Restaurant Wine Tipping
 

Someone mentioned to me that if they order an expensive bottle a wine(approx. $60+) in a restaurant, they don't include that amount in the usually 20% tip. Has anyone any thoughts on this?

I believe the expectation is that the tip should be calculated on the entire cost of the meal, including the wine, however expensive. The counter argument, of course, is that it takes no more time to serve a cheap bottle than an expensive one, but the same argument could be applied to the food portion of the meal as well and I don't hear anyone suggesting that.

I'm with the camp that would lower the tip % based on the cost of a bottle of wine. i.e., I try and tip for the service, not strictly the cost of the bill. Likewise, if we're ordering a few appetizers and a cheap bottle of wine, sharing some desserts at teh table, I may very well tip 30% because of the effort required by the staff and evermoreso if we're taking up a table at which they could be getting a higher check total for a full meal. I also tip greater % in cheaper restaurants (with good service)because it may take an equal effort to serve a $30 meal as a $100 meal, so under certain circumstances, I might tip $10 on a $30 meal and consider that somewhat comparable to $20 on a $100 meal.

This question comes up from time to time and you will find as many answers as people responding.

For me, I do not tip on the value of the wine. Consider this: it take no more effort to present a $100 bottle than a $20 bottle. There is no extra service and there is no extra difficulty.

General tipping policy: I generally tip double the tax unless I'm somewhere where the tax is very low or very high. In NH the tax on meals is 8% and I add more if the service was very good.

I am not cheap but I rarely throw my money away.

Regards,

MM

If there is a sommelier, we tip about 10-12% of the cost of the bottle directly to the sommelier. If he/she takes exceptional time and care with us, we tip a little extra. We do not ever order wine that is over $100 per bottle in a restaurant.

This question has been kicked around on the Wine Spectator site, it seems from what they have said in the past that it is common practice to lower the tip on a more expensive bottle of wine.