Tsubaki - Echo Park

Tsubaki has always been good IMHO–but sometimes Ototo hits the spot harder :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Was pretty happy at Tsubaki the other night. Amusingly, we set out for Ototo, but it was a crowded mess there, and we couldn’t get seated and were put on a waitlist even though there were a couple available tables. (Basically some bigger groups commandeered wait staff and kitchen attention so we just floundered off to the side, confused.) Walked in to Tsubaki, had a great night.

No photos but some power rankings.

  1. Pork loin with shishito chimichurri.
  2. Donabe steamed clams in Beurre Bordier seaweed butter (drink the broth good)
  3. Tan tan yakisoba (basically like a pork bolognese)
  4. Chicken oysters
  5. Japanese caesar
  6. Japanese latkes with ikura and dry-aged salmon (delish but the latke vessel wasn’t amazing)
  7. Winter veggie tempura (pretty tasty but too many veggies for two, almost would have been liked to be dissuaded by the waiter from ordering this.)

We got a carafe of something tasty, but I can’t tell you what it was because I couldn’t find their sake menu online. My only complaint is that the kitchen does some weird things with batch-cooking, in which they don’t fire dishes until multiple tables are ready for them seemingly. From the bar, I saw them divide veggies for the tempura between our plate and another plate, and then we waited sort of a long time for yakisoba, only to be served it at the exact same time as the guests who’d sat down thirty minutes later than us.

All in all, a pretty tasty experience though.

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I went to Tsubaki over the weekend and also left pretty happy food wise. Pork loin and steamed clams w/ broth were definitely highlights.

When the bill came, they added 18% to my $200+ bill (before tax). Fine, since I normally tip about 20% anyway. But the bill said it was “not a gratuity or tip.” I left a little confused as to whether I was supposed to tip further or whether it was expected, so only left a small additional amount. I suspect not, since they were trying to highlight this, but wondering if there is a different view.

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There’s some stuff on the restaurant surcharges thread about this.

To my understanding, post the J&Vs lawsuit and the Marriot Case, restaurants probably have been advised that they need to explicitly clarify/state that surcharges are not tips, else a customer could reasonably expect that the money is basically a tip and then needs to go directly to everyone in the chain of service.

I don’t know if we’ve settled on a consensus, but don’t think gratuity necessarily needs to be more than 18%-20%, whether it comes as tip or service charge etc.

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Other restaurants have shown that you can have better clarity here. They just make it clear that no additional tip/gratuity is expected. Some places also remove the tip line entirely. Some places leave the tip line and say that tips for exceptional service are appreciated, but not expected.

The ambiguity is very unfriendly to customers and FOH who are left to try to navigate this.

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So glad people are starting to look at this more carefully! Speaking specifically for this restaurant’s service fee/tip pool to keep it relevant to Tsubaki/Ototo.

The 18% at Tsubaki was a deliberate choice (instead of 20%).
Before changing over to the service fee, owners gave the choice to for all staff members to vote between 20% and an even higher wage (which would’ve only equaled to 50 cents or at most a dollar higher) or the 18%. Staff chose 18%, assuming most would throw on $5-10 dollars to make up for the 2% to get it to 20%. In reality, their tip amounts averaged closer to 10% of the bill even after service charge.
The 18% service fee definitely goes towards higher hourly wages but the question to me is always…how much is fair? How much is a a livable wage? How come we don’t know how much is going towards operational costs?
Having regular tip system without a service charge makes it very clear that the menu price you pay goes towards operational costs and tip goes towards service staff, but a service charge means that the owners get to dictate who they would pay more (this could also include management staff).

The extra tip pool is split evenly amount FOH/BOH (as of mid of 2023 as far as I know), great in theory but only thing that seems off is if you’re a server you’d be tipped out the exact same amount as the dishwasher.

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I agree that it was a tad confusing but luckily for me I have stellar reading comprehension and didn’t let it bother me. I will get heated about this damn batch cooking thing though. Weird weird pacing!

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Is this because the service charge is split between FOH and BOH? Or because overall money left by consumers for service, whether called service charge or tip, was lower post change? And was BOH getting tipped out before the switch to service charge?

I totally agree, though I’m basically at the point where I think customers should just leave their roughly 20% for restaurant workers, whether tip or service charge. And unfortunately we have to trust that restaurants distribute it fairly and according to their stated policy.

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the extra 10% of tip the get on top of the service charge is a combination of people wanting to leave the servers more or guests confused about the service charge and occasionally tipping 18-20% more.
Service charge goes directly to the restaurant and then distribute it as operational costs while increasing hourly wage (between $18-23/hr BOH and $20-25 FOH)

BOH was not getting tipped out before the switch to service charge.

the guilt tip. or the “I feel dumb leaving $8 on $400” tip.

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Ohmigod, so, SO true for both (for me, at least)!!!

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Given that Tsubaki is a Japanese restaurant and there is no tipping in Japan, and they go on to say a tip is optional, I don’t think a tip is expected. I wouldn’t tip unless the staff provided unusually good service.

Not sure that’s always the same economic model for Japanese restaurants located in the United States, though…

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you can always spot a restaurant that has the “this is not a tip” portion because the waiters are generally a lot more snide and less thoughtful. Every time.