Restaurants

[nobbie48]

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I like restaurants like Chucks. It’s roadhouse grade food with great prices.

On another note… tipping. Forever tipping was calculated on pretax spend 15% for good to great service, 20% for an exceptional experience.

I’ve noticed most pinpads suggesting 18-25% in their quick tip menu, AND they are adding tips on HST. So a 20% tip is really a 22.5% tip.

I’ve started to bring cash for tips. I calculate it the old way using the same standards I’ve used for decades. Servers seem to be ok with that.

On a $100 of food the 15% tip is $15. Tax on tip@ 18% = $20.35, about 35% over the old standard. The tip on tax goes to the restaurant, not into paying down our deficits.

Ten years ago the food could have been $60 with a $9.00 tip now its 225% higher for the same meal. Anyone else get a 225% raise? I haven't calculated in minimum wage increases which, in some cases, have been significant.

These petty number games get tiring. Pay the workers what they're worth. Charge the customers what the meal is worth. Skip the numbers jungle. All it's doing is training future politician how to manipulate budgets.

 

[nobbie48]

I refuse to eat at Chuck's. Their 3% HGT just bugs me. While it may be "legal", it stinks of false / misleading advertising. I vote with my feet.

Per Google / Trip Advisor

Here is what you need to know about it:

• Purpose: The fee is used to help offset the cost of operating, allowing them to keep menu prices lower and maintain quality.
• Application: It is typically a 3% to 3.5% fee applied to the total bill.
• Context: It is applied in addition to taxes and tips, aimed at maintaining their "lowest possible cost" model for items like steaks, wings, and drinks.
  

Many diners note that despite this fee, the overall prices at Chuck's Roadhouse remain affordable compared to other restaurants.

I object on a matter of principle. The purposes and concepts are to split the real cost in two. What's to stop offering a free steak with every cup of coffee? The coffee is $50 a cup. It's a con job if it isn't optional.

Little charges like these are like subscriptions. They start out small but grow as we get used to them. Crush them like the cockroaches they are. Try it on your boss. "I need a 3% fee applied to my paycheck. It's an "I showed up sober tax."

Niagara Falls is doing it with a business improvement tax that no one seems to know where it goes after being collected.

Tipping is at least optional. I once left a $2.00 tip on a $100 tab. It let the waiter know I didn't just forget.

 

[JC99]

The Thai/Cambodian places near us have ruined going out to restaurants but in a good way.

When you can get an incredibly tasty, freshly made Thai or Cambodian dish for under $20 that lasts two meals why on earth would I pay more for half the amount and half the quality in many cases.

Sorry, but restaurants are pricing themselves out of the running.

Unless it’s a unique “experience” meal we have mostly given up on eating out. I'm a lot more interested in seeking out interesting and different street food these days but that’s not easy to find.

 

[Relax]

I refuse to eat at Chuck's. Their 3% HGT just bugs me. While it may be "legal", it stinks of false / misleading advertising. I vote with my feet.

I'm pretty sure you'd be sticking it to them financially if you went on a deal night and only ordered the speical(s) with a water.

The Thai/Cambodian places near us have ruined going out to restaurants but in a good way.

When you can get an incredibly tasty, freshly made Thai or Cambodian dish for under $20 that lasts two meals why on earth would I pay more for half the amount and half the quality in many cases.

Sorry, but restaurants are pricing themselves out of the running.

Unless it’s a unique “experience” meal we have mostly given up on eating out. I'm a lot more interested in seeking out interesting and different street food these days but that’s not easy to find.

$20??? What ever happened to the $5 bowls of Pho (I'm actually not a fan, but my coworkers used to drag me out to those places when we were all working together in Scarborough)?

 

[Hardwrkr13]

On a $100 of food the 15% tip is $15. Tax on tip@ 18% = $20.35, about 35% over the old standard. The tip on tax goes to the restaurant, not into paying down our deficits.

Ten years ago the food could have been $60 with a $9.00 tip now its 225% higher for the same meal. Anyone else get a 225% raise? I haven't calculated in minimum wage increases which, in some cases, have been significant.

These petty number games get tiring. Pay the workers what they're worth. Charge the customers what the meal is worth. Skip the numbers jungle. All it's doing is training future politician how to manipulate budgets.

I had a zipper fixed at the tailer last week and when paying there was a tip option (starting at 15%). My whole payment was for a service and now you want a tip on top of that? The owner was the only employee as well.

 

[JC99]

I'm pretty sure you'd be sticking it to them financially if you went on a deal night and only ordered the speical(s) with a water.



$20??? What ever happened to the $5 bowls of Pho (I'm actually not a fan, but my coworkers used to drag me out to those places when we were all working together in Scarborough)?

I hear you. Those days are gone though. To be fair many dishes from Thai places that I like are around 15 though so still very good in this day and age.

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