Going out to eat is something I rarely do unless I'm traveling. However, when I do go out, I generally tip in the 20-25% range, or more for exceptionally good service.
Recently I stopped in to a sit-down burger place while traveling. It was barely after 11am, and I was please to be ahead of the lunch rush. A server came over right away, took my order, and brought me a glass of water. A few minutes later, I watched what looked like my burger go past my table and up to the bar, and then the lunch rush arrived. Soon the empty section I was sitting in was fully seated, and then people's food began arriving. The burger I thought had been mine was eventually brought back to the kitchen and was sitting under the heat lamps (open kitchen).
Eventually when the people next to me received their meals, I asked their server for assistance. They quickly got my server who asked me, "would you like anything else?" To which I replied, "My meal?" She then walked up, took the meal that had been floating around the restaurant for the past 45 minutes and brought it over. I commented immediately that the meal was cold and pointed out that the lettuce etc. had wilted from sitting under the lamp for the past 45 minutes. I was polite and said simply, "All I've had is water, let's just call it a miss." Her response was a very reasonable request to get the order right, to which I obliged, and a fresh (nearly correct) meal arrived quickly. She then stood at the table while I took a bite to make sure "this one's hot enough" and then handed me the check.
No apologies, no admission of a mistake, and so I left no tip. It was the first time I've left less than 20% in longer than I can remember. I eat a burger so rarely that it's not somewhere I ever need to go back to, but what would you do in this situation?
