Anyone read this article? What are your thoughts? Is it me or does restaurant service in LA generally feel like a scam? This may be off topic but… sometimes I feel uncomfortable eating out at nicer/hipper restaurants because the food comes with a side of attitude. And then they expect a giant tip! What are your thoughts on service at LA restaurants?
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The writer is essentially ranting that they do not inspect the final bill.
That said I would agree that places that have a mandatory service charge but still have a tip line on the receipt are assholes.
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I’ve found professional service more common in LA than in SF or Oakland.
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Or Portland. I honestly thought people were fucking with me a few times.
“In my life as a slave to a food blog, and also as a consumer of far too much food media, I have come to hate a certain type of food commentary…”
Then she proceeds to write one.
I’m still figuring out the stupid “service fee”. The servers keep telling us to tip them anyway! Is this a management problem?
And I was at Jon & Vinny’s recently, which is mentioned in the article. Yes, the server told me verbally that a service charge is included. She also said it would be great for her if I wanted to leave anything on top of that. Same thing happened at Petite Trois.
The LA Weekly may be suffering from what happened to SF Weekly, layoffs and budget cuts resulting in bad writing from amateurs who will work cheap.
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned that the author is Besha Rodell. In any case, in California at least, the service charge can be shared among the entire staff while tips cannot. An additional tip will go to the server only.
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Tips can be split among anyone who goes to the table. Service charges can be used for anything, including health insurance and other benefits.
That’s fine, but that’s between staff and management, I don’t like being dragged into it. And I really don’t want to figure out what 2-5% of the tip is on food/drink , just so I can leave the usual 20-25%.