HowTo: Navigate Restaurant Wine Service

[elementalleague]

I would marry Laura no questions asked...

[princesspooper17]

If you can afford to go out and are willing to sit through an evening of being pampered and catered to every detail than you should be ready to pay for such service. If you can afford to spend a certain amount on food and wine, you should be ready to pay the tip. You are tipping for the experience of being catered to and your cheap mentality ends up costing the server money. If you are going to be cheap, go to McDonald's where you don't have to stiff on the tip.

[GCOUNDOU]

no way... you don't tip as much as on the rest of the meal... it takes no additional effort to open and serve a $1000/wine vs. a $20.00... I tip 15% on the meal, and $10.00 on the wine.

[asianmalaysian]

omg! I so agree with you. Especially when buying wine at expensive/hotel restaurants where youre already paying such a huge mark up over the retail cost of the wine (the price of which can be twice as much as the meal if not more)...and then they youre expected to tip 15% on the wine service?!

[cvondavis]

@asianmalaysian

holy what!!! 15% tip on anything identifies you in your community and society at large as covetous, stingy and self-involved. at business meetings, i have checked the tip of the host to make sure it is appropriate - 20% minimum, 30% if nothing went wrong. when it is not at least 20%, i make sure to find my server, and apologize on the host's behalf. why? so that I can still return to that establishment without feeling like I will be treated as a sub-par customer.

[asianmalaysian]

15% is what some hotels CHARGE as "service charge". If the staff has been particularly attentive, of course I tip extra on top of that. The whole point is if youre going to tip on service, it should be a reflection of the service not what you order to drink. If I order $1000 bottle of wine one day and $100 bottle of wine the next, does that mean that the wine server in my second visit DESERVES to get a lower tip just because I happened to order a cheaper bottle? It works both ways.