we were doing. We sat there for 2 hours. I think $50 is a good tip.

You have to understand that we're the suckers. Restaurant owners rely on tips that we will give so that they can pay less to their workers. The more you tip, the less these restaurant owners will have to pay their staff.

I was told by everyone I asked that I should not tip the taxi drivers, because it's not customary for the locals. My first cab ride from the airport to the hotel I pull out pesos for the payment and had some USD in my other hand and the driver says to me: And you'll also give me 3 US Dollars for tip!

He did this with such a big happy smile, I was kind of shocked and amused so I gave him 3 bucks tip.

I do disagree that this is "really really stingy". 15% is still an acceptable tip amount in the US, according to American people I dine with on both the East and West coasts - the 18 and 20% thing seems to be creeping in, but is by no means universal. 15% was considered a good tip a decade ago, so I am not sure why the 'creep' - the arguements about costs of living is a load of codswallop, as menu prices rising would mean % tips also increase.

The poster left around 11.5% tip (given that the 480 presumably includes 8% tax, which many agree you don't tip on), or in other words, 3.5% less than what many would consider acceptable / reasonable. As we now know that a portion of the dinner was 2 bottles of wine, I am not sure it is as far off as 'really really stingy' suggests.

1. In NYC at high end establishments servers regularly take home more than $100k a year in tips and declare only a fraction of that, it is not unknown for some waiters to not even bother to collect their actual wages as they are so paltry. Bfxfd last time I went out with a waitress from a high end restaurant in NY was over 22 years ago and at that time the person in question was pulling in over $100k per year. Do the numbers, 10 tables a night at $100 a table tips is $1000 A NIGHT, $5000 a week (only five days a week), $260k per year. Take out holidays, take out approximately a third which would go to other staff, you are still way above $100k, not including actual wages or meals.

2. I tip based on the service that I receive. Normal service in the US generally gets 10-16.something percent from me (I generally double the taxes, and may round up a few cents up or down to hit an exact dollar amount). That being said, bad service will generally get from me an amount that ranges from nothing to a paltry amount, generally a samll rounding up of the sum (i.e., an $87 bill I will round up to $90). I find that it is far more effective to make my point that service was bad by tipping a small amount rather than nothing at all.

3. Many years ago at a trendy Eurotrash restaurant, all cash, no cc's accepted. I was hugely embarrassed to witness the following: There were five of us and our Mediterranean host was paying. the bill was something like $704, the put down $800 ( I should note that the service was mediocre at best). The jerky waiter said, "You only tipped about 12%, it is THE LAW to tip at least 15%". As my embarrassed host fumbled to get more money out I let him HAVE IT.

I told my guy to put his wallet away. I asked for the manager (they were prepared for this) the smart ^ss manager arrived and parroted the same line. I pulled out my phone and dialled 911, the manager seemed flustered and asked "what I was doing". I simply stated that when the officers arrived I would like him to please explain to them where exactly in NYS it was the law, any law that anyone had to tip anything to anyone for any service. This flustered him, especially as I continued with the call. I then explained that I found their rudimentary hand written receipts really interesting and the fact that they were a cash business and that I would be calling the state tax authorities the next day. The manager walked away, came back and handed us $200 and asked us to leave.