Tipping question: do you tip on the bottle of wine too? (1 Viewer)

[Otis]

Settle a debate: you go to a nice restaurant and order a fancy bottle of wine or three over dinner. The wine is expensive by whatever metric you consider is expensive. Do you tip your 18% based on the total value of the check, or do you remove the cost of those several bottles of wine and then tip 18%?

TIA

 

[EYLive]

50% of the whole bill or you're a cheap POS.

 

[Bucky86]

Don't tip on the wine and maybe you'll be able to afford dessert too! You know you want dessert....

 

[msommer]

Is it time to bring out the dog or the stranger too?

 

[comfortably numb]

I don't even go to restaurants anymore.

I just mail waiters money every weekend.

 

[Cjw_55106]

Im not a drinker, but why would you exclude the wine price in your tip?

 

[Sammy3469]

Otis...you of all people is really asking this. The sommeliers don't pay themselves.

 

[Phil Elliott]

Tip on the entire check, including wine and tax. But for larger checks, % comes down a little.

 

[The General]

Tip on the entire check, including wine and tax. But for larger checks, % comes down a little.

This is what I do.

The wife and I bring wine to a lot of places and pay the corkage fee, have been told we are supposed to tip on the price of the wine we bring.

waiters.

 

[Arizona Ron]

Fancy?

 

[eoMMan]

Tip on the entire check, including wine and tax. But for larger checks, % comes down a little.

Yeah, this.

 

[TLEF316]

Not a wine drinker, but it seems silly to me that someone bringing you a 100 dollar bottle of wine deserves an extra $14.40 dollars more in tips than someone who brought you a 20 dollar bottle. It required no additional effort and probably no additional skill.

I get the principle of percentage tipping because expensive food genreally requires an extra level of care and skill to make/serve. But unless the waiter went out of his way to suggest the perfect wine that turned your meal into an absolute home run, i don't think he deserves any extra money. And even if he does that, I don't think he should get a flat 18 percent on the price difference

 

[pantagrapher]

I include the wine. I also tip bartenders when they bring me a drink.

I do like that some places are doing away with tipping though. I finally went to such a place on Sunday and it was nice not having to think about it.

 

[dparker713]

If the bottles of wine dwarf the price of the meal, then generally tipping on the full amount is excessive. However, if at the end of the day you're in the ballpark of the alcohol and food costs being about equal, just tip on the total amount.

 

[johnnycakes]

Sounds like a question chet should be able to answer.

 

[pantagrapher]

Not a wine drinker, but it seems silly to me that someone bringing you a 100 dollar bottle of wine deserves an extra $14.40 dollars more in tips than someone who brought you a 20 dollar bottle. It required no additional effort and probably no additional skill.

I get the principle of percentage tipping because expensive food genreally requires an extra level of care and skill to make/serve. But unless the waiter went out of his way to suggest the perfect wine that turned your meal into an absolute home run, i don't think he deserves any extra money. And even if he does that, I don't think he should get a flat 18 percent on the price difference

If you're buying a $100 bottle though, you should be getting some special service with it. It should be served by the sommelier, who should come over and tell you about the wine and chat you up for a while. It's a silly ritual, but I actually like it. Amazing how much knowledge some of those people have.

 

[Bozo]

Usually tip 15% across the board for good service minus the tax. Never tip on tax. 10% for bad service. Nothing extra for opening a bottle of wine. for pouring water if needed.

 

[The General]

Not a wine drinker, but it seems silly to me that someone bringing you a 100 dollar bottle of wine deserves an extra $14.40 dollars more in tips than someone who brought you a 20 dollar bottle. It required no additional effort and probably no additional skill.

I get the principle of percentage tipping because expensive food genreally requires an extra level of care and skill to make/serve. But unless the waiter went out of his way to suggest the perfect wine that turned your meal into an absolute home run, i don't think he deserves any extra money. And even if he does that, I don't think he should get a flat 18 percent on the price difference

If you're buying a $100 bottle though, you should be getting some special service with it. It should be served by the sommelier, who should come over and tell you about the wine and chat you up for a while. It's a silly ritual, but I actually like it. Amazing how much knowledge some of those people have.

Watch the movie SOMM. These guys are crazy.

 

[Ignoramus]

Not a wine drinker, but it seems silly to me that someone bringing you a 100 dollar bottle of wine deserves an extra $14.40 dollars more in tips than someone who brought you a 20 dollar bottle. It required no additional effort and probably no additional skill.

I get the principle of percentage tipping because expensive food genreally requires an extra level of care and skill to make/serve. But unless the waiter went out of his way to suggest the perfect wine that turned your meal into an absolute home run, i don't think he deserves any extra money. And even if he does that, I don't think he should get a flat 18 percent on the price difference

If you're buying a $100 bottle though, you should be getting some special service with it. It should be served by the sommelier, who should come over and tell you about the wine and chat you up for a while. It's a silly ritual, but I actually like it. Amazing how much knowledge some of those people have.

Watch the movie SOMM. These guys are crazy.

Was going to post that. On a blind taste they can narrow down to specific locales and even years. Insane palates. Although the bits about tasting of a freshly cut garden hose still make me laugh.

 

[sbonomo]

Typically 18-20% food and 3-5% bottles of wine. If there is a somm that is pairing the wine for me typically more however i know more about wine than most of them at least when it comes to what i want to drink.

 

[chet]

Sounds like a question chet should be able to answer.

I do.

 

[ChiefD]

Tip on the whole thing. The way I see it, if I get great service I tend to overtip to make up for all the cheap bassturds out there.

 

[comfortably numb]

Men and tipping is like facebook and women

Men always trying to one up each other on tipping.

"I tip 33% on the food only but not on any drinks, I mean the waiter just asks the bartender for my drinks"

"I tip 18% even when the waiter takes a #### on my food"

"well, I tip 22% if the toilet paper in the restroom is 2ply"

"The place I went to last night is a BYOF and the chef told me I had to cook it myself...I thought that was a bit rude so I only left a 35% tip"

 

[matuski]

Yes.

 

[FUBAR]

Not a wine drinker, but it seems silly to me that someone bringing you a 100 dollar bottle of wine deserves an extra $14.40 dollars more in tips than someone who brought you a 20 dollar bottle. It required no additional effort and probably no additional skill.

I get the principle of percentage tipping because expensive food genreally requires an extra level of care and skill to make/serve. But unless the waiter went out of his way to suggest the perfect wine that turned your meal into an absolute home run, i don't think he deserves any extra money. And even if he does that, I don't think he should get a flat 18 percent on the price difference

How much more skill/care goes into carrying a $50 steak to your table instead of a $20 pasta dinner?

 

[kutta]

Yes, tip on the whole damn meal. Don't exclude tax. Don't lower the percentage for higher bills. Don't go to a nice restaurant and order a nice bottle of wine if you don't want to tip the good folks who serve you.

 

[kutta]

Tip on the whole thing. The way I see it, if I get great service I tend to overtip to make up for all the cheap bassturds out there.

 

[tommyGunZ]

What's up with 18%? People do that?

Just divide the total bill by 10, and double it.

 

[xulf]

Tip on the entire check, including wine and tax. But for larger checks, % comes down a little.

This is what I do.

The wife and I bring wine to a lot of places and pay the corkage fee, have been told we are supposed to tip on the price of the wine we bring.

waiters.

Screw top ftw.

 

[George Jefferson Airplane]

Im not a drinker, but why would you exclude the wine price in your tip?

Unless you're in ISIS, you wouldn't.

 

[FUBAR]

What's up with 18%? People do that?

Just divide the total bill by 10, and double it.

divide the total bill by 10, double it, then round up to the nearest dollar so your bill ends up being $XXX.00

 

[sbonomo]

Not a wine drinker, but it seems silly to me that someone bringing you a 100 dollar bottle of wine deserves an extra $14.40 dollars more in tips than someone who brought you a 20 dollar bottle. It required no additional effort and probably no additional skill.

I get the principle of percentage tipping because expensive food genreally requires an extra level of care and skill to make/serve. But unless the waiter went out of his way to suggest the perfect wine that turned your meal into an absolute home run, i don't think he deserves any extra money. And even if he does that, I don't think he should get a flat 18 percent on the price difference

How much more skill/care goes into carrying a $50 steak to your table instead of a $20 pasta dinner?

Well is the pasta hand made? Is the steak cooked to perfection? Both can be tricky. Also, the cost of the steak is much higher, assuming you are getting a quality steak for $50, making the margin on the pasta much better unless, it is hand made where you must account for the cost of staff. Too many variables here to determine an answer. Please add additional color.

 

[Quint]

depends on the restaurant and wine service.

if the somm/wine steward brings appropriate stemware, decants, makes sure the wine is served at the correct temperature, etc. i'll tip on the bottle too.

chance are, i'm not going to pay 3x to 6x markup on a bottle off the list, so it's BYOB for me, unless the corkage is prohibitive.

 

[Buttonhook]

Not a wine drinker, but it seems silly to me that someone bringing you a 100 dollar bottle of wine deserves an extra $14.40 dollars more in tips than someone who brought you a 20 dollar bottle. It required no additional effort and probably no additional skill.

I get the principle of percentage tipping because expensive food genreally requires an extra level of care and skill to make/serve. But unless the waiter went out of his way to suggest the perfect wine that turned your meal into an absolute home run, i don't think he deserves any extra money. And even if he does that, I don't think he should get a flat 18 percent on the price difference

How much more skill/care goes into carrying a $50 steak to your table instead of a $20 pasta dinner?

Well is the pasta hand made? Is the steak cooked to perfection? Both can be tricky. Also, the cost of the steak is much higher, assuming you are getting a quality steak for $50, making the margin on the pasta much better unless, it is hand made where you must account for the cost of staff. Too many variables here to determine an answer. Please add additional color.

None of those variables affect the guy who's carrying it to your table.

 

[FUBAR]

Not a wine drinker, but it seems silly to me that someone bringing you a 100 dollar bottle of wine deserves an extra $14.40 dollars more in tips than someone who brought you a 20 dollar bottle. It required no additional effort and probably no additional skill.

I get the principle of percentage tipping because expensive food genreally requires an extra level of care and skill to make/serve. But unless the waiter went out of his way to suggest the perfect wine that turned your meal into an absolute home run, i don't think he deserves any extra money. And even if he does that, I don't think he should get a flat 18 percent on the price difference

How much more skill/care goes into carrying a $50 steak to your table instead of a $20 pasta dinner?

Well is the pasta hand made? Is the steak cooked to perfection? Both can be tricky. Also, the cost of the steak is much higher, assuming you are getting a quality steak for $50, making the margin on the pasta much better unless, it is hand made where you must account for the cost of staff. Too many variables here to determine an answer. Please add additional color.

where do you eat where the waitress makes the food?

 

[Da Guru]

Never had this problem, my wife and I usually split a bottle of wine in the parking lot before dinner.

 

[jamny]

yes

and usually around 20-25%

 

[General Malaise]

Tip on the entire check, including wine and tax. But for larger checks, % comes down a little.

This is what I do.

The wife and I bring wine to a lot of places and pay the corkage fee, have been told we are supposed to tip on the price of the wine we bring.

waiters.

Really? That's absurd. Like you, when we used to dine fancy, we'd bring good bottles in and pay the $15 corkage. I'll tip on the total, but I'm not inflating the total to include what I paid for the wine. I mean, what if it's a gift and I have no idea what it cost? Silly.

 

[General Malaise]

What's up with 18%? People do that?

Just divide the total bill by 10, and double it.

Seems like an unnecessary step. I just take the first digit and double it. Wa La.

 

[[icon]]

~20% of total amount for good to very good service. $15 for meh service. Wine included. JMHO.

 

[[icon]]

Tip on the entire check, including wine and tax. But for larger checks, % comes down a little.

This is what I do.

The wife and I bring wine to a lot of places and pay the corkage fee, have been told we are supposed to tip on the price of the wine we bring.

waiters.

Really? That's absurd. Like you, when we used to dine fancy, we'd bring good bottles in and pay the $15 corkage. I'll tip on the total, but I'm not inflating the total to include what I paid for the wine. I mean, what if it's a gift and I have no idea what it cost? Silly.

Better yet, I think they expect you to tip on what it SHOULD have cost.... So that $75 bottle of Silver Oak that would be $250 on their wine list... tip $50 instead of $15. Which, IMO is crazy.

This is why many nicer places will politely decline corkage on bottles in their cellar.

 

[Ilov80s]

Of course you do. Why wouldn't you?

 

[TheAristocrat]

What's up with 18%? People do that?

Just divide the total bill by 10, and double it.

Doing maths is hard

 

[TheAristocrat]

I tip on the check.

 

[Chemical X]

the answer here is to call the restaurant, check corkage fees and bring your own bottle.

 

[The General]

Tip on the entire check, including wine and tax. But for larger checks, % comes down a little.

This is what I do.

The wife and I bring wine to a lot of places and pay the corkage fee, have been told we are supposed to tip on the price of the wine we bring.

waiters.

Really? That's absurd. Like you, when we used to dine fancy, we'd bring good bottles in and pay the $15 corkage. I'll tip on the total, but I'm not inflating the total to include what I paid for the wine. I mean, what if it's a gift and I have no idea what it cost? Silly.

Better yet, I think they expect you to tip on what it SHOULD have cost.... So that $75 bottle of Silver Oak that would be $250 on their wine list... tip $50 instead of $15. Which, IMO is crazy.

This is why many nicer places will politely decline corkage on bottles in their cellar.

Exactly. Corkage fees usually end up costing the price of a couple of glasses which we would order if we didn't bring a bottle. Would not be buying a bottle at a place unless we are out of town. Always check the wine list if we are bringing our own wine to make sure they don't have it.

We were eating with some people - we brought wine which they were drinking - and the annyoying wife brought this up. She's a peach.

To the O.P. I don't think a waiter would really fault you for not tipping fully on a couple of very expensive bottles. If the service was great, they had the guy select the wine for you, it was excellent, etc. you are tipping fully I imagine. It is a tip afterall.

Think its a bit of grey area there. Anyone who would call you out on it at dinner is pretty rude IMO.

 

[Otis]

What's up with 18%? People do that?

Just divide the total bill by 10, and double it.

This is actually my method. I always round up, so I always tip more than 20%.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

I'm starting to wonder how you got this far.

Yes tip on the whole damned thing, damnit.

 

[Otis]

Of course you do. Why wouldn't you?

I recall being out at a work dinner with a wine nerd I work with, guy who has tens of thousands of dollars worth of wine in his wine cellar and drinks the expensive stuff, and he told me after a big meal like this with multiple nice bottles of wine, you do not tip fully on the wine.

Logic makes some sense, why should the waiter get another hundred bucks for the same effort simply because you happened to pick the expensive bottles?

But Mrs. O told me I was dead wrong on this.

 

[Otis]

I'm starting to wonder how you got this far.

Yes tip on the whole damned thing, damnit.

I'm like Forrest Gump. I stumbled through life an idiot and managed to wake up one day with a pretty great lot in life. I don't really know how any of it happened.