Food & Drink How much do you tip at cafes and restaurants?

[HouZzz]

Curious on the normal rate for tipping for cafes and restaurants here.

I'm from a non tipping country so I'm not used to it but I do around 10% here. Is that the norm?

Some of my Argentine gf family say I tip too much but my gf says they're just stingy with tipping.

 

[QuiloBa]

I do 10%, I know in theory Argentina isn't a tipping country, but considering how shitty people are paid, especially in the service industry I say it's part of the cost of eating out. (My husband thinks I tip too much and he's from here, but I remind him not everyone is as fortunate as we are)

 

[SeeLess]

15-20% usually

 

[RealLit]

10-20%
The big key to getting decent service here is being recognized as a regular customer.

When I was new in-country a local explained to me that it's the opposite of the USA. In America, we think, you give me good service first, and then I'll give you a nice tip. But she said if you are new in a neighborhood, and you plan on patronizing a restaurant regularly, you may have to leave a good tip the first few times, in spite of having gotten crappy service. Then, when they get to know you and that you will tip well, then you will get good service. It seems backward, but in my experience it does work.

Another thing that works against us is that going out to eat alone is less common here. So if you do come in alone, you are regarded with suspicion, like, "well, nobody sane would go out to eat alone if they had a friend, so this person doesn't have any friends, so they must be a complete asshole..."

 

[HouZzz]

I do 10%, I know in theory Argentina isn't a tipping country, but considering how shitty people are paid, especially in the service industry I say it's part of the cost of eating out. (My husband thinks I tip too much and he's from here, but I remind him not everyone is as fortunate as we are)

I thought it was a tipping country with restaurants and cafes?

Thanks for the responses. I feel 10% is a good amount and maybe a bit more if the service was amazing. I really hate tipping culture and everything it stands for. I'd rather people get paid a livable wage then make me play a guessing game of how much I should be paying for someone elses salary. But I get it, people in the service industry here earn terrible wages, and as a foreigner it's not that much skin off my back to give them something if they gave good service.

 

[OdGreen]

When eating by myself, I tip 15/20% to make up for the smaller bill. Otherwise it's a flat 10%.

Delivery guys get about 5%.

 

[QuiloBa]

Interesting, I think there are too distinct approaches -- (a) generous expat -- I can be generous and so I am; and (b) live like a local and follow their customs.

Both make sense under their own terms.

 

[RichardOne]

How does one rate "Good Service" for a cup of coffee ??. Time delay, glass of soda water, prompt bill presentation..? Quality not mentioned? I can't remember when I had good espresso here!

 

[Chesse]

I do 10% with decent service. People here don't tip very much. When someone says AR is not a tipping country, I think it's more like tipping is not completely uncommon (though Violet would know more than I) but it is small for the most part when they do tip. When I go out to eat with an AR friend, he or she also asks how much we should leave for a tip and at first were aghast at 10%. But it seems the more money and Argentino has (in general, not at the time), the more tip they leave as well.

Like most others posting here, I can't not tip, or just tip a tiny amount (except the one time I tipped a single peso because I tried for half an hour to get drinks at our table halfway through the meal and the waiter never brought them. When I paid and left 1 peso, the guy actually followed us out of the restaurant asking me if I realized I had only left a peso and I told him exactly why. It was a touristy/after-theater place near Corrientes and Montevideo named Chiquilin).

I can't help but think that 20% is a bit much (even in the States I felt that; my usual limit in the States is 15% unless the service is exceptional and the server makes me want to give him or her more). And here, when paying $2K tip for a $20K meal (and today in a just-decent place, my family pulls that kind of total), I think the waiter is pleasantly surprised and when we return, they always seem to remember us the next time.

 

[WesterCarlson]

I remember going to a new year's dinner event with some locals. It was expensive at a nice hotel. When we paid the bill the locals said they had paid enough for the experience and didn't even leave a tip. I didn't argue with them. Personally I would have left at least something even with the service being very poor.

 

[BeginNows]

We went to a Ramen & Sushi place last night. Our bill came at $6100. My husband wanted to leave $600 as a tip -- we literally ate two dishes (a roll of sushi - 6 pieces and a bowl of ramen). We argued on the tip amount and he closed the argument with "if you can't afford a 10% tip, don't go there or order something less expensive". I skipped dessert to save on the bill, and I wasn't keen to leave the money anyway for the tip.
In the end we left $400 as one item was billed $200 more than it was on the menu and we also paid for the cubierto! (The place did not offer what justified a cubierto charge in CABA).

The table next to ours, which also seated a couple, only left $100 as a tip. Their bill was definitely higher than ours as we ordered vegetarian meals and water. They certainly had fish or meat and a drank soda.
I come from a non-tipping country and for me, if you go to a restaurant with seating, someone has to do table service and should be taken into account when setting prices. When you start adding the cubierto, the tip and the random trapito, it makes me want to eat at home!

 

[earlyretirement]

I’ve always tipped 10% and if service is super and above and beyond the call of duty (which honestly almost never happens here) I will go 15%.