Separate Bar and Dining Checks

Once upon a time, after having a cocktail at or in the bar prior to dinner, one was simply escorted to their table by the hostess with a simple "your table is ready Mr. or Ms. ...".

In recent years and again this weekend it was "your table is ready please cash out in the bar and then we will show you to your table".

I have been told on occasion that the dining waitstaff refuses to tip out the bartender for his contribution to our evenings enjoyment (so we are going to inconvenience you instead) I really hate to get out the credit card at the bar and I need a receipt or would otherwise pay cash. This takes time and the rest of the party must wait.

Can anyone shed more light on this and why it was once standard practice to just move to the dining room and now it has become a sin to ask to do this? Am I missing something?

It sounds like the places you have been have had bad standards-and-practices in place.

First, let me say that the guest should always be able to transfer a bar tab to thier table.

That being said, it must be done with aplomb and with correct proceedure, so that the bartender gets thier fare share of the tip.

a) The host staff notifies the bar of the server and table the guest is being seated at.

b) The bar prints 2 copies of the bill- one for the server & manager to make the transfer, the second with the server's name written on it.

c) During the checkout proceedure, the server then tips the bar a percentage based upon the percentage they made on the table. The amount of the check is deducted from thier sales, so as not to tip the bar twice.

It's not iron-clad, but good enough to make everyone happy.

Hope that helps!

It seems universal now. I don't press the issue. I'm disappointed they don't just do it.

I'll bet my next visit to Majid's it's not a problem, but you already have a reputation for the best hospitality in town. I will be visiting next month. I look forward to meeting you.

In my days managing a restaurant, this situation was related to the inability of the POS system to transfer the check from the bar to the server rather than the server not wanting to tip out the bartender. I'd guess most POS systems today have the ability to do this; it may just be too complicated for the parties involved to want to deal with.

I agree that you should be able to transfer the check. We manage it and we hand write checks. Of course we are not as busy as some places, so we can keep it straight.

I have been told on occasion that the dining waitstaff refuses to tip out the bartender for his contribution to our evenings enjoyment (so we are going to inconvenience you instead)

That may have been what you were told by a bartender, but from my experience it's really that the bartender wants the full tip form you vs. a partial tip from the servers tip out. They don't want to do the work and for the server to reap the reward of their tip from the drink portion off the bill. I totally agree with you on it being an unnecessary inconvenience.

Jaime's 100% right here. Stephen's scenario is a perfect world ideal, but not the way it is in most establishments. This is the first I've ever heard of a checkout calculation for bartenders at the end of the night, although it sounds like a very fair system. Truth be told, as a restaurant manager in the past, I was guilty of asking patrons politely if they cared to settle at the bar first. It wasn't a contingent, just a suggestion. And no offense at all intended, I'm sure the OP's intent was honest, but this is not a new thing. It at least dates back twenty years as far as I know. There will always be debate about it, but I could care less about the minor inconvenience most of the time, and if it really does turn out to be an inconvenient time to check out with the bartender, in a perceptive place you'll find they put you out of your misery by either insisting your bill is transferred or seating you and bringing your closed check to the table after you're seated.

Points #1,2, and 3: lighten up and be a little flexible.

It is such a better experience to just be taken to your table! This all does have to do with who keeps the gratuity on the sale. Better restaurants figure this out, definitely.

Stephen D and Will Crawford after reading about both of your places and especially how you have written on this board how they are run, they are both on my short list!

I've been asked to close out my tab because of a shift change while sitting at the bar. This has happened 5-6 times at a pretty new place in town over the last few months.

I've been asked to close out my tab because of a shift change while sitting at the bar. This has happened 5-6 times at a pretty new place in town over the last few months.

Seems like this is the bottom line:

It is easier to have the customer close out his/her tab than,

1) navigate the POS system
2) trust your co-workers.

There's been a common theme on this board over a few recent posts. And what that theme boils down to is server behavior doesn't always align with the practices of the establishment because the servers don't completely value these practices. We can talk about proper standards-and-practices all we want. But such standards-and-practices don't always account for reality. If the server/bartender wants his/her money and he/she wants it now, the easiest way to get that money is by extracting it from the customer.

If that money walks away from the bar, it might not come back to the bar. That seems to be thinking that's driving these actions.

It is such a better experience to just be taken to your table! This all does have to do with who keeps the gratuity on the sale. Better restaurants figure this out, definitely.

Stephen D and Will Crawford after reading about both of your places and especially how you have written on this board how they are run, they are both on my short list!

Beth, please introduce yourself when you come in. I look forward to meeting and serving you.

You know, it really doesn't happen as much as one would think.

Many people prefer to pay the bar directly (I suspect many of these folks are also the people who pay by credit card and tip in cash.)

The process can also be helped along (especially on bigger tabs) by keeping a copy of the bill in front of the guest on the rail. That way they have the option and it doesn't interupt the experience.

Some people simply go directly to thier tables without a mention. That's cool too- you just have to be ready to accomidate these folks.

Denny Crum's table did this the first time. Not on purpose, but because everyone was buying everyone else drinks. One of the tabs got lost in the shuffle and the bar didn't catch it until later in the evening. Not the ideal bar transfer from an execution standpoint, but the system still worked.

Two weeks later they came back again with another large group and had another great meal. The gain for the restaurant is thousands of dollars in revenue and the pleasure of patronage by Coach.

The potential loss to the restaurant is greater because of what? Selfishness?

Screw the pennies- dollars buy diapers.

Tim and Beth: I look forward to meeting you both! As always, announce yourselves so we can fawn over you a little...

Beth, please introduce yourself when you come in. I look forward to meeting and serving you.

I will! We will be looking to head out there in the next month or so!

Tim and Beth: I look forward to meeting you both! As always, announce yourselves so we can fawn over you a little...

We will introduce ourselves when we make it in. Hoping it is soon!

As always, announce yourselves so we can fawn over you a little...

Hey Stephen, are you working the bar tomorrow night?