Restaurant Service Charge

Personally I would much rather leave the service charge to the restaurant owner given the fair basic payment to waiting staff in Ireland, and also given the turmoil many businesses have gone through during Covid. The business owners deserve it.

I'd imagine you're very much in the minority with that one.

i dont understand the concept of a service charge. your chargeing for the food all the costs of supplying it to me. if its a resturant then that includes serving it to you and bringing it out ect.

if you went into a local take away and you paid 20 euro for the food but they wanted another 2 euro to take it out of the heated box and hnd it to you you would say they are robbing you. they cannot sell it to you with out giving it to you

why are people putting up with paying twice for something

Tipping makes people feel good... or maybe more accurately.. not tipping can make people feel bad or feel stingy.

I will tip on a dinner with good service but not on a breakfast, brunch or lunch. Even though that makes no sense.. it's what I normally do. I don't really want to leave a tip most of the time but I feel bad not doing so.

I'm not sure wete OP is getting the idea service charges can or indeed are used to pay staff wages 🤔

Tips and service charges are two entirely different things . The IVY hasn't exactly crowned itself in glory recently and generally.

There is legislation being drafted regarding staff being able to retain Tips but it will be meaningless if TIPS are not clearly defined on credit/Debit card slips and I'd be pretty sure owners will find away around it.

Service charges are generally applied to large parties /Groups and greedy establishments , customers foolish to tolerate them and should vote with their feet .

Can you imagine going into Argos, supermarket, Retail shop and being presented with a service charge 🙄 I can understand service charges in hotels , accommodation etc as long as they are explained and detailed on bills.

"You're the type to pay the exact amount you were charged!"

Do you see how silly that sounds?

Not sure on if it can be removed, but my understanding of the service charge was it was only put on larger tables because they require more work in general. Most restaurants are set for tables of 2 or 4, the most common numbers of diners. Anything above that requires, usually, rearranging seating/tables, they usually stay longer, and are usually more awkward about the bill. Serving 3 tables of 2 or 2 tables of 4 is generally easier than 1 larger table.

Saying that, I did love working the large ones. I excelled in it, if I do say so myself and I don't usually talk myself up. At one point, I had a table of 26, 20 and 14 to myself, all in the upstairs of the restaurant and all to me. I made €180 in tips that night, because it was on time, properly served and they were all entertained. Luckily, no service charge in that place so it should have been all mine. But I had to share, because... well, I don't know why because I did all the work. Went home with around €35 instead as there were 6 of us working. So you can see how much the rest of them made that evening....

I don't mind tipping for something that is better than average, because I only ever expect average. The quality of the food has no bearing on the service, but there are a lot of servers out there who need attitude adjustments, or even basic not-annoyed-looking facial expressions! If the waiter has made me feel like they were actually happy to serve me, they get a tip. Not in an American cheese way, that annoys me more. I suppose, if they appear grateful for my custom. They don't actually have to be, but if they can manage to pull it off, they get a tip. It's not hard tbh...

If it’s a large table with a large cohort of customers they make more profit on the food and beverages …so the extra service courtesy of an extra waiter being paid maybe 11.80 per hour… is not eating into their profit in any meaningful way. Table of 7 people, beer, wine, four courses…. Charge is 480 euros say… 68.57 a head on average.. a ‘service’ charge ?

if you go to Tesco tomorrow, would you be ok with a service charge ? Somebody has to be a warehouse dude, security guard, merchandiser, till operator … a ‘service’ charge ?

too many businesses are just a bit loco greedy last few years…

my local Italian has the best food, best staff, total comfort and pleasant luxurious yet homely ambiance… we tip well… no service charge, my cousin who is a bit forthright shall we say asked and was told staff keep all tips… so we return…

A service is only enforceable if you agree to it.As far as I am concerned the sc is profit for the premises and not service staff.

Work gets done "properly quickly" because you have tipped in the past. Is that not something you would expect seeing as you're paying to have it done in the first place? Is the place so bad that if you don't tip it gets done badly? I do my work "properly quickly" because my employer pays me every month.

Absolutely and it's ridiculous. A tip is supposed to be paid for good service, not for doing someone job properly in the first place or in the hopes that the person will do their job properly in the future.

Very professional alright.

I'm old enough to know how the world works, doesn't mean I agree with it.

And the people that do stuff like that are part of the problem, believing they deserve better because they're regulars or because they tip more.

Why would I pay more for the same service? Doing so would mean I think I'm better and more deserving than others for the same service. And I don't think that. Thus my point, those that do have a superiority complex and think they deserve to be treated better just because they can throw money at something. High horse/better than you brigade.

How are you not seeing that paying more for the same service (albeit with an expectation that it's faster or better, but shouldn't be because it should be the same for everyone) is using your money to gain an advantage over other people, an act which is one that is at the very least dickish.

Oh, that's right, people who think like that don't care about anyone else.

On bad reviews, I see a place in Waterford has a post up about getting a 1 star review which stated the food was amazing but the music made them want to commit suicide. I don't pay too much heed to online reviews, most have their own ideas of what is standard, above standard and amazing.

Re: the booking of tables, in the places I worked you rang up to book and if there was a table free, you booked them in. If there wasn't, you couldn't. No preferential treatment, just a case of ringing at the right time. And I'll again refer back to my earlier comment, that if you're someone who expects more than everyone else because you pay more or are a regular, you are part of the problem.