Community Chat

[Ms tyrion2]

Of course you are not obligated to tip, but my habit is to tip around 10% in a place like that. You said the food is excellent and you plan to eat there a lot. Consider it establishing a lot of good will.

I tip at my local Starbucks too. They know my face.

[NicksmomESQ]

    I tip generously at a sit down restaurant with service.This place you went to is a glorified fast food restaurant .It sounds like a Panera.I go there often.I order my food at the counter. I get my own drink & sit down.A runner then drops my food off at my table.When I’m done I clear my tray, clean off my table, throw out the garbage & place the dirty tray on a rack. I will not tip for that.I don’t consider that service!!

  Panera & places like it aren’t cheap.The owners of these places need to start paying their employees!! 

[GCR18]

I don't tip at a self serve place.  If I felt bad saying no with a credit card, I probably would pay with cash.  Typically when I go out for lunch, I bring a ten and a bunch of singles.  It makes it easier while everyone is waiting for their cards to be rung, I leave my money and tip and get back to work.  

[makena]

I'm not sure if I would tip before a service is received.

[september]

What is the typical 10 percent tip at a restaurant where you order at the counter and the food is delivered to your table?  For me, this type of lunch costs about $10, so the tip is only $1. 

It's worth it to me, since I can sit down with my iced tea for the time that it takes for the staff to fix my food, then deliver it to me. 

[haddon9]

Sounds just like a Zoe's near me.  You go up to the counter & pay, get your own drinks and they give you a number to have the food delivered to your table.  Then you clean up your tray afterwards....plus their food is very good!

The only difference is they don't ask about a tip.

[Kitlynn]

In my opinion and this is just my opinion but I feel like tipping is for a service. When you order at the counter and then you fill your own drinks and clear your own table you are actually doing the service. The price you pay for your food includes having it cooked for you. Now if they have a tip jar and I pay with cash a lot of times I will put the change I get back in the tip jar but only around a dollar to a dollar and a half and that is if the person taking my order has been pleasant. I do tip very well if I am at a restaurant and getting full service. I don't think you should let anyone make you feel bad for pushing no on the credit card question about a tip for a take out meal or basically a order and wait on yourself kind of place.

[occasionalrain]

No, I would not add a tip and I would resent being asked for one. Just like cashiers who are required to asked for donations, I say no thank you. Too bad if the cashier was unhappy about it. It's nothing more than an attempt to con skrs, there is one born every day.

[Moonchilde]

Interesting. I don’t usually tip routinely in that situation, but there are times I do.

If I ask the person for something - extra this or that, a substitution, if they volunteer to tell me it’s a lower price if I order a combo - the kind of stuff they don’t have to do/tell you. If you ever call to order and need any kind of favor - hurry it up, etc. or if they say/do anything that isn’t mandatory, and especially if it’s somewhere I go all the time, I do occasionally tip - BUT - it’s definitely not 20% of the bill. For myself, depending on the size of my order (usually just for me) I will tip them $1.50-$2.00, period.  If you’re ordering for half a dozen, you’d give them more, but I still don’t feel it should be a regular percentage of the total bill.

But then too, many places like that have tip jars, for you to put something in or not. The fact that they don’t, and that they’re trying to guilt customers into giving them full-service restaurant tips right on their bill, is tacky IMO. 

I sure wouldn’t like it either if I were you. Maaaybe if it really, really annoys you, talk to the owner and ask him if he knows they’re doing that. Love to know what he says.

Or give them a few token bucks and look ‘em straight in the eye so they know that’s all they’re ever going to get - and THEN if they’re still guilting you after that, I would want to tell the owner.

Of course, if the place is always packed and does great business, they won’t care if you/your company stops using them.

[Isobel Archer]

If you go to a walk up counter and order something, they make it and give it to you - do you tip?

If not, then do you tip bartenders when they do the same thing? (Not talking about when you are sitting at the bar and they check on you, but when you just go and get a drink)