What's the standard practice on tipping at a buffet? You know where you get your own food, they bring drinks and clean up. :tongue: Does it depend how good the food is or what?
For me It depends on how good the service is. If they keep my ice tea glass full and the dirty dishes taken away, I usually tip 20%. We have a buffet a bunch of us retired guys go to once a week, We always try and sit where Bob works, we get top notch service and after the 3rd time there he told us to quit paying for our drinks, he would take care of them for free. He usually gets 25% from each of us.
For me It depends on how good the service is. If they keep my ice tea glass full and the dirty dishes taken away, I usually tip 20%. We have a buffet a bunch of us retired guys go to once a week, We always try and sit where Bob works, we get top notch service and after the 3rd time there he told us to quit paying for our drinks, he would take care of them for free. He usually gets 25% from each of us.
There is a fine line between not checking on tables often enough and checking on them far too often. Went to a restaurant with the wife and kids a few weekends back and the waiter stopped at our table every 5 minutes to see if we were doing good.
Although I appreciate the effort, that was a bit much. He still got 20% because my water glass never made it below 95% full.
I would say just leave 20% on the table. What I can't stand is when you go to a regular sit down restaurant and have one person take your order and then another brings your food and then another refills drinks. And you don't see the original server until they bring the check. Who gets the tip? Do they all split it? With that being said, buffets are disgusting!
Well..... saturday night i took the wifey out for prime rib. She had to go to Ohio this week, so i thought i could cheer her up a little. Well our waitress comes to our table, and she had 1 extra button undone on her blouse. Who knows maybe she didnt know it. Well anyhow, long story short,i left her a 20 for the great service she did or didnt give us. Our bill was around $60.
Well..... saturday night i took the wifey out for prime rib. She had to go to Ohio this week, so i thought i could cheer her up a little. Well our waitress comes to our table, and she had 1 extra button undone on her blouse. Who knows maybe she didnt know it. Well anyhow, long story short,i left her a 20 for the great service she did or didnt give us. Our bill was around $60.
Minimum tip is 3 dollars even for just coffee. At a buffet Ill usually tip 12-15 percent. At a sit down if service is crap I give 10- 12 and if its good 18-20. Great service gets an extra 5 to 10 bucks on top of that.
dont often visit buffets, but there is a nice one not too far away and I'll throw down a $5.
Otherwise at a sit-down restaurant with good service around 20%, and far less if its bad service. I've also noticed being very polite goes along way with the wait staff at most places and they'll do a better job.
Everything hinges on the water glass. Keep it full and you'll be taken care of. Bring me a pitcher without my asking and I'll introduce you to president Jackson.
Everything hinges on the water glass. Keep it full and you'll be taken care of. Bring me a pitcher without my asking and I'll introduce you to president Jackson.
Everything hinges on the water glass. Keep it full and you'll be taken care of. Bring me a pitcher without my asking and I'll introduce you to president Jackson.
Replace water with beer and I would tend to agree.
No free money for cleavage though. I never understood the idea of tipping a girl extra for looks, especially of you have no ability or intention of asking her out. Heck, if that's your thing you can go to a titty bar and see more for less.
Run of the mill china buffet 2$ no matter.
Home town country buffet after a day of fishing. 5-10$. Depending.
I've ate at a restaurant that was piss poor service but the only 2 waitresses were running around crazy. After asking, one of the girls told me how two people quit that day. And that they couldn't get anyone else in. They were tipped well. I didn't figure many people would tip them that night.
Well I'm a younger guy who also lives mostly off tips for delivering food while in college so i know to tip well .When I take my girlfriend out with our usual going out party (5-8) people total the average age is 21. We always tip 18% or greater for each check depending on service. The quickest way to cut your tip in half is to treat us like we should have our parents with us. I feel like most waiters don't want to get "stuck" with the younger table. Last week at olive garden after waiting 20 min longer than we were told to wait we over heard the staff stay just put them in the back with Stacy she deserves it..... the whole time I had the kitchen door in my back and no refills with extremely bad service. My food arrived before my beer which was ordered when I sat down. Stacy got a way better tip than she deserved because we are nice people. The show in respect towards me decides alot of where my money goes. Gander mountain lost a sale on a benelli sbe2. I had 1900 dollars in my pocket and was told they didn't show guns to kids. His manager wasn't happy when I showed him my money and was headed to sportsmans. But for a buffet and your nice and I have water 18%.
20% is easy, but the service must be decent. Crappy service and it drops accordingly. As for buffets, other than an over priced breakfast buffet at a Marriott or something like that, I cannot think of the last time I ate at a buffet. I would leave no more than 10% because you are basically waiting on yourself.
The exceptions to the rule are:
*Small bills = much bigger percentage. Buy $8 worth of drinks, leave a $5 tip.
*Crowded bar: 50% tip on the first round. This also gets you noticed when the bar fills up and they are three deep at the bar. The bar tender will see you and take your order first.
*Long lunch aka business meeting or interviewing a candidate. I will leave 25% - 100% depending on how long we took up space.
***And the one I hate: The automatic 18% for six or more people. I never leave a dime more because of the rude practice of auto-adding the tip. If the auto-add tip is not there when I have lots of folks at dinner, I tell the servers up front, I plan to tip 25%+, but I want my guest spoiled. They always grin as they know it will be easy money, and they always deliver. :thumbsup:
Hey, I waited tables in college. I know the game. :yes:
Oh and one more, never, never, never be rude to the people who are bringing your food and drink. Never. :fingerpt:
Well..... saturday night i took the wifey out for prime rib. She had to go to Ohio this week, so i thought i could cheer her up a little. Well our waitress comes to our table, and she had 1 extra button undone on her blouse. Who knows maybe she didnt know it. Well anyhow, long story short,i left her a 20 for the great service she did or didnt give us. Our bill was around $60.
SO you go to a fancy ass restaurant that has outrages prices cause it's your xxxx. Do you still tip XX% or base it on the service received and a reasonable tip not based on the check?
My grandson is a food runner in a LARGE sports bar with decent food and drinks. All tips are collected by the management and split up and paid in their checks.
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