$40 Buffet~Vegas style

[mickeyd]

Would you be expected/tempted to tip someone if you are charged $40 for a buffet meal?

Caesars Palace's revamped $17 million buffet, tentatively set to open in Las Vegas Sept. 10, is billed as the Strip's biggest, with 524 menu items. Caesars researched other Vegas buffets and says it will dish up more dishes. Don't expect troughs of reheated eats: Executive chef Scott Green says 80%-90% of the food will be made at buffet stations in front of the customer.

"The major focus is the quality of the food," Green says, such as sliders fresh-cooked on a mesquite-burning grill. Planned prices are at the top of the Vegas buffet food chain, as you might expect: breakfast, $19.99; lunch, $24.99; dinner, $39.99.

Caesars bets $17 million on the Strip's biggest buffet - USATODAY.com

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I think that if I were getting table service in the form of someone taking away my dirty plates, refilling my beverage, etc. I would leave a five dollar tip for $40.00 dinner buffet tab.

 

[dmpi]

I tend to tip $2.00/person at ($25-$30) buffets. However my experience with Vegas buffets was that the service was below par because the staff was simply too busy.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

On your run of the mill buffets, I will generally leave $! per person if the tip is only going to clean up staff. In a restaurant where your dinner is served, I figure a minimum of $2/person or 15% which ever greater (depends on the restaurant). Gratuity for dinner at our club is 17% and I always round up the tip and add a couple bucks. I feel like I am real conservative in this regard and I'm going to up my gratuities, especially lower level restaurants because I know they work hard for their money. Before we were married, DW did some table waiting and she is always urging me to up my tip. She might say "don't be cheap" or "be nice to the girl". Makes me feel badly so I'm going to 20% minimum. Life is too short.

 

[NW-Bound]

I usually leave 10% at buffet places for people who clean the tables.

 

[MichaelB]

When we eat at buffet I plan on leaving 15% and will adjust that if the service level is particularly good or bad. I like to serve myself small amounts and revisit the buffet lines multiple times, so we do generate lots of dirty dishes. Buffet prices also tend to be lower than ala carte meals so the total tip amounts aren't that much. Restaurant service jobs are hard and don't pay well and I appreciate good service that is also friendly.

 

[Chuckanut]

I was in Brussels, had lunch with a small group and we left a tip on the table. As we were leaving the restaurant our waiter stopped us and handed back the tip money telling us we had left it on the table. We tried to explain it was a tip, but he he gave us a look of complete misunderstanding and kept holding out the tip money to us. Finally, after thanking him for a great meal and experience (which he obviously appreciated) we took the money back.

Truly, a "WOW" moment while traveling.

 

[NW-Bound]

Well, I have always left a tip when traveling in Europe. And in all cases, the waiters scooped up the tip before we got very far from the table. They seemed to know that American tourists usually leave tips, and perhaps they would not want the bus boys who clean the table to get it.

 

[obgyn65]

I usually tip 15-20%, even at buffets.

 

[Ronnieboy]

I usually tip 20% on sit down, waitress/waiter comes to take order at the table, etc.
If the service is sub-par I tip 15% and maybe leave a suggestion - 'it would be helpful if you kept the drinks filled'.
At buffets or sizzler type where we order first and just have the meals brought to us, I will do 10 to 15%, depending on service.

 

[ohyes]

DH, DD, DS and i enjoyed the lunch buffet at The Wicked Spoon (Cosmopolitan Casino) a couple weeks ago. It about $20pp and worth every penny. The food comes in little dishes (no scooping it out yourself).

The server had lots and lots and lots of dishes to take away, plus refilling coffee cups and water glasses. He earned more than the 15% tip we left. They give you $5.00 of free play downstairs when you turn your buffet receipt in for the player's card. DD turned that into $12.00. The rest of us lost the $5.00 credit pretty quickly, but in that 30 minutes, the cocktail waitress brought us drinks three times.

I digress.

I would probably skip the Caesars' buffet, go back to Wicked Spoon and leave the 15%.

 

[Bestwifeever]

We usually leave 10 to 15 percent at a buffet, but I would bet (especially in Vegas haha) that most people don't leave tips for buffets in general. So I don't think one needs to feel a tip is expected the way it would be at a typical restaurant.

By the way, I just heard on the radio that waitresses who wear red generate bigger tips. Who knew.