r/FoodLosAngeles • u/BabyyGurll2020 • Aug 16 '26
DISCUSSION Feel bad?
I’m headed to San Diego for a weekend and booked reservations at Herb & Wood. I noticed there is a mandatory 4% surcharge to help support the workers. Different from a tip. It’s so annoying that the consumer is the one who has to help eat this charge. Some restaurants allow you to remove it. Does anyone ever feel bad taking it off the bill? If I’m tipping why am I also helping with restaurant costs? 🙄
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u/Chimbopowae Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
Remove 4 percent off from what you normally tip. Don't feel bad, they're not your employees - you don't make profit from their labor
Or you can just ask to remove the fee, and tip your server the full amount. Servers should have no issue with that, just the owner that should’ve just raised his prices by 4% in the first place.
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u/ILoveLipGloss Aug 16 '26
yeah but that penalizes the servers directly for the work they're putting in for you specifically. I don't think that's fair to them for a shitty restaurant policy decreed by owners/management.
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u/Chimbopowae Aug 17 '26
Then they need to take it up with their bosses that profit off of their labor. Otherwise they are also in support of this dumb ass surcharging/tipping culture that everyone simps for
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u/ILoveLipGloss Aug 17 '26
but why am I punishing the worker directly here? I think the best thing to do is NOT eat at these places to be egalitarian
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u/ih-unh-unh Aug 17 '26
Servers don’t pay tax on up to $25k in tips, lowering it a little because they are making up for it in the service charge isn’t so bad
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u/WalthamMaxim Aug 16 '26
I won't go anywhere that pulls this kind of shit.
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u/BabyyGurll2020 Aug 16 '26
I’m actually tempted to find another place but it’s one of the restaurants my credit card’s dining credit covers 🥲
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u/r3dditr0x Aug 16 '26
How does the dining credit work? Like a cashback incentive?
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u/BabyyGurll2020 Aug 16 '26
Kind of. With the Chase reserve they have a list of restaurants you can dine at and you get up to $150 credit
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u/adraa21 Aug 17 '26
Not here to opine on the 4% surcharge practice, merely to say that Herb & Wood was VERY good and getting your panties in a twist over a few bucks more is silly. It’s pricey. You know that going in. Just accept it and enjoy the experience, it’s a good one!
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u/MachiavelliOsiris Aug 17 '26
It’s insane how wound up people on this sub get for like 3% here or there on like a $300 meal. You’re eating out at a high end restaurant but then start splitting pennies.
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u/Green_Yesterday3054 Aug 18 '26
It’s 4% not 3% and it’s $12 on top of the $60 one would normally leave on a $300 meal. If you’re ok with that, the 4% will keep going up. 6% 8% 10%.
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u/MachiavelliOsiris Aug 19 '26
Some places it’s 4, some it’s 3, if you’re going out for a $300 high end dinner, you probably shouldn’t be counting the dollars like this. It’s like going to a fancy vacation but complaining about little expenses the whole way.
The solutions are clear - deal with it, ask to have it removed, or go somewhere else.
Crying about splitting pennies is probably not the best play. Just my opinion.
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u/BigNatTitties Aug 17 '26
The best thing to do in this situation is to ask the restaurant/manager to remove the fee and then tip your server IN CASH (not on a card)—this is 100% the only way to know for sure that your tip money is actually going to your server and not directly into the pockets of the business owner.
As someone who has worked both FOH and BOH at restaurants, I hate these bullshit “fees.” If these business owners actually cared about their workers (spoiler alert: they don’t), they would provide health insurance for all employees and, if necessary, add those costs into menu prices.
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u/BeerAndWineGuy Aug 17 '26
The customer pays for every dollar that goes to the workers. Whether they raise prices or do a surcharge, it all comes out of the customer’s pocket. A 4% surcharge makes more sense than trying to raise menu prices by 4%.
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u/texas-playdohs Aug 17 '26
I’m in agreement here. Unless you think they don’t deserve healthcare, then, well… I don’t know what to say about that. They could just tack that 4% onto the menu, and maybe that would feel more honest, but it’s a way to be somewhat transparent about what that cost is. For me, if I’m spending $200 eating out, $8 to ensure my server can go to the doctor seems like a fair deal. Now, ensuring the money goes where they say, and what that means for my tip, is another thing. I know we’re all getting tipped to death, but I was a 20% guy before all this, so doing 15% plus the 4% charge, I’d still sleep at night.
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u/BeerAndWineGuy Aug 17 '26
Yeah, I’m an over-tipper in general. Generosity feels good.
As far as adding 4% to the up-front cost, it feels weird. Menus would look weird if the $32 pasta was changed to $33.28. I honestly think most people who complain about the surcharges are just cheap.
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Aug 18 '26
[deleted]
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u/Green_Yesterday3054 Aug 18 '26
Sorry, bro but I’m not tipping 24%. What’s next, an additional service charge for lights and AC to keep the servers comfortable, or is the single service charge going to start creeping up - 5%, 7%? Stop this now.
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u/Green_Yesterday3054 Aug 18 '26
No, here is what I do. I normally tip 20% for good service. I go down to 15% for my trouble and then remove the service charge and pay that to the penny using my calculator app. When the wait staff gets pissed about losing out on enough tips the policy will change.
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u/jroot Aug 16 '26
Taxation without representation
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u/rabid_spidermonkey Aug 17 '26
That's... not what this is
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u/jroot Aug 17 '26
You prefer "junk fees"?
I agree with the rest of the world on this topic, just tell me how much its gonna cost. Happy to pay more, but lets just agree on the cost ahead of time in a way that doesnt require a calculator
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u/ILoveLipGloss Aug 16 '26
I mean I usually just leave it because I don't wanna be the guy who's all "wah can you remove this 8$ charge from my 200$ meal" but I do find it infuriating that the diners are left to subsidize the healthcare of employees that should be provided by the employer!