20% service charge?

...or farang ripoff?

I'm staying at the Chin House on Saladang Soi 1 and wandered out tonight to grab some dinner. The hotel guard recommended I go to a seafood restaurant across the steet, down about 40 yards.

It was one of those typical open-air affairs, low-end compared to the places like that you see in Phuket, with some seafood displayed on ice in front. I opted for some squid (garlic and pepper), mixed veggies, a beer, and a plate of rice. The squid sucked, the veggies were OK.

Total bill was 768 baht. I asked what the extra 20% line item was, it's service charge.

I gave them a 1,000 note and threw every last satang of change into my pocket and left. There's no way that place adds 20% onto every bill there, I just don't believe it. I could believe a 20% service charge added onto a bill at Gary Danko in San Fran but 20% at a streetside open air Thai 'restaurant' with plastic chairs? I've never heard of such, but maybe other board members find this common practice?

On a more positive note, the Chin House II is very nice...my room is really a small 1-bedroom apartment. Of course, they're charging $100 US a night....

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Rip-off.

It was one of those typical open-air affairs, low-end compared to the places like that you see in Phuket, with some seafood displayed on ice in front. I opted for some squid (garlic and pepper), mixed veggies, a beer, and a plate of rice. The squid sucked, the veggies were OK.

Total bill was 768 baht. I asked what the extra 20% line item was, it's service charge.

768 Baht for the fare you say you had??? The WHOLE thing was a rip-off never mind the 20% service charge ! My estimate is that the bill, without service charge, should have been about 300 Baht maximum including the beer.

BTW I hope you told the hotel security guard what you thought of his recommendation and where he should put it. :geek:

Well the PLUS PLUS system is common in more expensive places. 7 percent tax and 10 percent service charge, totally 17 percent. Such places almost always make this clear somewhere on the menu, so if you don't like it, you can leave.

That place sounds like a ripoff especially if the seafood dish in a seafood place sucked. Was it by weight seafood? Because those places are notorious!

[Brad the Impala]

This seafood restaurant is newly opened. I passed it several times at the beginning of January, and it was always empty, despite practically beseeching passing potential customers to go in. They are clearly getting desparate.

I got this information from Stickman - many restaurants now add an automatic service charge, and it's often described only in Thai so the innocent Westerner may add a tip as well. Read the totals carefully. If there's something that says 7%, that's the VAT (or whatever you want to call it). If there's another line with another %, that's the service charge, or tip. The S&P Restaurant chain follows this practice - I got one of the mem'sahibs to translate for me one day when I refused to leave any extra money for a tip (shock, horror!). Stickman's point was interesting - some (many?) restaurants are known for not passing on the service charge (aka. tip) to their staff. But then, doing each other down is somewhat of a hobby for many Thais

Interesting point.
I always look at the bill and if I see a service charge, I tend to still tip just a wee bit. Can't help it. But really why tip at all when they took it from your bill? If the owners don't pass on the tip, that kind of isn't our business. Its the workers business and they should be pissed off at their bosses, not the customers.