@weatherman2111 wrote:

That's because STK sucks. They're trying again out here and no one has liked the place.

What is STK? Since they suck, I want to avoid the place

@Susan L. wrote:

@weatherman2111 wrote:

That's because STK sucks. They're trying again out here and no one has liked the place.

What is STK? Since they suck, I want to avoid the place

Steakhouse located in some cities. They also have Kona Grill. Recently acquired Benihana and RA Sushi.

Hi Susan...

not sure if STK sucks. I have been 1x. It's not my style. It's a trendy upbeat steakhouse. Think Ruth Chris, but with a DJ and pounding club music.

this is their description off the website "STK Steakhouse artfully blends the modern steakhouse and a chic lounge into one, offering a dynamic, fine dining experience with the superior quality of a traditional steakhouse."

My buddy loved it. He has done the ones in Seattle. I did it 1x in Vegas and prefer not to go back. I did not have issues with the food. I just don't want to have to compete with music I'm not particularly fond of to have a nice meal.

@Susan L. wrote:

@weatherman2111 wrote:

That's because STK sucks. They're trying again out here and no one has liked the place.

What is STK? Since they suck, I want to avoid the place

Yup, bigdaddy, there really is a place called "STK Steakhouse." I thought we were being coy on this forum and using initials. So I looked it up--and there are two of them in NYC!

I don't do fine dining as a shopper, so that's probably how I missed them. I might have to check them out as a customer. Based on the menu and pictures on their website, I suspect that I would have a good time.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@drdoggie00 ....could have been the driver that smelled bad. I've had that!

Usually Uber suggests $1, $3, $5 to me. Might depend on the app or a driver preference.

Tipping with Uber will affect your rating, BTW. If you are regularly stiffing drivers, you may find it harder to get a ride in the future....

I've used Lyft before (all positive experiences) while away from home, but this was my first time with Uber (unless you count ordering booze for the Uber Eats shops). I don't make a habit of stiffing anybody; I didn't tip more because that was the amount Uber defaulted to, and whether the odor was his own or his car's, I sat there trying not to gag for 20 minutes.

I just feel like a big meaniehead for doing it.

-mutters about guilt while adding another $3 to the tip amount-

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

I remember back in the late 90s, i went to a Lake Tahoe diner/cafe (in the casino) after skiing for the day. Was there with 2 buddies. One had money and the other did not. The one who did not brought a loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter on the trip in his suitcase so he could make PBJ sandwiches while on the slopes. He didn't really have extra money to spend. BTW he didn't bring this into the cafe. Just to clarify, it was in the room.

OK....this is either a thing with some skiers or we have the same buddy! Late 90's. Northstar. Three of us go to the pub at the bottom of the hill and my friend orders water. He later shows me that he has a PBJ in each breast pocket (he didn't eat them in the pub).

We worked together for a time and I later learned from co-workers that his nickname was "PBJ".

Years later, he met one of my girlfriend's friends and dated her breifly. My GF would also get an earful every week about how cheap he was. I believe he's been single for a while now...

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

Hi Susan...

not sure if STK sucks. I have been 1x. It's not my style. It's a trendy upbeat steakhouse. Think Ruth Chris, but with a DJ and pounding club music.

this is their description off the website "STK Steakhouse artfully blends the modern steakhouse and a chic lounge into one, offering a dynamic, fine dining experience with the superior quality of a traditional steakhouse."

My buddy loved it. He has done the ones in Seattle. I did it 1x in Vegas and prefer not to go back. I did not have issues with the food. I just don't want to have to compete with music I'm not particularly fond of to have a nice meal.

@Susan L. wrote:

@weatherman2111 wrote:

That's because STK sucks. They're trying again out here and no one has liked the place.

What is STK? Since they suck, I want to avoid the place

Basically yeah. I believe they call it a "vibe steakhouse". Out local highly regarded food critic wants to burn it down.

The food has been great every time my husband and I have gone there..... we have normal level conversations and the music doesn't interfere. We are mid 40's and enjoy the atmosphere. It's 'trendy' but the food is good.

@weatherman2111 wrote:

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

Hi Susan...

not sure if STK sucks. I have been 1x. It's not my style. It's a trendy upbeat steakhouse. Think Ruth Chris, but with a DJ and pounding club music.

this is their description off the website "STK Steakhouse artfully blends the modern steakhouse and a chic lounge into one, offering a dynamic, fine dining experience with the superior quality of a traditional steakhouse."

My buddy loved it. He has done the ones in Seattle. I did it 1x in Vegas and prefer not to go back. I did not have issues with the food. I just don't want to have to compete with music I'm not particularly fond of to have a nice meal.

@Susan L. wrote:

@weatherman2111 wrote:

That's because STK sucks. They're trying again out here and no one has liked the place.

What is STK? Since they suck, I want to avoid the place

Basically yeah. I believe they call it a "vibe steakhouse". Out local highly regarded food critic wants to burn it down.

Like I said, I went 1x. It was Vegas in the Cosmopolitan. It was different as I didn't know what to expect. I'm thinking it's a steakhouse. It was more of a club atmosphere that served steak. Maybe i'm just getting old. I'm 50, but I don't need bumping club music while I'm eating. My music style is quite wide. I grew up with the original (c)rap of Run DMC, Kid N Play, NWA and stuff like that. I also love the 80's hair bands (motley crue, etc). I even have Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand greatest hits albums. I just don't want any of it while eating at what should be an "elegant" steakhouse. Background music is one thing. This was FOREground music. Some people like that or are not bothered by it. I wasn't expecting it and it kinda ruined my experience. Had I known that going in, I would have lowered my expectations from the beginning.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2024 04:48PM by hbbigdaddy.

If they played Babyface and Keith Sweat one night, I'd be pretty pumped to go. If you go earlier in the day, it's less clubby. They also have a reasonably priced brunch selection. One time, I went later in the evening on St. Patrick's Day and bartenders started dancing on the counter. I was thinking I'm way too old for this...

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

Like I said, I went 1x. It was Vegas in the Cosmopolitan. It was different as I didn't know what to expect. I'm thinking it's a steakhouse. It was more of a club atmosphere that served steak. Maybe i'm just getting old. I'm 50, but I don't need bumping club music while I'm eating. My music style is quite wide. I grew up with the original (c)rap of Run DMC, Kid N Play, NWA and stuff like that. I also love the 80's hair bands (motley crue, etc). I even have Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand greatest hits albums. I just don't want any of it while eating at what should be an "elegant" steakhouse. Background music is one thing. This was FOREground music. Some people like that or are not bothered by it. I wasn't expecting it and it kinda ruined my experience. Had I known that going in, I would have lowered my expectations from the beginning.

I've been to the one in Dallas. Everything is overpriced, but they have some heavily discounted items during happy hour. This location is more catered and targeted towards a ladies' night out. I've seen it at its calmest and craziest. The weekend brunch is classy. The Saturday night is a club atmosphere.

Never been to this STK place, doesn't sound like somewhere I want to be.. I'm well into my 60's and I love rock n roll (hard rock, 60's, 70's and some 80's pop, alternative, even some 80's grunge and punk), real old country music (not the crap they put out now), ragtime jazz, classical. But in a restaurant, I want the food and the folks I'm dining with to be the focus of my attention.

Tipping is one thing....but tipping when it is cafeteria style....order at the counter and wait, then pick up the food and find a table....AND pay 15% tip? They should be tipping us!

@22172

went to local BBQ place (not a chain that i'm aware of). Order at the counter. The tipping thing comes up when paying with card. A robot (cart) brought the tray to our table. My kid enjoyed that. I'm thinking that device was not cheap. How much are they saving by buying that? Or maybe in the long run, it leads to 1 less worker delivering food? What happens if they deliver to the wrong table or the order is incomplete? My order was find, but now the customer has to get back up and go question someone about their food. Also, what is to stop some punk teenage from grabbing food from robot when driving by? Doubt the same punk teenage is going to try and take a plate off a tray with a server carrying it.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@drdoggie00 ....could have been the driver that smelled bad. I've had that!

Usually Uber suggests $1, $3, $5 to me. Might depend on the app or a driver preference.

Tipping with Uber will affect your rating, BTW. If you are regularly stiffing drivers, you may find it harder to get a ride in the future....

Good to know. I'm 4.88 on Uber and 5.0 on Lyft
I use one of the other multiple times per month.

I wish you had posted about the driver odor issue a couple of months earlier. I actually had a driver that smelled like a barn.... I did not realize it was him at first. Still gross though.

Funny note, a co-worker was my Lyft driver a couple of months ago. He is not especially nice to women at work (because we are inferior, etc). Funny to have him driving me around. Who's in charge now? I got a lot of pleasure from that. (Still tipped 20%).

@BayShopper22 wrote:

Funny note, a co-worker was my Lyft driver a couple of months ago. He is not especially nice to women at work (because we are inferior, etc). Funny to have him driving me around. Who's in charge now? I got a lot of pleasure from that. (Still tipped 20%).

Interesting interaction. I had a co-worker who worked as a bartender on the Friday/Saturday. This was back when I used to work in consulting. I don't know how he did it. Knowing he was going to have put in 60-70 hours, he still did it. He didn't need the money. He was naturally extroverted and would get energized talking to people.

Well, when I ran into him working at the bar, he would always treat me well and comp my tab. If I drove a co-worker, I would just think of that as carpooling. I don't how that works with Uber, if you can comp that.

maybe this makes me sound out of touch- i will no longer tip more than 18%. i will tip 15% as standard. with inflation, the meal is already much more than before, thus the percentage has already increased.

with meal prices increasing + higher minimum wage (in CA it doesn’t matter if it’s tipped wage), it’s a bit ridiculous to also increase the percentage.

enough

Amazingly enough to me when I was part of the school based management teams in my kids High School we were at a meeting discussing the poor numbers of kids who were scoring above the passing grades on the standardized tests that year. One of the teachers raised his hand and asked how we could get more kids to score in the top 10% of their classes. , not of the state but of our high school students. Add that to the many cashiers in stores who have no idea how much change to give you without the help of their cash register even when your total is 9.75 and you give them a $10 bill and you will begin to understand one of the reasons the percent have gone up even tho rising prices lifts all tips.
Many people do not seem to understand math.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

Just saw the churrascaria (big chain with Texas in it's name) with 15% tip guideline. They specifically state 15% PRE TAX. You can tip more, but they won't reimburse beyond that amount.

Doesn't make sense that percentages would increase. As costs increase, tips increase even with the same percentage.

@LindaM wrote:

maybe this makes me sound out of touch- i will no longer tip more than 18%. i will tip 15% as standard. with inflation, the meal is already much more than before, thus the percentage has already increased.

with meal prices increasing + higher minimum wage (in CA it doesn’t matter if it’s tipped wage), it’s a bit ridiculous to also increase the percentage.

enough

So are the waiter's bills to cheapskate.

I looked into the one (STK)here in Los Angeles and it seemed impossible to do the job without going out of pocket a little bit. I tried with the price menu selecting the lowest cost options for each requirement and it still went over by a bit. And it looked like they did not reimburse for parking . The one near me is in a pricey area right near UCLA inside a fancy hotel. There is usually no street parking available but when they have it at the meters I think they charge a lot. It would prob cost $12-15 for the parking out of pocket or take a bus there or walk 15 blocks or so. The area is upscale with permit parking only on the residential streets.
I asked if I was allowed to order their dinner special price fixed meal which was cheaper and had all the courses needed for the shop but they said no.
I also hate mystery shop jobs in those high noise level places. I cannot read lips and also cannot hear what the server is saying. I remember doing a dinner shop at Yardhouse and had to keep asking the server to repeat themselves. After that I only did lunch shops there when the music was toned down.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

Hi Susan...

not sure if STK sucks. I have been 1x. It's not my style. It's a trendy upbeat steakhouse. Think Ruth Chris, but with a DJ and pounding club music.

this is their description off the website "STK Steakhouse artfully blends the modern steakhouse and a chic lounge into one, offering a dynamic, fine dining experience with the superior quality of a traditional steakhouse."

My buddy loved it. He has done the ones in Seattle. I did it 1x in Vegas and prefer not to go back. I did not have issues with the food. I just don't want to have to compete with music I'm not particularly fond of to have a nice meal.

@Susan L. wrote:

@weatherman2111 wrote:

That's because STK sucks. They're trying again out here and no one has liked the place.

What is STK? Since they suck, I want to avoid the place

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2024 09:18AM by sandyf.

Weatherman- wow! Your comment is out of line...

@weatherman2111 wrote:

@LindaM wrote:

maybe this makes me sound out of touch- i will no longer tip more than 18%. i will tip 15% as standard. with inflation, the meal is already much more than before, thus the percentage has already increased.

with meal prices increasing + higher minimum wage (in CA it doesn’t matter if it’s tipped wage), it’s a bit ridiculous to also increase the percentage.

enough

So are the waiter's bills to cheapskate.

On a shop, I will tip the minimum required, but ONLY on the pre-tax subtotal. I add a note somewhere to state that I do not tip on tax and my tip is based on the food and beverage total only. I've never had my shops rejected for doing that.

@viv0412 wrote:

Weatherman- wow! Your comment is out of line...

@weatherman2111 wrote:

@LindaM wrote:

maybe this makes me sound out of touch- i will no longer tip more than 18%. i will tip 15% as standard. with inflation, the meal is already much more than before, thus the percentage has already increased.

with meal prices increasing + higher minimum wage (in CA it doesn’t matter if it’s tipped wage), it’s a bit ridiculous to also increase the percentage.

enough

So are the waiter's bills to cheapskate.

Screwing over the waitstaff is way worse.

On this topic of tipping, I wanted to share three recent shops/tipping experiences. When it comes to tipping, as mentioned earlier, there can be numerous factors involved and can be nuanced. But anyways, I will proceed to share my positive experiences. This is in no way to persuade or dissuade someone from leaving a larger tip. I just wanted to share, and hopefully someone finds an ounce of enjoyment from this. If not, my apologies in advance.

TL;DR Disclaimer - Tipping is subjective and based on your personal discretion. After reading all of the posts, I can say I understand each person's perspective and stance. However, I recently had three experiences where the staff worked beautifully as a team. I overly tipped based on these memorable experiences and quality service.

1) My most recent shop/experience was where the total after tax was over $400. The suggested tips were based on pre-tax. I decided to tip 20% pre-tax. The server and his assistant delivered a memorable experience. There were theatrics involved in the food presentation, and they went the whole nine yards. I won't go into detail. However, it was a show! After we were finished with our main course, they cleaned up the mess left over from the show. The server made sure we did not have to lift a finger. He served us with the serving utensils and did his thing. I debated whether to tip more, but I felt this was good. There was an inclination to tip more, for the server's assistant. I am not sure how that is divvied, if it is.

2) This shop was a family-style type of restaurant where you order a lot of small items but share it among the table. The lead server was professional, clam, and had a good handle on when items needed to be delivered or put on hold. He gave me constant updates along the way. He directed the food runners. He did not do any of the actual physical labor, but the way he treated his team members, directed them, and delegated was a sight to be seen. He anticipated every next step. I tipped 22% post-tax for the teamwork.

3) The shop/restaurant where I most overly-tipped for what the type of restaurant was a self-grill at a table. It was my cheat day to eat meat, and I was going to gorge. My friend had never been to this type of restaurant before. The shop only covered one person for all-you-can-eat. However, I paid for myself and my guest. For what the type of restaurant was, the service was top-notch. The lead server assigned to our table literally waited on us hand and foot. She made sure to refresh and reoil the grill, maximize the number of items ordered, clear the table, provide napkins, and give us a heads-up when we could place our last order. She read our minds. Later, I read some people only tip 10% at these types of restaurants because you're grilling your own items. However, my guest had a great first-time experience. Collectively, this place worked as a team and had a genuine and positive culture. I decided to tip 25% post-tax. I did not have any regrets.

Bonus: One time a server did a magic/card trick. He was successful in selecting my chosen card. Basic. However, much brownie points for standing out and flawless execution. I decided to throw him a couple of extra $1 bills.

@weatherman2111 wrote:

@viv0412 wrote:

Weatherman- wow! Your comment is out of line...

@weatherman2111 wrote:

@LindaM wrote:

maybe this makes me sound out of touch- i will no longer tip more than 18%. i will tip 15% as standard. with inflation, the meal is already much more than before, thus the percentage has already increased.

with meal prices increasing + higher minimum wage (in CA it doesn’t matter if it’s tipped wage), it’s a bit ridiculous to also increase the percentage.

enough

So are the waiter's bills to cheapskate.

Screwing over the waitstaff is way worse.

tipping 15% (standard) or 18% (outstanding) instead of automatic 20% is not screwing anyone. i see you trying to grandstand. im being more than reasonable.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2024 03:43PM by LindaM.

I tip what the MSC and shop requires. You do not have to do the shop. I will tip the minimum of 15% even if the service was terrible. In Indiana, servers do not make even minimum wage. There are other ways to express your dissatisfaction other than stiffing the help.

I would go with Linda in California if the base wage is decent. In Indiana, it is not. So I never go below 15%. I tip the minimum required by the shop. No need to stand out from the herd. I like the business.

soo.... as i said, i will tip 15% as standard and 18% if outstanding. where am i stiffing anyone??

it is ridiculous that some establishments are now even asking 20%, 25% and 30%. again, enough.

@LindaM wrote:

it is ridiculous that some establishments are now even asking 20%, 25% and 30%. again, enough.

Yes; considering the increase in food costs, it's absurd. Nobody is getting stiffed at 15% and s price point where the difference between 18% and 20% makes a noticeable difference, the staff are already making good tip income.

The current thought I have been seeing regarding this on social media is, "If you cannot afford the tip, don't dine out" somewhat disregards the fact that the restaurants require customers to stay in business. A full restaurant with everyone tipping 15% earns more money for everyone that a restaurant at 50% capacity where everyone tips 25%.

No one has mentioned the tip income as taxable or non-taxable. There are people who want to tax it and others that want to exempt tips from being taxable income. Wonder if that will change people's behavior on the issue.

@whosear what if the SERVER is the problem? I won't hose a server for something beyond their control. But if they refuse to be attentive and I have to ask/beg for basics (i have no silverware or napkins, or my drink is empty are a couple things within the server's control), then I'm certainly not tipping them well. If a shop requires a certain percentage, I will tip what is required. When it my money, I might just not leave a tip at all. People are NOT entitled to extra. TIP is a service. Want better tips, give better service. Now I understand that some people will not reward extra-ordinary service. A happy, helpful server will always make more money than a disgruntled, apathetic server.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2024 10:48PM by hbbigdaddy.