I don't believe in tipping because tipping encourages people to be lazy and work in lousy jobs instead of improving themselves. When you don't tip the waitstaff are encouraged to go to school and get a real job where they earn actual money.

Hey buddy, I paid to eat at a place with novelty shiat on the walls. Stop doing your bird paddle glide thing so I can really settle down and enjoy getting my grub on in the Pope Room here.

downstairs: No thanks, I prefer servers with a personality.

I prefer servers to ... ya know ... actually serve.

/and if I want an opinion on something on the menu - I'll ask for it thank you very much

I don't mean to sound like a New York elitist even though I know this does, but training like this is why servers in NYC are a world ahead of most other places in this country. It's not the big things it's the little things they do that stand out. The one that always stands out for me is not replacing silverware after an appetizer or salad. I'm perfectly fine using the same for for both but it's also really easy for a restaurant to give me a clean fork. It would cost the restaurant $100 to have enough extra silverware to replace it for customers after a course and it raises the experience of the meal.

eddyatwork: I don't believe in tipping because tipping encourages people to be lazy and work in lousy jobs instead of improving themselves. When you don't tip the waitstaff are encouraged to go to school and get a real job where they earn actual money.

Not sure if serious, but I'm sure there's some who believe this and are also in other threads posting "Why don't those OWS protestors go work at McDonalds"

Oh boy, another tipping thread... Let the games begin!

I'd rather go to a hole in the wall with good food.

I've waited tables and you can pretty much tell which one will leave a lousy tip. But if you become a difficult table and try to monopolize your waiter/waitress I've seen them fark around with your food. So if you're really particular about your food or the way you imagine you should be served, then you're better off just staying away from places with waiters and just grabbing takeout instead.

The reason NY has much better waiters than other cities is because they view it as a very respectable lifetime career there. It's not just a part-time job during college, or until you make it in your "real" profession. There, it's a lifetime calling, and they will train and invest in you to become absolutely top notch. And they will pay you a perfectly good wage, if you become good at it.

Hence, the service, and the experience, is far better for the customer. The waiters tend to be extremely professional and very good at what they do.

"Where you actually have to leave a tip"? Like farking hell; I'll leave a tip if you deserve it.

skinink: I've waited tables and you can pretty much tell which one will leave a lousy tip. But if you become a difficult table and try to monopolize your waiter/waitress I've seen them fark around with your food. So if you're really particular about your food or the way you imagine you should be served, then you're better off just staying away from places with waiters and just grabbing takeout instead.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like everyone to carefully re-read this statement. This is not a troll, or an ITG, but it is at the core of the problem when the tip debate comes up.

People like to eat out. It's a nice way to take a break from the daily grind, and dinner tends to be the heart of most dates amongst adults. What they don't like is to be threatened, which is exactly what this is: "Tip me well motherfarker or I'm going to poison you." You're paying protection money to avoid bodily fluids.

I am willing to bet that if this sort of thinking was stamped out, we would see the end of the tip debate. Servers hustle, they get a good tip. No hustle, bad tip, but they don't butcher that person's food if they should ever come back.

/Tend to tip 20% unless service was exceptional (for good or ill)

Farnn: I don't mean to sound like a New York elitist even though I know this does, but training like this is why servers in NYC are a world ahead of most other places in this country. It's not the big things it's the little things they do that stand out. The one that always stands out for me is not replacing silverware after an appetizer or salad. I'm perfectly fine using the same for for both but it's also really easy for a restaurant to give me a clean fork. It would cost the restaurant $100 to have enough extra silverware to replace it for customers after a course and it raises the experience of the meal.

How on earth do you think that's something that's up to the servers and not the restaurant?

skinink: I've waited tables and you can pretty much tell which one will leave a lousy tip.

You mean groups of women and black people?

/ has also waited tables

If anyone's interested in the world of elite restaurants, Eavesdropping Waiter by Phoebe Damrosch provides a nice behind-the-scenes look at Per Se. She describes the rigorous training all the staff underwent and the incredibly high standards to which they held themselves.

FTA:Theological study is paramount.

WTF???

12349876: eddyatwork: I don't believe in tipping because tipping encourages people to be lazy and work in lousy jobs instead of improving themselves. When you don't tip the waitstaff are encouraged to go to school and get a real job where they earn actual money.

Not sure if serious, but I'm sure there's some who believe this and are also in other threads posting "Why don't those OWS protestors go work at McDonalds"

Or at least join the Army.

wombatsrus: FTA:Theological study is paramount.

WTF???

I think they were referencing this:

McNally, who owns Pastis, Minetta Tavern and others, has even created a bible of his philosophies.

But yeah, weird choice of words.

At Glory hole restaurant, you get served tip!

Corn_Fed: The reason NY has much better waiters than other cities is because they view it as a very respectable lifetime career there.

After all, once the waiters realize that they're going to be living in a crappy outer-borough rental for the rest of their lives no matter what job they get, they might as well work at a place that will at least give them a decent meal.

My husband just brought me here for my birthday on Saturday: http://cortonnyc.com/

We had the full tasting plate and it was very good; our server was amazing. My only complaint was that because the food was French gastronomy, I was very unfamiliar with the foods and even the waiter's explanation I still wasn't certain what many things were. Wish he could have slowed his speaking down a bit.

The sommelier, on the other hand, was AMAZING.

My great uncle was a "host" at a top NYC restaurant from the 1930's-1970's and he made a very good living. He was SOOO chic and gentlemanly; people (including servers) really do another flavor to the dining experience.

FTFA: "We were supposed to imagine we were floating across the room like swans on a glistening pond,'' recalls Jordan Salcito, a former Meyer manager, now a sommelier at hot spot Crown. "The guests should see the graceful bird, but not the feet frantically peddling beneath the surface.''


Actually Jordan, that's called The Swan Theory, and it was invented by TGI Fridays many moons ago. Get over yourself.

TheGreatGazoo: I'd rather go to a hole in the wall with good food.

Me, too, but....

I really hate places where part of the 'atmosphere' is to have wait/ers/resses that are intentionally rude.

And then there's this: Ate a place 15 years ago where, due to an overly busy night, the maitre'd ended up comping my date and I two huge glasses of Courvouisier(sp).

When the place was closing 5-6 years ago I went for one last meal.
The same guy was there and I started to tell him the story and he FINISHED it! The farker REMEMBERED!

And if that wasn't enough he did it again that night.

You can't beat that kind of service.

csb.