5 Buck Gratuity on a $32.00 Lunch Tab

Sounds pretty stingy, doesn’t it?  Actually, it’s a 15.6% tip. And given the service received recently at The Royale Food and Spirits (@ 3132 So. Kingshighway), it was too much!  StingyTipper has dined many times at The Royale, so ST obviously likes it or would not have returned so often.  However, StingyTipper has always felt the service was somehow lacking, that the wait staff was not up to par with the great food and overall ambience and “hipness” of the place.   But before the advent of the S.E.R.V.I.C.E. rating system, StingyTipper had no way to objectively rate the service.   Now, with the S.E.R.V.I.C.E. rating system in hand, ST’s general impressions can be turned into concrete examples of their “less-than-Royale” service.  Here are some highlights of the mediocre service during a lunch visit with ST’s spouse on the eve of New Year’s Eve.….

For starters, on Salutation ST gave a one.  No greeting, no seating, no attention paid, no water service, etc. When ST and spouse received their menus, the waiter was quite indifferent to our needs, preferring to stare blankly into the distance over engaging us in ordering.  (However, he was responsive to our dilemma regarding which was the dryer white wine to order, offering—because he didn’t know—to get us a sample taste of each of the two choices in which we were interested. Unfortunately, he left a sample glass on our table during the rest of our meal until asked to remove it.)   For just a salad (choice of only two) and the wrap special, the time it took to deliver our meals seemed needlessly long.  When our lunch did arrive, it was delivered by another server, arousing StingyTipper’s suspicions that our table waiter had overlooked our meals in the kitchen.   Subsequent to commencing our dining, the server only returned once to check on us, and that was with ST’s prompting to finally get some water.   Basically, we were ignored the rest of our stay.

Come on guys and gals at The Royale….With such a cool establishment going for you, and your well-deserved reputation for community engagement, I just know you can do better on the service side.   Make StingyTipper’s S.E.R.V.I.C.E. experience during the next visit there live up to your regal name!

Scoring Key

1 = Unsatisfactory    2 = Satisfactory    3 = Commendable

S.E.R.V.I.C.E. SCORE

Salutation                     =  1

Equity                            =  2

Responsiveness            =  1

Value                             =  3

Informed                       =  1

Comfort                         =  3

Experience                     =  1.5

            Total Score:                   12.5 = 12.5%

(but StingyTipper left a 5 spot (15.6%) because it was just easier to do; and, besides, it was the eve of New Year’s Eve!)   

Gratuity Scoring Guidelines



                   "Stingy"                        7-10%          

                   "Not-too-Stingy"      11-15%               

                   "Gracious"                   16-21%

StingyTipper Tip of the Week

With all the restaurant gift cards you received for the holidays, remember to tip on the entire amount (minus the tax), not the reduced amount.

StingyTipper Tip of the Week

Happy New Year: In 2012, hold the restaurant wait staff to the higher S.E.R.V.I.C.E. standards. Together, we can improve quality.

SOHA Hideaway Pleases Greatly

Onesto's Pizza and Trattoria--at 5401 Finkman in an out-of-the-way corner of St. Louis City’s South Hampton neighborhood--made StingyTipper so happy on a recent visit that $30.00 worth of gift certificates were purchased on the spot so that others could be introduced to this establishment and its great S.E.R.V.I.C.E. experience. That’s a first for StingyTipper, as ST usually prefers to take a few days to reflect upon the experience before providing a S.E.R.V.I.C.E. rating.   But in this instance, the service was so good that no time for reflection was needed—ST wants everyone to know what great service looks like and looks forward to giving the gift certificates as holiday presents.

Upon entering Onesto, StingyTipper’s party of four was warmly greeted by a very helpful  hostess who said that though it would be a 45-minute wait, we could make ourselves comfortable either inside or outside (in a heated tent) while enjoying cocktails.  Her friendliness, casual attitude and reassuring comments that we would not be disappointed with the wait beaconed us to make the commitment to stay, even though StingyTipper’s son was on a very tight schedule and “threatened”  to abandon the group to meet his next commitment.  But after settling in for a quick drink, the bar waitress brought us complimentary appetizers which convinced ST’s son to relax and stay.

Once seated in the main dining area, the waiter (Dan) for the table was most pleasant and very accommodating to our needs.   Though the place was quite crowded, with a great deal of energy emanating from all the service staff, Dan made it seem like making our party happy was his only concern.  As this was StingyTipper’s first time at Onesto and pizza is their specialty, the group decided to stick with pizza, with the waiter giving some terrific suggestions for splitting the pizzas to thereby try more toppings.  We were not disappointed in our choices!  All were yummy (except the BBQ chicken which was a bit on the too-spicy side for ST’s tastes).  A terrific large salad served family-style for four complemented our pizzas.    

At one point in the S.E.R.V.I.C.E. experience, StingyTipper had an overwhelming sense of contentment (on only one glass of wine!), feeling like our group was actually relaxing in someone’s personal kitchen or dining room, that’s how intimate, friendly and responsive the service was.  At one point, StingyTipper dubbed the place out loud “My Uncle’s Kitchen” (because most of the service staff was male), reflecting overall enthusiasm for the service. Though the pizza was delivered before StingyTipper could finish the salad course, and the amount spent seemed a bit high for basically a pizza night-out, nevertheless, the overall S.E.R.V.I.C.E experience was so positive that a 20.5% gratuity was gladly left.  

Scoring Key

1 = Unsatisfactory    2 = Satisfactory    3 = Commendable

S.E.R.V.I.C.E. SCORE

Salutation                     =  3

Equity                            =  3

Responsiveness            =  3

   Value                             =  2.5

Informed                       =  3

Comfort                         =  3

Experience                     =  3

            Total Score:                   20.5 = 20.5%

Gratuity Scoring Guidelines



                   "Stingy"                        7-10%          

                   "Not-too-Stingy"      11-15%               

                   "Gracious"                   16-21%

Earning One’s 20% Gratuity Versus Accepting It

With the approaching one-year anniversary of launching the StingyTipper Service Rating system and blog site, ST thought it was time to celebrate and dined out twice around the Thanksgiving holiday, once for lunch and once for dinner, both times at local St. Louis establishments (no chains’ service reviewed here).

For ST’s spouse’s birthday, the Field House Pub and Grill (on north Theresa just off the SLU campus) was selected for the celebration, prior to attending the Paul Simon concert at the Fox Theatre.  The service (provided by, ST would surmise, a young working co-ed from SLU) was very good--friendly, efficient, conscientious. Though StingyTipper may have felt a tinge of guilt (or nostalgia?) in determining the gratuity for a “struggling college student” and thereby probably left more than necessary ($23.00 on a $115.00 bill—20%), at least the service experience was quite positive.  The Salutation dimension was nothing special, but all other service domains (Equity, Responsiveness, Value, Informed, Comfort and Experience) were rated a two or three.  Some examples of the quality service rendered included extra attention to the needs of the table because of the birthday celebration, expeditious service in response to our need to get to the theatre on time, proactively providing set-ups for serving the cake we had brought into the restaurant for dessert, and the provision of warm (but not overly obtrusive!) birthday well-wishes from the serving staff.    Although the S.E.R.V.I.C.E. rating system numbers didn’t add up to 20 to justify a 20% gratuity, it was close enough and the self-imposed “guilt factor” pushed ST over the limit.  

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, StingyTipper enjoyed lunch with extended family members at Lafayette Fire Company #1, a unique spot in Lafayette Square with a fireman theme and décor.  StingyTipper had a very similar service experience here as at the Field House: friendly, courteous, responsive, timely.  The difference though was in how the gratuity was being handled.  At both dining venues, there was a party of six to be served. At the Field House, the tip was not automatically added to the bill, while at the Fire Company, a 20% gratuity was tacked onto the food/drink subtotal.  So it gets one to thinking:  Who worked harder at delivering quality service, the one who had to earn it or the one who got to just collect it?   From ST’s perspective, though the waiter at Lafayette Fire Company #1 was fine (although probably not 20% fine!), the waitress at the Field House Pub and Grill was hungrier for a good tip and thereby rendered higher quality service.  This is quite a dilemma: what do you do when the restaurant policy is to automatically calculate the gratuity at a fixed amount but you are not satisfied with the service experience?   Since you’ve been stripped of your “power” to send a message about service quality through tipping, how do you get that authority back?  Two things…..either you can make a deliberate point not to go back to that establishment or you can write the owner or manager of the restaurant about your belief that the fixed gratuity amount did not match your service expectations.    

 

Scoring Key

1 = Unsatisfactory    2 = Satisfactory    3 = Commendable

Field House Scoring

 

S.E.R.V.I.C.E. SCORE

    Salutation                     =  1.5 

Equity                            =  2

Responsiveness            =  3

Value                             =  3

Informed                       =  3

Comfort                         =  3

Experience                     =  3

            Total Score:                   18 = 18.5% "Earned"



Lafayette Fire Company 

 

S.E.R.V.I.C.E. SCORE

Salutation                     =  doesn't matter

Equity                            =  doesn't matter

Responsiveness            =  doesn't matter
Value                             =  doesn't matter

Informed                       =  doesn't matter

Comfort                         =  doesn't matter

Experience                     =  doesn't matter

            Total Score:                   20 = 20% "Accepted"