Tips at Restaurants and Cafés
We have been asks about tipping in restaurants and there is no perfect answer for this, but here are some facts that will help you make up your mind for yourself.
When visiting a restaurant or café the first thing to do is look at the menu, you should find something at the bottoms telling you about the taxes. Some restaurants will say “Government or Tourist Board Taxes included” and might also write “service tax included” other might only write “all taxes are included in the prices”. What this basically means is that the price includes a 10% service charge. So does this mean you bill includes that tip? Well yes and no.
I believe a tip to be something we give to the waiter or waitress for the service they have offered, in the above case the service charge does not go to the staff, well not directly, it might go to them in terms of a salary or at least form part of their salary. So is salary enough? Well in Cyprus most restaurant staff is paid reasonably well, by this I mean that it’s not like some other countries where they receive a very low salary and make the majority of their income from tips.
So do you tip? Well ultimately the choice is yours, what I normally do is I decide based on the service and care I receive from the staff. If I am happy I will include a 10% or 15% tip on top of the bill but if I am not happy with the service, I just pay the bill.
