Was I unreasonable not to tip?

[clary]

Went out to eat with friends, busy dining pub, eating early, they needed the table back for 8.30, fine. Got there on time, ordered drinks, then waited 40 mins for waiter to return to take our food orders. We had to call him over to remind him.

The menu said if you ordered from pizza menu and the other menu, your food might not all arrive at once. Not been an issue before. Some ordered pizzas, these came in about ten minutes. The rest of us waited. And waited. Pizzas all finished, my friend even asked the waiter when our food would be coming. Finally it arrived, about 25 mins after the pizzas. Mine wasn't even very nice (or hot).

Some ordered desserts, I had a coffee (which was nice) and we paid. I refused to leave a tip because my food was poor (sweet potato wedges which were just mushy, pitta bread that was dry, salad that was invisible) and the service was awful. One friend said, no, I've had a lot worse!

AIBU? Should one always tip regardless if how poor the experience is? I usually do tip in restaurants, and I will tip extra if the service was really nice.

No need to tip. Servers get paid at least wage, it's not America,

I tip normally. However, in this case no way! A forty minute wait to submit your food order! Then a huge wait for your food to arrive.

You tip normally which is good. Don't worry about it.

If that was the service I received I wouldn’t leave a tip.

I also don’t leave a tip if it’s a service charge, I’m not being told when to tip.

I will leave a tip if the service and food was good, however would only leave a tip if the person who actually served me got the tip. If the tips are pulled I won’t leave a tip.

Yanbu in these circumstances op.

I never tip unless the service is unusually good. I don't believe in supporting industries that rely on tipping so that they can underpay their staff. And I used to be a waitress.

Oh I don't leave a tip if there is a service charge. If it is a local ethnic restaurant I round up the bill. Say £45 for two. I call it fifty and add a couple of pound coins.

I think the quality of the food isn’t that relevant as you would be tipping for the service but it sounds like that was shit too if it took you 40 minutes to place your order. And besides, unlike the US, waiting staff in the U.K. are paid at least the full minimum wage anyway so a tip really is more a nod to good service received (not in your case though!) than an expectation. YANBU.

If you're in the UK, totally OK not to tip--
YANBU

Yanbu

YANBU- your food was very late, service was rubbish. Why would you still tip?

YANBU.

Unless you are going to drip feed you're in America. In some states it is a necessity. In the UK its patronising.

Thanks all. re the food - my DS works in a kitchen and gets a share of the tips.

No, not in America. Relieved to see you think it was ok not to tip. All the people I was with put money in for a tip, I just thought it was odd, but I think they made better food choices than I did at least 😀

Well done. So many people either tip because they consider it the height of meanness not to or out of social obligation to not feel mean or thought mean by others even though almost no-one tips many other low paid workers with similar or harder working conditions, eg retail or fast food servers, care workers etc.

Prompt service of edible food that comes somewhere near to the same time for a group is the basic expectation in a restaurant so it makes no sense to give extra reward when they don't even achieve this.