Just a Tip- Little ideas to really get into the culture of dining well.

I feel very passionate about restaurants. An intricate part of any restaurant is its waiting service. These dedicated individuals we call waiters, do much more then just serve us our food. They are in charge of creating an experience that we will either love or hate, the very future of their restaurant rides on how well they can accomplish their goal. I having been a server for about 2 years, can identify with these unsung heroes.

Little known fact about servers in utah, they are only paid $2.15/hr and everything else is made up for in tip. That is shocking to some to learn, you can see why it is important to always leave a tip with your server. Their very lives, and the lives of those who depend on them are hanging in the balance with each check.

My general rule is that; regardless of service rendered, I always leave as a base %15 percent. A lot of people in utah tend to think that %15 percent is a good tip, this is false. If the server gave great service and you think they deserve a good tip, try %30 percent. If that makes you a little uncomfortable, try thinking of it as a charitable donation. Utah is renowned for it low tipping  it could be because of the large LDS culture, they are generally very frugal and they deal a lot with %10 so.

What ever your personal belief may be, please leave your servers good tips, they are depending on you.
There are advantages to being a good tipper. The biggest one is that if you return, you could get the same server, and this time they are more likely to render even better service than before. They could even throw in some free stuff just to sweeten the deal. It pays, to pay well.