Resturant comps and tipping

[judgesmails]

My sister lives in a small ski resort town, Telluride, CO. I recently visited her and took her family out for dinner. All the locals know each other and take care of each other at bars, resturants, etc.

When the bill came the total listed $98 with $96 in comps. The wine, appetizers, and my nephews meal were comped. I thought it was excessive, but appreciated it. How much should I have tipped?

Never buy a resturant or bar in Telluride. Your employees will screw you.

[stabn]

$39.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

$96

[JGalt]

Minimum 50%. I always leave the full amount though.

[meep_42]

I'd probably tip between 20-25% of the whole amount and half the comp value.

-d

[Soul Daddy]

[ QUOTE ]
$96

[/ QUOTE ]

[jakethebake]

I'm not getting you? You're saying it would've cost $194 w/o the comp? If that's the case, I would've tipped $50.

[NotInchoateHand1]

I would tip the 96 bucks. If I was on the other end though, I would be pleased and not offended with anything >40.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not getting you? You're saying it would've cost $194 w/o the comp? If that's the case, I would've tipped $50.

[/ QUOTE ]

I take this back. It would be more, mostly because the family is obviously friends with these people and I would want them to look good.

[JGalt]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not getting you? You're saying it would've cost $194 w/o the comp? If that's the case, I would've tipped $50.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think he's saying the meal was $98 and they only charged $2 for the meal, meaning a $96 comp was applied.

[judgesmails]

The bill would have been $194 without comps. Only $98 after comps.

I ended up giving the waitress $200 and telling her to keep the change. Some people I have told about this think I tipped way too much. But because she was a friend of my sister and it would have cost me $250 - with tip - without the comps.

Anyway, this situation comes up every time I am over there and I have wondered if I was over tipping.

[jakethebake]

You did fine.

[Shajen]

[ QUOTE ]
The bill would have been $194 without comps. Only $98 after comps.

I ended up giving the waitress $200 and telling her to keep the change. Some people I have told about this think I tipped way too much. But because she was a friend of my sister and it would have cost me $250 - with tip - without the comps.

Anyway, this situation comes up every time I am over there and I have wondered if I was over tipping.

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe this was the correct move.

I've done the same in similiar circumstances.

[Rick Diesel]

I thought that I would add this because I think it is relevent.

My buddies and I go to the same bar almost every Saturday night. The bartender is a friend of ours (not to mention very hot) and we, inlcuding the bartender, hate the owner of the bar. We all drink draft beer, usually Yuengling if any cares, and when we get the bill at the end of the night, it has never been more than $10.

There are usually 8 of us there drinking all night, so it is obvious that she is hooking us up big time. We figure that we would have spent on average about $20 each every time we go, so whenever we get the bill, everyone throws in $10. This saves us $10 each, gives our friend the hot bartender chick about a $70-$75 tip, and completely screws the bar owner who we all hate anyway.

I think that this is the perfect way to treat this situation, but I am not sure how the situation would change if our bartender friend was actually the bar owner? I think that we would want to give more money, as we wouldn't want to screw her over.

In the original poster's situation, I would probably tip the amount of the comp, because you would have spent a good bit more if you did not get comped, plus it will make you and the family look good to leave a nice tip.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

You can drink all night for $20 apiece? Damn... I haven't been able to do that since college.

To keep on topic, I think your arrangement is quite good for all involved (except the owner, of course).

[JGalt]

[ QUOTE ]
You did fine.

[/ QUOTE ]

[astroglide]

i'd have to have a pretty good reason to repeatedly steal from the bar owner

[GreywolfNYC]

[ QUOTE ]
The bill would have been $194 without comps. Only $98 after comps.

I ended up giving the waitress $200 and telling her to keep the change. Some people I have told about this think I tipped way too much. But because she was a friend of my sister and it would have cost me $250 - with tip - without the comps.

Anyway, this situation comes up every time I am over there and I have wondered if I was over tipping.

[/ QUOTE ]
You did the right thing and made yourself look like a class act. Ni han, sir.

[Rick Diesel]

[ QUOTE ]
You can drink all night for $20 apiece? Damn... I haven't been able to do that since college.

To keep on topic, I think your arrangement is quite good for all involved (except the owner, of course).

[/ QUOTE ]

$20 a piece AVERAGE was what I stated. For me it would be closer to $40 to bottomless $3.00 23-ounce Yuenglings. For some of my friends that drink like girls, it would be closer to $10.

[chaas4747]

Really the bar owner is probably breaking even on the beer. Draft beer is so cheap. I used to work in a bar, and had a similar arrangment with a few of my friends. Until one of my friends got married and his wife would not let him tip over the amount of the tab. Let's just say he started paying full price for his beer.

[meep_42]

[ QUOTE ]
Really the bar owner is probably breaking even on the beer. Draft beer is so cheap. I used to work in a bar, and had a similar arrangment with a few of my friends. Until one of my friends got married and his wife would not let him tip over the amount of the tab. Let's just say he started paying full price for his beer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yet more proof that women ruin everything.

:P

-d

[astroglide]

it's still a chair at the bar or table or whatever that's not making him any money

[captZEEbo1]

I'd probably do (96+98)*.25 + 96 = 144.5
I'd say you were pretty generous. Maybe I'm thinking of when I get something free as a one time deal, like when the waitress messed up an order, and just gives you the meal for free...in that case, you can't just do a 20% tip based on the total, IMO. Maybe it's different if it's something where you can regularly be getting some super discount though....you don't want to mess that up.

Although assuming you normally tip 20%, you'd only have had to pay about 230 normally. I would have paid less than 200, but I'm dutch. I probably would've given a round 150.

[Ulysses]

Great question. I've been involved in the bar industry and as such am friends w/ many servers/bartenders/managers. This comes up all the time. I had almost the identical situation come up the other night and was wondering exactly the same thing.

I had the following the other night with a friend:

Onion rings appetizer
Two Tanq 10 martinis
Two steaks
Scalloped potatoes
Two glasses of nice Cab
Two espressos

The bill was

Two steaks ($80)
Scalloped potatoes ($8)
Tax ($8)
Total $96

I estimated the comped stuff at

Onion rings appetizer ($5)
Two Tanq 10 martinis ($18)
Two glasses of nice Cab ($20)
Two espressos ($10)

I left $150.

[Ulysses]

In your case, I think anything from $150 to $200 would be reasonable.

[Ulysses]

BTW, that reminds me of another story. One time, I was at a bottomless mimosa brunch in NYC w/ 4 friends. $20/each including tax. We were drinking so many mimosas that the waiter asked if it would be OK to bring us out mimosas in pint glasses rather than champagne glasses. We took up his table for quite some time and drank a lot. We left him $100 tip on the $100 bill.

Astro - friends of bartenders drink for super cheap all the time. It's expected and part of the cost of running a bar. You expect that the bartenders you hire will hook up their friends, but you also expect that they will not have those friends bring in 10 friends who will all also be hooked up. It's obviously a slippery slope and you always have to watch out to see if you're being taken advantage of. This type of stuff and stuff leaving at the end of the night is one reason why it's so hard to make money in that industry.