Newsom signed it.
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Sooooo…
Time to see what happens with all the restaurants that have already increased their prices?
For example:
Kato raising their prices from $275 to $325 (18%) in July 1st, assuming to combat the service charge going away. Will they put service charge back on, effectively making the total bill closer to $420 (tax included) or will they go back to the $275 original price and putting the service charge on that (~$355)?
In any case, all the higher end restaurant used this bill as a chance to raise tasting menu prices in July:
N/naka: $310 to $365
Providence: $295 to $325
Kato: $275 to $325
Hayato $350 to $400
If any of these places maintain the price increase and add back a service charge, please name them here. I will never patronize their establishment again.
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As far as I know, n/naka and Providence never had a service charge. All those high end restaurants’ new menu pricing is in line with other cities like Las Vegas, SF, Chicago, and NYC…
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true true, they never had a service charges (thankfully) but why the upcharge along with everyone?
I can understand Providence’s very minor 10% change as minimum wage did go up by 50 cents (3%) from $16.78 to $17.28 an hour, but what about N/naka’s at 16% increase?
For those places that did increase the set menu price and got rid of the service charge (Kato/Bell’s), I’m curious to see if they’ll just slap another service charge on or readjust prices.
I mainly listed these higher end restaurants since they have a format that require people to book ahead of time so they’ve already made a decision about this June 1st before releasing their reservations or even earlier.
But what about the others that are at lower price points that were going to raise their prices and get rid of the service charge? (Jon and Vinny’s, Pijja Palace, Tsubaki/Ototo, Found Oyster) Will they raise prices anyways and add back the service charge in the chaos of all these changes?
Full disclosure I love most of these restaurants and will revisit them time and time again, but perhaps less frequently depending on what they choose to do here.
Demand may have gone up thanks to
totally understandable! Again not ragging on the quality of the restaurant, I think it’s one of the best restaurants in LA but the price jump is… quite incredible especially since it’s going to the unregulated bucket of ‘service charge’
Because demand is there for them.
Here’s a list of restaurant pricing with 2 stars(I adjusted down pricing for some places that include service charge as part of their menu pricing and assumed the usual 20% charge) :
LA:
Melisse - $399pp
Providence - $325pp
n/naka - $365pp
Hayato - $400pp
Sushi Ginza Onodera - $320pp
Chicago: - tip credit is allowed
Oriole - $375pp
Ever - $325pp
Moody Tongue - $285pp (plus an automatic 22% gratuity)
Washington:
minibar - $325pp
Pineapple & Pearls - $350pp
Jônt - $375pp (plus an automatic 22% gratuity)
SF-ish:
Californios - $307pp
Birdsong - $325pp
Acquerello - $280pp
Saison - $328pp
Lazy Bear - $275pp
Commis - $216pp
Harbor House Inn - $325pp (Lunch service available)
NYC-ish: - tip credit is allowed
Blue Hill at Stone Barnes - $398pp (plus an automatic 22% gratuity)
Aquavit - $275pp (Lunch service available)
Atomix - $298pp
Atera - $298pp
Jungsik - $295pp
Saga - $298pp
odo - $265pp (Lunch service available)
Aska - $298pp (Lunch service available)
Gabriel Kreuther - $265pp (Lunch service available)
The Modern - $275pp (Lunch service available)
Jean Georges - $398pp
Daniel - $334pp
Sushi Noz - $440pp
Las Vegas (throwing them in just for fun):
Guy Savoy - $420pp
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Love this list! Thanks for the breakdown!
Bringing this back to service charge… even with the higher living and operating costs of SF restaurants on this list (all around $325 or below), does Kato need $325 with service charge? Also are they at the 2 star level already?
What about Sushi Ginza Onodera? They’re actually at $400 and not $320pp (starting $409 they state on Tock) but PLENTY of seats on available right now in the month.
Some place like Hayato I totally agree with the ‘demand’ reasoning, $400 plus the service charge is not going to stop anyone, I doubt even $500 since it’s a restaurant that only serves 35 people a week with all it’s accolades and awards.
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Same thing with a number of NYC restaurants
surely this is not a popular take, but many of the restaurants being discussed are still effectively small businesses that generally have a tough time to survive, and if they raise prices 25-30% over the course of this shenanigan, even if part of that money is going to corporate overlords and investors, it is nonetheless in total helping to keep open restaurants that are defining the culture of LA.
Delete
From Reddit
Therefore, I have drafted The Transparent Restaurant Pricing Act, an initiative ordinance to undo the mess that the state legislature is creating. It will require restaurants to wrap surcharges like “SF Mandate” into menu prices. For more ways to support (and to join our mailing list) see sfclearprices.org. Our measure is still pending review by the City Attorney so we cannot collect signatures yet, but the website and mailing list is how we will send out updates once we have them. We will need to collect over 10,000 signatures to get this on a ballot.
Link in the quote if you want to join the mailing list
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Is this still legal?
Yes restaurants were exempted from the all in pricing law at the last minute because our lawmakers are cowards.
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Of course.
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At counter service places such as Bubble Tea, when I choose a tip amount, such as 0%, does the cashier see how much I tipped at that moment?
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No idea, but I’ve been curious about that as well