Parties of 6 or more at a restaurant often have gratuities included. Good thing or bad thing?

Question

i guess the simple answer is if you get bad service or good service. Last night we had bad service :(

Answer 1

It's a good thing. The larger the party the harder the work. There are a lot of cheapskates out there. You say that you got bad service last night, but here are some questions to ask. How full was the restaurant? How many servers did they have, were they short handed? What was the servers attitude like, were they cheerful and motivated, or did they seem like they just didn't care? Don't assume that because you weren't impressed with the service that the server wasn't trying their best. The same goes for the pizza delivery guy. Chances are your late pizza didn't have anything to do with him not trying to get it there as fast as he could. You should always tip unless you know for a fact that the bad service was totally their fault.

Answer 2

First off, i have never worked as a waitress in my life, but as a patron of restaurants, I don't feel that it is a bad thing.  My take on it is if their is gratutity included and the service was excellent, i would want to leave more money as an extra for the server and also compliment the manager on how the wait staff and kitchen staff handled the large group.  If service was bad, I would just pay the added gratutity, because the wait staff had to deal with a larger group than normal.

Answer 3

When you go out with a group, there may be some one that doesn't add in tip or tax thus leaving others to make up the difference.

This helps.

Answer 4

i think it takes the power away from the customer,which stinks if you get bad service.but you know the rules when you enter the restaurant,you can complain to the manager and then eat at home, or somewhere else that you can orderthe food pay for it, and then they bring the food to your table .that way you dont have to leave a tip and your group get be as big as you wnat.

Answer 5

i am not a cheapskate but i dont want to be told that i got to tip   i tip according to the service i have gotten

Answer 6

Bad i think

Answer 7

Good, bad or indifferent, you wind up paying it...I know what you mean though, some servers can destroy your whole evening.

Answer 8

Generally it's good.  Alot of times parties of 6 or more can run a server ragged with just drinks alone or other requests they are simple, therefore taking away time the server needs to give to their other tables as well....also sometimes a party of 6 or more actually takes tables away from the server.  IIf you feel the food came out too slow (as in the hot food), though, remember that is the kitchen and not the server, but the server should check on the food for you and be able to tell you how much longer it would be and why (i.e. steak is well done, something is being prepared fresh and isn't prepped already, etc.).  n your case, though, you could have simply talked to the manager.  You could have told them you did not agree with the gratuity amount based on the type of service you received.  they can always go back into the computer and take the gratuity off.  

Answer 9

I agree with autograt for large tables, but six should not be that big of a deal.  Most places start it at eight since they usually have to start putting tables together and coordinating the kitchen to have 8 dinners ready at once is much harder than two tables of four three or four minutes apart.  I cook/prep/dishwash in my kitchen alone and I can handle three tables of six at once before I start to get buried.  

I do not go out on Fri-Sat nights between 6:30-7:30 since that is when service is the worst and when they have the most inexperienced cooks in the kitchen.  They usually have one or two good cooks and the rest are trained monkeys who show up stoned.  I've been cooking for 20 years and that is just how it is.

Also what was the percentage on the autograt?  We usually do 18 percent.

In general there are a lot of variables to ask about, but you want to let it go.  If you got there 10 minutes before closing unannounced, that would be bad.  

Answer 10

Generally it's the fair thing as it protects the server from cheapskates. The restaurant probably feels that bad service should be reported to the manager so that adjustments can be made and the server disciplined, if warranted. If people just skip the tip for bad service then the management is not made aware that an employee is hurting their business.