Q: At a dinner out with friends, we ordered an expensive bottle of chardonnay. When the bill came, they insisted that we didn't need to include the cost of the wine when calculating the tip, only the food. Is this true?
A: Your waiter is entitled to a tip based on the cost of the meal and the alcohol. The exception: When a wine steward, or sommelier, selects a bottle and serves you. If so, the wine expert is given a separate gratuity of 15 percent to 20 percent (depending on the service, as well as the price and number of bottles ordered), and your waiter should be tipped only on the food portion of the tab. Customers usually hand a wine steward cash at the end of the meal (he should come to the table when you're done), but if you want to pay for everything by credit card, look for an extra line on the bill just for the wine tip.
I have never seen an extra line on the bill for the sommelier's tip so I suppose it would be nice to denote it somewhere or give him cash as suggested so he, or she (although I have never seen a female sommelier - have you?), receives their full portion. So what do you think about all this? And what do you think you do if you pick out your own bottle? Do you still give the same amount of tip for the wine (for the waiter)?
No comments:
Post a Comment