Let me start here with, I am a good tipper. I thoroughly appreciate those who bring me the food for my face. That being said, the tip has become something that it was never meant to be. The tip is expected nowadays. Many places take the authority and charge a “gratuity” for parties of 6 or more. Well, what about if it is a family who is made up majority of young children who are not charged to eat in the first place? We’re not talking about a party of adults out for lunch or dinner, this is a family with 4 or more children and half are not even charged in the first place.

A couple of nights ago my husband and I took our 4 daughters out to eat at a local hibachi restaurant for our oldest’s birthday. It was where she wanted to go for her birthday. We have been to this specific restaurant many times and more times than not received at least good service. This night, however, I was more disappointed than I have ever been. Our chef did none of the “show” that normally comes along with the service, he threw and hit my 5 year old straight in the eye with a shrimp because he did not wait to see if she was paying attention and ready to catch it, he served everyone and did not think twice about 2 of my children even though we made it clear that 2 of our children (who are to eat free per policy) were sharing with an older sibling, and to top it all off they asked, both he the chef and our server, if we were celebrating anything and we told them both it was our oldest’s birthday. In the end our oldest got to sit there and eat while just about every table around her sang Happy Birthday to someone at their table. Sure, the food was ok but the service for the first time ever was sub-par. Did I mention that I had to ask twice for my glass of wine? Yeah. The whole thing made me really think twice about tipping, as well as my favorite hibachi restaurant. 😦
EDIT: Let me just say, this is from December 9 that for some reason just posted.