Can you add a tip to a restaurant bill when paying w/credit card?

Sorry, can't help. I've never used a credit card to pay for a meal in Germany. In my experience, places that take cards already charge too much.

You are correct. I have not seen a line for a tip in Europe. Since the tip custom is different in Europe I have the feeling that if you add something to the credit card, the waiter may not see. It is not that big deal to carry a few coins and leave them.

My husband has done this in the UK and Austria and the Scandinavian countries- they all had tip lines.

Hi Tom - We just got back from Italy and they do not have the tip line when charging at restaurants. We would usually just leave a few Euros for a tip. However if there was a cover and service charge we didn't tip (unless the service was spectacular). Just remember tipping in Europe is very different. Make sure to read up on the customs for the country you're going to. Have fun!

I'm not sure the responses I've received so far understand my intent... I have been caught without any coins, or only small ones, less than one or two Euro and wanted to leave two or three Euros on a 50 or 60 Euro tab. In fact when we are getting 50 and 20 Euro bills from the ATM, I often find it hard to keep smaller bills and change in my pocket.

I was hoping there was a way to add a small tip when I'm caught without small coins. Tell the server when you hand them the card to charge an amount above the actual bill? Anyone tried that?

Tom - I have been able to add the tip on if I tell the server beforehand that this is what I want to do. We've done this several times over the past few years, in some European city or another, but can't actually remember where. But I will say that the last time we were in France (March 08), we visited with my daughter and friends who were from various countries. They advised us that we were FAR too generous in our tipping and that we really were supposed to only leave the "change" or a few Euros. We still tended to tip more than they thought we should but we did try to plan to have small change to tip with or to pay cash and therefore get some change.

I think it may depend on the size of the restaurant. Many small places simply cannot afford the credit card fees, and so it is easier for them to just take cash.

A large, decent sized restaurant is going to be doing the credit cards electronically, with programmed registers, etc. I have pretty much always seen a space for the tip. I write the amount in and add it myself and write the total in.

If you need change for your 20 ask your server, they will have change for it. Do not leave change on the table.

Unless service was crappy, I pretty much always tip 10 %. This is normal in a large city. If you are out in small towns, you might drop it down, but I would probably tip the same as I always have. A lifetime of working in the restaurant business both here and in America means knowing what it really is like on the other side.

Thanks everyone. I will say that in my limited experience charging meals ( I do usually pay cash), in Paris, Munich and Rome, I never saw a "tip" line on the credit card slip.

All this was triggered by a memory of a restaurant in Munich and exceptional service, where I wanted to be a bit more generous than I normally was and the scrooge in me won out when I had nothing smaller than a 10.

Hey Tom,

We just got back, and it was really miss, more than hit with a tip line on the credit slips. A couple places in Ireland and Austria yes, most places no. Hope that helps. Chris

Just got back from Berlin. As I recall, there was only one restaurant that had a tip line on the credit card receipt. I added 3 Euros because the service was good. The three Euros were billed separately to my credit card, for some reason.

I think this was a somewhat upscale restaurant, compared to the others I patronized.

I paid for a lot of meals on my credit card in France and Italy, more and more places are accepting them because of American tourists. I didn't a have a tip line on ANY of the receipts. I either left what coins I did have, asked the server to break a larger bill or sorry to say, I couldn't leave a tip. May restaurants charge a "coperto" or a cover charge of a couple euros or a 12% fee and this should be considered a built in tip. You don't need to leave anything beyond that unless you felt the service was amazing, which it generally isn't. European servers are paid a better wage then in the States so less of their income is determined by the tip.

A tip is something that is given to the server and a service charge on a bill is going to go to the restaurant. Your server does not see that 12% or 9% service charge that is printed on your bill.

Wait staff and kitchen staff in the EU countries do earn a decent wage (but it isn't a high wage, so yes, they do appreciate tips), with health care and insurance and vacation time and all of these things are built into the pricing structure of the menu items and that little service charge you see. This helps the restaurant pay those required benefits. So, please go ahead and give your server a couple of euro if the service was good.

Jo beat me to my comment. In restaurants other than the tourist places, if you want to leave a tip, it should be done in cash and given directly to the waiter as a personal gesture. Even leaving the tip on the table without acknowledging the waiter is "incorrect". While service is generally included in the bill and a tip is not mandatory as in the US, a small token can be a nice gesture. As for not having small change and bills, restaurants, for me, are a prime source for breaking those 50 euro bills. I very rarely ever use a credit card in a restaurant, and the smaller places I go probably would not appreciate it, if they accept them at all.

Wow. Now I feel stupid, I was completely misinformed. Not many restaurants I ate at had the 12% charge but I guess I did stiff the waiter at a few places. I feel bad now being a server myself :-(

Melissa, Do not feel bad, even if it is not broken out, the service charge is in the cost of the food. The tip I am speaking of is not the 15 to 25% expected in the US, but literally the coins from rounding up to the next euro, plus maybe another euro, so maybe a Dollar or Two, and even that is disputed by many Europeans as unecessary. Myself, I reserve it for a memorable meal where maybe the waiter helped me out with the menu or spent other time with me. There are now though many restaurants that focus on the tourist trade that have found Americans tipping to be a good income source, going so far as to note "Service Not Included" and even expecting that if you are a tourist you will tip. These places are best avoided, if not for the practice, at least for the mediocre food.