Accidental Hedonist - 18% "Foreigner Fee" added onto Restaurant Check

18% "Foreigner Fee" added onto Restaurant Check

01/17/07, by Kate Hopkins

1971 views • Categories: Restaurants

From the department of "Wha-wha-WHAT?!?"

A French-born Manhattan resident claims a trendy SoHo restaurant tacked a gratuity on his bill without telling him - then said it was to "protect" the waiters because foreigners don't tip.

The restaurant of note is called Aquagrill, and what they did, if true, is a city violation. But I'm sure the management of the restaurant have other restaurateurs considering other types of 'Immediate gratuities'. If I ran a restaurant, I'd consider the following:

Overstayed your welcome gratuity: 5% charge remitted for each additional 15 minutes a party stays at the table after the initial payment has been procured.

Faux Bartender Gratuity: 10% added to the bar tab of anyone who insists on a flavorful dry vodka martini.

Beef Destruction Tax: 15% added to the bill of anyone who orders Wagyu or Kobe Beef "well-done".

Wine Bribe: 10% gratuity added to the bar tab of anyone who asks to smell the cork of the wine; added only if server keeps a straight face and compliments the sniffer on their wine knowledge.

Arrogance Fee: 10 dollar charge on anyone who enters a busy restaurant at 6 o'clock on a Saturday night and demands to be seated immediately even though they don't have a reservation. 5 dollar additional charge if they then say that they made a reservation, but the host or hostess must have screwed up entering it.

Closing Time Tip: 20% tip and a case of beer added to the bill to any parties that arrive within five minutes of closing time. The case of beer is for the crew in the back who most assuredly had to get out pots and pans already cleaned for the night.

(via The Food Section)

Technorati Tags: Restaurants, bigotry, tips

Permalink • 9 comments

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: Nicky [Visitor] · http://www.deglazing.com

Wow, that seems crazy! I can't believe a place would get away with that for long. I think your suggestions are much better, especially the sniffing of the wine cork tax. I would also suggest a tax for people being extremely rude or demanding to the wait staff. I don't know how many times I go into a restaurant and people are overly demanding. Maybe, it could be the pain in the *** tax.

Permalink 01/17/07 @ 08:26

Comment from: Emily [Visitor] · http://www.tomatokumato.com

I completely agree with all of these! They're hilarious.

Permalink 01/17/07 @ 08:27

Comment from: Quar [Visitor]

Heh, that's pretty bad. But I think more places are trying to force tips onto to the customers.

Just last week I was a restaurant enjoying a themed chef's table. And in total it was a party of 6. They actually went ahead and included an 18% gart onto to the bill.

What's funny is my wife and I had fun, and would have tipped 20% because of the service and food. But it soured our enjoyment at that point. Especially since the grouping was the restaurant's idea not our own.

Permalink 01/17/07 @ 08:50

Comment from: Cris [Visitor]

In Northern California (and in most places outside CA I've been who take pride in their wine list), no waiter would dream of pouring a bottle of wine unless they first offered the cork for sniffing (whether or not the customer chooses to do so). And most N. Californians who would order a bottle of wine while traveling would expect the same courtesy. Sniffing the cork, as any decent sommelier will tell you, can save you from having to taste a wine that has gone bad. I suggest you make an effort to taste a wine that has a high level of TCA growth (which is undetectable prior to opening the bottle), or that has turned for any number of other reasons (improper storage, secondary fermentation, oxidation, etc.), and then you can complain about people who want to sniff the cork. Returning a bad bottle of wine after it has been poured is quite difficult. It is much easier all around if the problem is caught while the wine is still in the bottle. The attitude that someone who wants to sniff a cork is just being pretentious is offensive.

Permalink 01/17/07 @ 10:19

Comment from: Kate Hopkins [Member]

· http://www.accidentalhedonist.com

Ugh.. I knew there would be one thing that I wrote that would upset someone.

From here:

Sniffing the cork of an opened bottled of wine is a ritual that is unecessary. It won't tell you anything about the quality. You really should be sniffing the wine to ensure there aren't any defects, like oxidation.

...and here:

Returning to our question, if the cork tends to smell like cork, it is not likely that anyone will be able to discern a flaw by sniffing it. The ability to detect Trichloroanisole is often debated and some experiments have demonstrated the inability of expert wine tasters to consistently and reproducibly identify the presence of TCA in wine.

The server or sommelier may hand you the cork so you can examine it visually. The main thing you should look for is the date: it should match that on the label. (Inexpensive wines will not have dates or other identifying information on the cork). You can also look for signs of mold, evidence of drying or cracks or breaks. (A crumbling cork does not necessarily bode poorly for the wine). You can also look for tracks of wine up the side of the cork which may suggest the wine was subjected to heat. (The heat causes the wine to expand and push against the cork, sometimes seeping around it). This may also happen when the bottle was too full during bottling.

and lastly, here:

However, sniffing the cork has very little to do with being able to determine the quality of the wine. This is especially true for anyone who is not the most highly trained and gifted oenologist on the planet - and even in this case it would be questionable as to whether the individual would, in fact, be able to detect the presence of mold on the cork which could help diagnose a bad bottle.

I could point out at least a dozen other references if you wish. But really, it's a joke. My apologies if the light jab to your metaphorical palate touched a nerve. I realize that some people are hardcore when it comes to wine, but again, it was a joke. A well reasoned joke with several well informed opinions backing up the premise of said joke.

Sheesh, some wine folk are so easily offended.

Permalink 01/17/07 @ 10:37

Comment from: wineguy [Visitor] · http://sbwineblog.journalspace.com/

When my daughter was married in Maryland, the venue added an 18% "garuity" onto the bill.... pretty innocuous until I discovered THE WAIT STAFF DIDN'T GET A PENNY OF IT! How's that for chutzpah?

Permalink 01/17/07 @ 15:34

Comment from: Nicole [Visitor]

All I have to say to you about your Gratuities is AMEN Sister!!!! There are a few more gratuities I could think of like the, I'm on a diet so I get a salad and an extra croissant and double helpings of the hot bacon and honey mustard dressing gratuity, or the I need ranch dressing on everything gratuity, or the all the ladies need straws and all the lemons in the house so they can make their own lemonade gratuity... oh the list could go on...

Permalink 01/17/07 @ 16:31

Comment from: poppy [Visitor]

I totally agree with Lexy--it should be the responsibility of the restaurant owners (and not the paying customers) to provide their wait staff a decent, proper wage. Why should customers subsidize poor wages? However, it seems to be engrained in our American psyche to tip--even when the service/food is poor. Oh, I would up the Beef Destruction Tax to at least 20%! ;)

Permalink 01/17/07 @ 20:48

Comment from: David [Visitor]

Hee hee, love the list Kate. And add to that another 10% for barging in and demanding a table and then saying you are a friend of the owner!

Permalink 01/18/07 @ 07:20

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