Kato staff told me its not a tip, but does go to the back of house + FOH to increase their wages
âŚso essentially it is a tip?
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Yeah if restaurants want to disburse wages in a different manner thatâs up to the restaurant but I think itâs ridiculous to expect a diner to pay a 40% premium to subsidize a business.
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I donât think youâre listening to what iâm saying. Jon & Vinnyâs does the same thing. 18% service charge that they specifically say is not a tip.
No. Tips go directly to the employees on top of their wages.
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so if Katoâs service charge helps to increase their wages, itâs obviously worth it to their employees
because theyâre staying working at Kato rather than looking for another restaurant to work at right?
I donât know anyone who tips an additional ~ 20% on top of a 18% service charge. I donât think any restaurant that does this expects people to do that, but surely they wonât correct you if you doâŚ
If service was good, Iâll maybe add another 2-3% on top. I just donât believe anyone at the FOH or BOH would continue working at places that implement this kind of thing vs quitting to go work at a restaurant that most people would tip 20% if it wasnât worth it for them.
then stop adding another fân gratuity line to the check
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A meal at Kato is $275. Most restaurants in that price range have service charges and donât expect tips as well. From their menu:
An 18% service charge will be added to your bill to provide comprehensive benefits, as well as a consistent livable wage for both our service and culinary teams. Though many of our guests choose to leave gratuity for exemplary service, it is neither necessary nor expected, though it is greatly appreciated. This gratuity will be shared by the service and culinary teams.
I usually tip 20% so Iâd typically tip 2% with an 18% service charge.
Thatâs not comparable to Jon & Vinny restaurants.
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Thatâs not comparable to Jon & Vinny restaurants.
anyone charging an 18% service fee and putting a gratuity line on the bill is subject to comparison. just pay your damn staff a living wage and donât bother me with this bullshit.
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Some customers complain if thereâs no tip line.
Telling people no tip is necessary or required after an 18% service charge on a $275 tasting menu is nothing like Jon & Vinnyâs practice of letting staff push for a 15-20% tip on top of it.
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my guy if you want to cite webpages, compare these 2 and tell me how they are different.
Kato
An 18% service charge will be added to your bill to provide comprehensive benefits, as well as a consistent livable wage for both our service and culinary teams. Though many of our guests choose to leave gratuity for exemplary service, it is neither necessary nor expected, though it is greatly appreciated. This gratuity will be shared by the service and culinary teams.
J&V
What About Tips?
- If customers have exceptional service, we encourage them to tip our employees at the percentage or amount they feel comfortable with.
Who does the service charge go to?
- The service charge goes to our entire staff: including servers, bussers, dishwashers, cooks, sous chefs, drivers, farmerâs market team, bakers, dough rollers, etc.
Is the service charge a tip?
- No, the service charge is not a tip or gratuity, it is an added fee that is controlled by the restaurant (see why above).
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Kato says explicitly that no tip is expected or required. J&V restaurants do not, and allow staff to push customers for regular-sized tips.
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seemed to me like the restaurant was already starting to slow a bit creatively prior to the pandemic, and then the extremely long pandemic closure just knocked the rest of the air out and it was just running on autopilot over the last year-ish. also looks like jon and vinny haved moved on to a different chapter of their lives and without a successor to hand it off to, the restaurant has sort of run its natural courseâŚ
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Youâre seriously acting as if Animal OR Jon and Vinnyâs is similar in meal experience to Kato? Kato is a tasting menu that is top 2-3 in LA. Animal and Jon and Vinnyâs are lesser restaurants saying the waiters will get 0 because our food is worth a 40% tip.
if I had a meal at Hayato, Kato, Providence etc and they ended the meal with, âYou are being charged 18% however none if it going to the staffâ
How does that make you feel?
Let this be a lesson that Animal messed up and ruined their great food with poor customer service, the main reason they closed
Iâm maintaining this policy is not the main reason they closed. If confusion and ire over a tip policy that can easily be navigated by just asking âhey am I meant to tip on top of this? we good?â (which, usually when Iâve asked at J&V, animal, Kato) they say âsome people add a little more to make it 20% but thatâs up to youâ is what caused them to falter, they wouldâve adjusted it.
also it literally says âany ADDITIONAL TIPS for exceptional serviceâ these restaurants add the 18% charge to pay their staff a living wage rather than the tipped minimum.
People just werenât going. It reopened to very little fanfare, sadly no oneâs in the mood for Offal and canât see past the heavy dishes to see themselves eating there.
Lord.
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Servers at J&V restaurants have been asking for a regular 15-20% tip on top of the 18% service charge.
Why would that have changed? I donât think any of the Animal fans here have gone vegan.
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Right, but just because you locate the chef doesnât mean theyâll be making the same dish (particularly if itâs a brunch item) 
Maybe itâs jsut the location I go to (slauson) but for the past 4 times theyâve never done that to us.
And again, animal was closed for a while, Iâm sure some regulars came back, but I donât think LA is trending towards offal as much as to more and more italian restaurants to attract a new audience after the lull.
Again if the restaurant couldâve stayed open by abolishing that policy, Iâm sure they wouldâve. It ran its course. If itâll make you feel better to think it closed because of their tipping policy then go for it!
tricky part of town to get to, as well. Back when it had all the hype in the world, you were going to fill the room with people willing to go to a top ten resto in the city. But back when I went in the fall/winter, it was empty. FWIW i had a very good meal.
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No harder than it ever was, and Jon & Vinnyâs right across the street books up at prime time