eating out in Paris, London, Cotswolds

Hi Ellen, It is my understanding that for the most part, unless you have table service, you don't tip in Europe. But if you have table service, a small tip is OK. I think they pay wait staff better in Europe than in the USA, so the wait staff in Europe isn't living off tips like they are in the States. We left a 10% tip on top of our bill at one restaurant in London we ate lunch at for the server. We even tip the taxi driver, we had a 4 pound fare and I just gave him 5 pounds and told him to have a good day. If I can do something small like that to brighten the day of a London cabbie I'll do it. They are pretty amazing and when you hold out your hand they turn on a dime to pick you up. Pretty cool.

I dont know where you guys go. But generally i have found in both England (including London and Cotswolds) and France (paris) restaurants the bill will state "Servis compris ' or "Servis non Compris" (or the English equivalent). In Europe the suggestion from travel guides was also to leave a few additional coins which I generally do

On our recent trip to England we noticed that most restaurants added a 12.5% "optional" service charge. We were careful to look for it before adding any more. We usually rounded up to 15% but not much more.

Some restaurants in Britain add a service charge top your bill. If they do, there is absolutely no need to "round this up", unless you have received exceptional service going beyond serving your food. The usual service charge is 10%, but you may find a higher rate in London and in more expensive restaurants. The service charge is always optional, but you are expected to provide an explanation if you decide not to pay it. If there is no service charge, then the rate for tips is usually 10%. You may like to read the tipping policy at Cafe Rouge, a large U.K. cafe chain. You can find it at www.caferouge.co.uk/servicecharge. At some restaurants, all tips are passed to a "tronc", where they are distributed among staff according to a particular formula. In two places I have been recently in Britain, the policy has been "all tips received are shared and distributed equally at the end of each shift among all the staff who have worked that shift". That means the cooks and dish washers all get a share. It is my impression that tipping in the U.S. is much more of an individual thing between diner and server than it is in the U.K. or Europe generally.