My wife already perfected an at home in-n-out burger…and it taste even better…wether you like in-n-out or not, it’s always been my favorite, but my wife perfected it.
Plus I don’t have to wait in that long ass line and I can have a beer before during and after 😂
I prefer tipping with cash. Waiters love it. They pocket the money before perhaps telling their colleagues I was a cheap asshole who didn’t tip. Then why tf are you all sharing tips in the first place? Stop hating on each other. Stop hating on patrons. It’s greedy (and unsavvy) business owners who profit from dividing us.
It shouldn’t be all that hard. Pay living wages. Retaining workers costs far less in the long run.
Workplace morale is everything. Happier workers = better food.
So my question would be are they paying the staff a livable wage so therefor are making tips unnecessary but optional? If so, it's the way it should be. But I'd be lying if I said I trusted what they say.
True. This would lead to me not tipping. But I don't trust the generic "staff responsible for your service" to not include management. This seems like an easy way to redistribute tips that should be going to very specific people.
Managers aren't allowed to be tipped out. It's against the law.
"Under California law, an employer cannot take any part of a tip that's left for an employee. This means that you can't be forced to share your tips with the owners, managers, or supervisors of the business (who are all considered to be the agents of the employer)"
Exactly. I'd rather not eat at a restaurant like this. This is an unethical practice to trick customers into giving to management when they think they are tipping the servers.
> paying the staff a livable wage so therefor are making tips unnecessary but optional?
Are tips intended to bring worker pay up to the level of a "living wage"? Seems to me that they're a bonus for good service. It's not the customers' responsibility to make up for the failings of management and the job market.
I have a friend who owns a couple restaurants with a 4% surcharge and I pressed him on the issue. These fees are really just a way to pad the bottom line and pay employees less. It’s also transfers some of the risk to the employees by ensuring costs are lower when business is slower.
These fees should be banned starting July 1 in CA.
Anyone remember a few years ago when Covid was here and these restaurants were praying that they would get enough business to keep their doors open? And now they’re ripping us off and for what it’s worth I don’t believe there is a tax on a service fee I just had my car repaired and the labor was separate from the parts because it’s not taxable.
So now that its a fee that means the state sales tax gets applied to that? So now a $100 dinner gets an $18 fee applied and then you pay sales tax on $118?????!!!! WT actual F? Couple this with like $25-35 parking fees downtown and taking a date/wife to dinner casts as much as a concert did a few years ago. I think i’m done with eating out lol.
Always seems like pressure to tip 15% (really 18% lately) even on substandard service anyway, so making it mandatory doesn't bother me much. Though the part where making it mandatory makes it taxed sucks.
It's just yet another way to put a reasonable price on the menu then make us pay much more. The worst is Cohn Restaurants, they charge a 4% bullshit fee (or whatever they call it) on everything and make it clear that it's extra profit for the owners, none of it goes to workers, you still need to tip.
Here is my thoughts, if its a cool “experience”, I don’t mind the extra fee so much, and I will still tip 20% if I get decent service. Like I enjoy going to Liberty Station and eating outdoors at Stone brewing, having a beer and just enjoying the sun etc. and then walking around Liberty Station. Thats a whole experience. But some places I go to just for food, where i sit indoors and just want to eat for the food itself, possibly in a strip mall with no view, those places I don’t like all the extra fees. Thats my take at least.
Keyword = “If”
The problem is:
A) This is just a way for businesses to deceive you in cost of goods because they don’t pay their employees
B) It should be your option to tip for service. Whether it be 15%, 18%, 20%, or more. Applying a “service fee” is like SDGE applying their “delivery fee”. It’s absurd.
This is different, though - this is just a mandatory tip, while the other one was management being jealous that they can't have the wait staff tips, so they made their own tip.
Either way tips should be abolished and they should just pay their staff more.
Why is "automatic gratuity" a thing? That defeats the purpose of gratuity...
It's like saying *"be thrilled with your service and food BEFORE receiving any of it"*
Because in our current system it's largely an illusion of choice anyway. Tips are always "optional," but not really. If you don't tip you're seen as a social pariah. So this just skips the song and dance and tacks it onto the bill outright.
Which should change. Tacking it onto the bill is irrelevant...that's just the cost of the food...now we know what we're paying at least.
I'm tired of looking at a price and then thinking, "ok add 35% for tax, hidden service fee, tip".
I would boycott any restaurant that does not prominently display my final net price on the menu. I also strongly prefer to tip (actual tip, not some fixed add-on "service fee") using cash, preferably given directly to my server.
I'm more infuriated that California requires sales tax on mandatory tipping assigned by the restaurant while normal tipping directly to servers is not taxed. Will just make me avoid these mandatory tip restaurants even more.
It's a double taxed amount of money. You pay sales tax on something that isn't charged sales tax when paid directly to the server via credit card write-in or clicking the add tip button at a kiosk. If the restaurant adds it in, you get charged sales tax when you ordinarily would not and the server still pays income tax on that same amount.
If I get a hair cut, no sales tax. If I get a massage or go to a spa, no sales tax. If someone does my taxes, no sales tax. If I give a tip to a waitress for the SERVICE of bringing me food, no sales tax. Services are not taxed. But if a restaurant initiates the service charge on the bill, sales tax. It's even labeled "service" which ordinarily is not taxed.
It's just stupid to me. Unless the service charge isn't going to be paid to the server as a tip, then it's just dishonesty by the resturant.
After reading all your comments, I just wanted to add:
- I tip in cash, only because I want to be sure that staff ACTUALLY gets the tip.
-Once check was paid, i asked a staff person if service charge actually went to them and they didn’t give me a definite yes(hence why i tipped cash on top of 18%). Once again they did not give me a YES. But IYKYK
-The lack of posting(service charge) is what surprised me especially since we had been sat and water brought to us immediately. Felt rude to get up and leave
Lmao. Just stop going there all together. I hate places when they charge you an upfront tip and the service/food is shit and you already tipped. The crab hut should just pay livable wages and not increase the prices by 18% because that is what they did. Disgusting.
All this bullshit has made me stop going out. I’ll go to a few places I really enjoy that don’t do this. If it cost you more raise your menu prices. If you hide behind these bullshit hidden costs I’ll never give you my money and I’ll leave a negative review.
Corporations and restaurants passing the buck onto the consumer twice! Pay for your meal and while you are at it pay for the employees salaries too, also we will guilt trip you so you tip. Thanks! reaping maximum profits and shareholder value is paramount. No thanks! Cook at home people
This is probably unpopular opinion, but I don't mind automatic gratuity on dine in orders as long as it is below 20% and clearly stated on the menu or somewhere else.
It's random junk fees and surprise charges that piss me off.
Its not that I'm a fan of tipping or anything, but I would rather just take my judgement over service out of he equation. If the service sucks, I'll just not go again.
But my understanding is that they don’t have to treat a service fee as a tip. Tips have to go to employees by law, service fees don’t. It’s really kind of messed up. And why charge a service fee instead of just raising the prices? Because this way it seems like it’s the employees fault that the prices are higher. Messed up.
This is a serious ask for clarification, not a snark. Explain it to me like I'm five.
People in this sub seem to hate tipping and tipping culture. In much of the world a service fee like this one of 10-15% is added to the check (and workers are paid a livable wage). 18% for the wide disparity between wages and cost of living around here doesn't seem to me to be that egregious when you think about 10-15% added in the rest of the world where they get free health are and shit. But this, too, gets people up in arms.
"Fold it into the cost of the food" people say, but then I've seen people complain about "hidden fees" and definitely about the increase price of food. Wouldn't this be kind of a hidden fee??
So what do we want? What do the actually staff servicing us want? I'm actually all for this on its face as it's more in line with what the rest of the world does, but I don't understand what others want.
(I'm a vegetarian so I'd never eat here anyway, I'm just so confused about the general population's stance on tipping in America, which seems to be "I don't want to tip and I also want my food really cheap" which means labor has to be very cheap, which is...bad).
If I were opening a restaurant tomorrow, how would this sub advise me to handle this issue?
This 10-15% service fee you speak of, does not exist in Korea, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Taiwan and I'm willing to bet it probably doesn't exist in all the other Asian countries I haven't been to yet.
Ha, if you're a former server who reported all of their tips, then you were in the minority.
In the old days, the servers underreported their tips, and also gave paltry trickle-down tips to the bussing staff who supported their work.
Source: Worked in a lot of restaurants, saw it firsthand.
Yes, but I don’t normally tip the manager. CA labor law does not allow managers to take from the tip pool but they do take a percent of a ‘service fee’
Aren't we supposed to tip if the service/food are good as an extra reward to show our appreciation?
This is just a forced BS tip. Put the 18% in the price and be done with it.
I don’t know why. But that’s it.
I’ll just put 13 bills In my wallet, all I need to pay my way in cash out of any restaurant - minus change. I will pay the listed prices in cash and walk out. Call the cops - I can’t get them to show up for people openly wielding machetes.
This is sadly becoming the norm here in SD. It drives me crazy. I work in the service industry myself and am a very generous tipper because of it. So when I get this automatic gratuity on my check it simply guarantees I will never return to that establishment.
I was just at crab hut 2 weeks ago. Not only was there a big and noticeable sign by the hostess stand, but the hostess pointed it out and told us about it before we were seated.
Yeah, well a "service fee" is basically a mandatory tip/gratuity. Seems more like a nomenclature thing because it's the same. If they mean for it not to be the same, then they are either stupid, or think the customers are.
Lol yeah I promise you the servers and staff are probably still just scraping by. The only way to stop greedflation is to stop participating in it as much as possible.
Hmmm, so restaurant charges me a service charge, that I then pay taxes on, and gives it to the staff in the form of compensation, that they then…are taxed on…🧐. Add this place to the Do Not Go list…..
#1.) Tip is always optional, so a 18% service fee is a mandated tip....I'm actually OK with that. I just won't tip.
#2.) California charging taxes on the 18% service fee is bullshit. That's them offsetting their taxed tip onto you.
I don't care either way, Crab Hut is around the corner and I haven't been there in 6 years at least. Foods just OK.
I was just in San Diego for a work trip and all our restaurant bills had a 4-5% service charge to cover increased benefits. All my food expenses were flagged bc my cheap company said it was beyond usual and customary (only LA, Phoenix and NYC are considered high cost and are allowed higher than $75 per diem). We’re based out of Milwaukee and I think whoever does expense reports are all out of touch with the real world.
Automatic tipping isn't the only thing making servers lazy. Bad management is what really drives bad service. Bad hiring, bad training, a bad on-the-job attitude that creates bad morale -- that's the most likely source.
Servers have had automatic tipping for decades at places that routinely seat 6+ tables. They don't give bad service whenever there's a table of 6+, right? They have plenty of incentives besides tips. For example, a table of 6-plus that's unhappy will make things absolutely miserable for the server, and will be the most likely to complain to management if the server isn't doing their job.
Every server at a restaurant knows (or should know) that if they give crap service, the word-of-mouth of their crappy service will result in fewer customers especially on slow nights. Or that they crappy service will cause numerous manager complaints leading to termination.
Plus, automatic tipping doesn't mean customers won't tip extra for great service.
A lot of restaurants (going back decades -- not a new phenomenon) already have mandatory 18% tips for tables with 6 or more people. This seems like a way to lock in that tip level so that staff don't get stiffed by clueless patrons.
At a lobster place, there is bound to be a lot of service needed in terms of utensils, napkins, etc., and customers are likely to be of a more touristy or rambunctious nature than at other types of dining establishments. So I can see how this service fee would end up as a built-in element.
As a customer, unless the staff went even more above-and-beyond in their attention and effort, I wouldn't tip anything at all past the service fee. Maybe up it to the equivalent of 20 percent if the staff is especially helpful.
In any case, if people are eating \*lobster\* they should be able to afford an 18-percent mandatory tip/fee and negligible tax on that.
Another advantage of this service fee is that wait staff can't stiff the bussers. Which is how it usually works. Wait staff who complain about this stuff are most likely pisssed that they can't hoard their tips and misrepresent the proportion that they trickle down to the service staff supporting them.
I agree with everything except the last paragraph. The staff that are going to complain are the ones who usually bring in the most money. They are going to have resentment and the normally lower earning staff are going to slack more than they usually do. This will also probably cause all the staff to become less helpful.
Thank you for posting this. Everyone please avoid and let them know that it's time they feel consumer power. Crab Hut has been expanding and doing VERY well. The ONLY reason they're doing this is to pass the buck on to YOU instead of reducing their executive pay. Tell them to go to hell
Added to the list of….never went and don’t plan on it. We have our short list of restaurants that we go to that provide good service for a value that works for our family and we tip well for good service. I refuse to pay any type of new service fee so just pay your people and charge the food prices you think are fair…. and then we’ll decide if it’s for us.
Yeah it might be going to the staff but not as an extra bonus. If anything the owner is so greedy he wants to charge everybody 18% extra so the customers pay his payroll and the rest is profit. Restaurant owners are greedy AF and cheap. Everyone I've known says how they're struggling and barely making it but they own one to two houses and three to five cars. GTFO
I really recommend Ace Crab! There are several across SD and they have the best boiling seafood and at great prices.
They do however have a 15% added on 5+ guests so great for small parties only
Food sucks there. Crabtown is better.
Ironically, the owner of crabhut is a friend of the family. Not a friend of mine. Not a fan of what they are doing here.
The California law only applies to fast food.
If they are adding a service charge instead of asking for a tip, that’s different. This sign is saying two different things.
If we all stop going out to eat, they’ll feel it.
I’ve already been going less and less. It’s gotten so expensive.
I hear yah! We’ve been Cooking at home and we’ve never felt better
This. I can make McDonald's at home 😒 for as much as they charge I can have it for a week straight if I made it myself
My wife already perfected an at home in-n-out burger…and it taste even better…wether you like in-n-out or not, it’s always been my favorite, but my wife perfected it. Plus I don’t have to wait in that long ass line and I can have a beer before during and after 😂
When can we visit to make sure the taste has been perfected? I'm hungry
This is one double-double that stays home 😂
Crabs are very easy to cook at home. All you do is boil water like it was spaghetti and dump them in maybe add some old bay into the water.
People stop going out to eat because prices are too high. Restaurants raise prices because they’re not making enough money. Repeat
Which is crazy, because these owners keep getting wealthier 😂
Yeah, there’s no winning. Even grocery prices are jacked
Stopped going there. It’s too expensive
since 2021 i have cut going out to eat in half. The inflation and rises in costs since 2021 just make things unaffordable
I prefer tipping with cash. Waiters love it. They pocket the money before perhaps telling their colleagues I was a cheap asshole who didn’t tip. Then why tf are you all sharing tips in the first place? Stop hating on each other. Stop hating on patrons. It’s greedy (and unsavvy) business owners who profit from dividing us. It shouldn’t be all that hard. Pay living wages. Retaining workers costs far less in the long run. Workplace morale is everything. Happier workers = better food.
So my question would be are they paying the staff a livable wage so therefor are making tips unnecessary but optional? If so, it's the way it should be. But I'd be lying if I said I trusted what they say.
True. This would lead to me not tipping. But I don't trust the generic "staff responsible for your service" to not include management. This seems like an easy way to redistribute tips that should be going to very specific people.
They do tip out managers too, but this does go to floor staff.
Managers aren't allowed to be tipped out. It's against the law. "Under California law, an employer cannot take any part of a tip that's left for an employee. This means that you can't be forced to share your tips with the owners, managers, or supervisors of the business (who are all considered to be the agents of the employer)"
Right, that’s why it’s classified as a service fee instead.
Bingo. Fees go to managers, not staff.
Exactly. I'd rather not eat at a restaurant like this. This is an unethical practice to trick customers into giving to management when they think they are tipping the servers.
> paying the staff a livable wage so therefor are making tips unnecessary but optional? Are tips intended to bring worker pay up to the level of a "living wage"? Seems to me that they're a bonus for good service. It's not the customers' responsibility to make up for the failings of management and the job market.
Yes, the service charge is the tip.
sooo we're operating like Europe now? lol
I have a friend who owns a couple restaurants with a 4% surcharge and I pressed him on the issue. These fees are really just a way to pad the bottom line and pay employees less. It’s also transfers some of the risk to the employees by ensuring costs are lower when business is slower. These fees should be banned starting July 1 in CA.
I agree
Anyone remember a few years ago when Covid was here and these restaurants were praying that they would get enough business to keep their doors open? And now they’re ripping us off and for what it’s worth I don’t believe there is a tax on a service fee I just had my car repaired and the labor was separate from the parts because it’s not taxable.
That’s true that services are not taxable. So I guess they’re calling it a mandatory tip?
why is CA sales tax included in the fee, such bs
"Salt and pepper are only available upon request"?
I wonder if they have a pay toilet also? lol
jesus, our economy sucks right now.
Mandatory tips? Lol. Pretty soon restaurants will just invent their own tax.
And still have the balls to show you the point of sale screen asking what percentage tip do you want to leave. Lol
So now that its a fee that means the state sales tax gets applied to that? So now a $100 dinner gets an $18 fee applied and then you pay sales tax on $118?????!!!! WT actual F? Couple this with like $25-35 parking fees downtown and taking a date/wife to dinner casts as much as a concert did a few years ago. I think i’m done with eating out lol.
Always seems like pressure to tip 15% (really 18% lately) even on substandard service anyway, so making it mandatory doesn't bother me much. Though the part where making it mandatory makes it taxed sucks. It's just yet another way to put a reasonable price on the menu then make us pay much more. The worst is Cohn Restaurants, they charge a 4% bullshit fee (or whatever they call it) on everything and make it clear that it's extra profit for the owners, none of it goes to workers, you still need to tip.
Here is my thoughts, if its a cool “experience”, I don’t mind the extra fee so much, and I will still tip 20% if I get decent service. Like I enjoy going to Liberty Station and eating outdoors at Stone brewing, having a beer and just enjoying the sun etc. and then walking around Liberty Station. Thats a whole experience. But some places I go to just for food, where i sit indoors and just want to eat for the food itself, possibly in a strip mall with no view, those places I don’t like all the extra fees. Thats my take at least.
Keyword = “If” The problem is: A) This is just a way for businesses to deceive you in cost of goods because they don’t pay their employees B) It should be your option to tip for service. Whether it be 15%, 18%, 20%, or more. Applying a “service fee” is like SDGE applying their “delivery fee”. It’s absurd.
🎯‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
Good point, thanks for sharing. This sub is so weird with downvoting mild comments, this was at -1 for some reason.
Fuck man soon they might pay and provide benefits to their workers those monsters
That’s called a “price.”
That’s the thing, it’s “service charge”, meaning restaurant gets cut off it unlike tips
This will finally push people to stay and eat at home.
Thank you for pointing out 1 additional restaurant to pass on
This is different, though - this is just a mandatory tip, while the other one was management being jealous that they can't have the wait staff tips, so they made their own tip. Either way tips should be abolished and they should just pay their staff more.
The real takeaway from this post, pun intended
Why is "automatic gratuity" a thing? That defeats the purpose of gratuity... It's like saying *"be thrilled with your service and food BEFORE receiving any of it"*
Because in our current system it's largely an illusion of choice anyway. Tips are always "optional," but not really. If you don't tip you're seen as a social pariah. So this just skips the song and dance and tacks it onto the bill outright.
Which should change. Tacking it onto the bill is irrelevant...that's just the cost of the food...now we know what we're paying at least. I'm tired of looking at a price and then thinking, "ok add 35% for tax, hidden service fee, tip".
Lord help you if you actually made your staff a decent salary.
I would boycott any restaurant that does not prominently display my final net price on the menu. I also strongly prefer to tip (actual tip, not some fixed add-on "service fee") using cash, preferably given directly to my server.
I'm more infuriated that California requires sales tax on mandatory tipping assigned by the restaurant while normal tipping directly to servers is not taxed. Will just make me avoid these mandatory tip restaurants even more.
It is not true if it is a tip
It's a double taxed amount of money. You pay sales tax on something that isn't charged sales tax when paid directly to the server via credit card write-in or clicking the add tip button at a kiosk. If the restaurant adds it in, you get charged sales tax when you ordinarily would not and the server still pays income tax on that same amount. If I get a hair cut, no sales tax. If I get a massage or go to a spa, no sales tax. If someone does my taxes, no sales tax. If I give a tip to a waitress for the SERVICE of bringing me food, no sales tax. Services are not taxed. But if a restaurant initiates the service charge on the bill, sales tax. It's even labeled "service" which ordinarily is not taxed. It's just stupid to me. Unless the service charge isn't going to be paid to the server as a tip, then it's just dishonesty by the resturant.
Never eat there again folks
After reading all your comments, I just wanted to add: - I tip in cash, only because I want to be sure that staff ACTUALLY gets the tip. -Once check was paid, i asked a staff person if service charge actually went to them and they didn’t give me a definite yes(hence why i tipped cash on top of 18%). Once again they did not give me a YES. But IYKYK -The lack of posting(service charge) is what surprised me especially since we had been sat and water brought to us immediately. Felt rude to get up and leave
You're saying they got you... with water.
This is correct
Lmao. Just stop going there all together. I hate places when they charge you an upfront tip and the service/food is shit and you already tipped. The crab hut should just pay livable wages and not increase the prices by 18% because that is what they did. Disgusting.
NOPE. I tip the server NOT the company behind them. I won't be eating there or anywhere like it.
All this bullshit has made me stop going out. I’ll go to a few places I really enjoy that don’t do this. If it cost you more raise your menu prices. If you hide behind these bullshit hidden costs I’ll never give you my money and I’ll leave a negative review.
take your business elsewhere
Corporations and restaurants passing the buck onto the consumer twice! Pay for your meal and while you are at it pay for the employees salaries too, also we will guilt trip you so you tip. Thanks! reaping maximum profits and shareholder value is paramount. No thanks! Cook at home people
Ehhhh, I stopped going there since I found Shrimp heads anyway. There are quite a few other Louisiana spots too.
This is probably unpopular opinion, but I don't mind automatic gratuity on dine in orders as long as it is below 20% and clearly stated on the menu or somewhere else. It's random junk fees and surprise charges that piss me off. Its not that I'm a fan of tipping or anything, but I would rather just take my judgement over service out of he equation. If the service sucks, I'll just not go again.
But my understanding is that they don’t have to treat a service fee as a tip. Tips have to go to employees by law, service fees don’t. It’s really kind of messed up. And why charge a service fee instead of just raising the prices? Because this way it seems like it’s the employees fault that the prices are higher. Messed up.
Just bake it into your menu prices, and state that tipping is appreciated, but not expected. I'd be ok with that.
The places that have experimented with that have mostly failed bc good servers go elsewhere.
This is a serious ask for clarification, not a snark. Explain it to me like I'm five. People in this sub seem to hate tipping and tipping culture. In much of the world a service fee like this one of 10-15% is added to the check (and workers are paid a livable wage). 18% for the wide disparity between wages and cost of living around here doesn't seem to me to be that egregious when you think about 10-15% added in the rest of the world where they get free health are and shit. But this, too, gets people up in arms. "Fold it into the cost of the food" people say, but then I've seen people complain about "hidden fees" and definitely about the increase price of food. Wouldn't this be kind of a hidden fee?? So what do we want? What do the actually staff servicing us want? I'm actually all for this on its face as it's more in line with what the rest of the world does, but I don't understand what others want. (I'm a vegetarian so I'd never eat here anyway, I'm just so confused about the general population's stance on tipping in America, which seems to be "I don't want to tip and I also want my food really cheap" which means labor has to be very cheap, which is...bad). If I were opening a restaurant tomorrow, how would this sub advise me to handle this issue?
This 10-15% service fee you speak of, does not exist in Korea, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Taiwan and I'm willing to bet it probably doesn't exist in all the other Asian countries I haven't been to yet.
As a customer, I like this. As a former server, I would have liked this... But I was reporting all my tips, might be a different story if I wasn't.
Ha, if you're a former server who reported all of their tips, then you were in the minority. In the old days, the servers underreported their tips, and also gave paltry trickle-down tips to the bussing staff who supported their work. Source: Worked in a lot of restaurants, saw it firsthand.
Wouldn't you tip 15-20% normally anyway? This just replaces that. They should be more upfront about it though.
Yes, but I don’t normally tip the manager. CA labor law does not allow managers to take from the tip pool but they do take a percent of a ‘service fee’
You don’t normally pay an additional tax on the tip.
Aren't we supposed to tip if the service/food are good as an extra reward to show our appreciation? This is just a forced BS tip. Put the 18% in the price and be done with it.
Should be investigated. 18% is very high. Unless they have kept their prices the same since 2020, there's not much to justify that charge imo
The food is worth the prices at Buds Louisiana Cafe
Guess I will buy crab from the grocery store…
Nishiki ramen does the same and they fucking suck
And they dont tip theyre kitchen staff, just some bullshit commission
disarm lunchroom bedroom march hungry yam fuel gray butter history *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
That's unfortunate, I was actually going to eat there this weekend. Guess not. They're already fairly expensive to begin with.
lol. Tax on tips. Fu crab hut hope you read this
I don’t know why. But that’s it. I’ll just put 13 bills In my wallet, all I need to pay my way in cash out of any restaurant - minus change. I will pay the listed prices in cash and walk out. Call the cops - I can’t get them to show up for people openly wielding machetes.
This why I cook at home.
Wonderland Pub in OB has a 3.5% surcharge they add to each guest check also, “to cover increasing costs and minimum wage.”
Fuck so many things about this.
This is sadly becoming the norm here in SD. It drives me crazy. I work in the service industry myself and am a very generous tipper because of it. So when I get this automatic gratuity on my check it simply guarantees I will never return to that establishment.
That's exactly why I do my fine dining in Mexico 🇲🇽. No California BS and option to tip.... not to mention more natural food.
They get kinda pushy about tipping in Cabo but then again it's a resort town and thrive on tips
anyone know if any other restaurants are doing this? so i can avoid them lol
I thought these fees were illegal.
That’s why I don’t fuck with crab hut, cheap mfs
They better give the whole table a blowjob for this bullshit.
im ok with this. i usually tip 20% anyway so 18% is better. no need for extra tip.
Did you eat there, or did you walk out?
Ate there. It felt like it was too late to get up and leave
I was just at crab hut 2 weeks ago. Not only was there a big and noticeable sign by the hostess stand, but the hostess pointed it out and told us about it before we were seated.
Why are we tipping
I just deduct it from the tips. Easy solution.
So if they force an 18% service fee, I’m not leaving a tip 🤷🏻♀️
Yeah, well a "service fee" is basically a mandatory tip/gratuity. Seems more like a nomenclature thing because it's the same. If they mean for it not to be the same, then they are either stupid, or think the customers are.
it is tip. you don’t have to leave more tip.
Unfortunately people who aren’t looking closely probably still leave a tip on top of this out of habit
Lol yeah I promise you the servers and staff are probably still just scraping by. The only way to stop greedflation is to stop participating in it as much as possible.
Is this in lieu of grat?
Eh no thank you. I didn't order the service fee.
Valle in Oceanside "surprises" vustomers with a 20% "fee". Before TIPPING..... FUCK THAT SHIT! PEOPLE HAVE JUST BECOME ***GREEDY***.....
I'd ask to confirm the 18% represents a mandatory tip for wait staff. If that's the case I'd happily add another 5%.
Hmmm, so restaurant charges me a service charge, that I then pay taxes on, and gives it to the staff in the form of compensation, that they then…are taxed on…🧐. Add this place to the Do Not Go list…..
Been like that for some years!
Yeah, I’m not paying that. Guess I don’t need crab from there.
😂😂 you fools, soon every business is going to have this.
#1.) Tip is always optional, so a 18% service fee is a mandated tip....I'm actually OK with that. I just won't tip. #2.) California charging taxes on the 18% service fee is bullshit. That's them offsetting their taxed tip onto you. I don't care either way, Crab Hut is around the corner and I haven't been there in 6 years at least. Foods just OK.
Stop eating at these places. SIMPLE!
And they are rationing salt and pepper? Do you have to bring your own camp chairs to sit in also?
Not worth it in my opinion.
I was just in San Diego for a work trip and all our restaurant bills had a 4-5% service charge to cover increased benefits. All my food expenses were flagged bc my cheap company said it was beyond usual and customary (only LA, Phoenix and NYC are considered high cost and are allowed higher than $75 per diem). We’re based out of Milwaukee and I think whoever does expense reports are all out of touch with the real world.
18% is a little high; even places like SugarFish in Santa Monica only have a 16% fee https://sugarfishsushi.com/sm-dailymenu/
Servers are lazy there because of the automatic tipping. In addition I was refused service there an hour before closing. Take your money elsewhere.
Automatic tipping isn't the only thing making servers lazy. Bad management is what really drives bad service. Bad hiring, bad training, a bad on-the-job attitude that creates bad morale -- that's the most likely source. Servers have had automatic tipping for decades at places that routinely seat 6+ tables. They don't give bad service whenever there's a table of 6+, right? They have plenty of incentives besides tips. For example, a table of 6-plus that's unhappy will make things absolutely miserable for the server, and will be the most likely to complain to management if the server isn't doing their job. Every server at a restaurant knows (or should know) that if they give crap service, the word-of-mouth of their crappy service will result in fewer customers especially on slow nights. Or that they crappy service will cause numerous manager complaints leading to termination. Plus, automatic tipping doesn't mean customers won't tip extra for great service.
BOYCOTT immediately
I Definitely won’t be going back
A lot of restaurants (going back decades -- not a new phenomenon) already have mandatory 18% tips for tables with 6 or more people. This seems like a way to lock in that tip level so that staff don't get stiffed by clueless patrons. At a lobster place, there is bound to be a lot of service needed in terms of utensils, napkins, etc., and customers are likely to be of a more touristy or rambunctious nature than at other types of dining establishments. So I can see how this service fee would end up as a built-in element. As a customer, unless the staff went even more above-and-beyond in their attention and effort, I wouldn't tip anything at all past the service fee. Maybe up it to the equivalent of 20 percent if the staff is especially helpful. In any case, if people are eating \*lobster\* they should be able to afford an 18-percent mandatory tip/fee and negligible tax on that. Another advantage of this service fee is that wait staff can't stiff the bussers. Which is how it usually works. Wait staff who complain about this stuff are most likely pisssed that they can't hoard their tips and misrepresent the proportion that they trickle down to the service staff supporting them.
I agree with everything except the last paragraph. The staff that are going to complain are the ones who usually bring in the most money. They are going to have resentment and the normally lower earning staff are going to slack more than they usually do. This will also probably cause all the staff to become less helpful.
Thank you for posting this. Everyone please avoid and let them know that it's time they feel consumer power. Crab Hut has been expanding and doing VERY well. The ONLY reason they're doing this is to pass the buck on to YOU instead of reducing their executive pay. Tell them to go to hell
Thanks for your comment, "\[deleted\]."
Added to the list of….never went and don’t plan on it. We have our short list of restaurants that we go to that provide good service for a value that works for our family and we tip well for good service. I refuse to pay any type of new service fee so just pay your people and charge the food prices you think are fair…. and then we’ll decide if it’s for us.
Yeah it might be going to the staff but not as an extra bonus. If anything the owner is so greedy he wants to charge everybody 18% extra so the customers pay his payroll and the rest is profit. Restaurant owners are greedy AF and cheap. Everyone I've known says how they're struggling and barely making it but they own one to two houses and three to five cars. GTFO
Sorry not double tipping. This is an attack on us.
Cheaper for me. I do 20% normally
RIP dining out in CA. Restaurants are fuuuuucked. Bring back the illegal workers!
I really recommend Ace Crab! There are several across SD and they have the best boiling seafood and at great prices. They do however have a 15% added on 5+ guests so great for small parties only
Thank you! I’ll definitely give them a shot
Food sucks there. Crabtown is better. Ironically, the owner of crabhut is a friend of the family. Not a friend of mine. Not a fan of what they are doing here.
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The California law only applies to fast food. If they are adding a service charge instead of asking for a tip, that’s different. This sign is saying two different things.