Barnie's Coffee & Tea

My fiance and I had a restaurant.com gift cert ($25 off, after $35 spent). The waitress came by our table a total of one time, when she wasn't delivering food or the check. The prices are outrageous for the quality of the food, and without the gift cert we would have walked out the door after being served our waters. One waitress was covering about five tables, but everyone was constantly waiting. I was watching the other tables, and they were doing the same thing I was, constantly scanning for our non-existent service. This girl was sweet, but she should be working at Chick-Fil-A. She most certainly should not be working at a restaurant that charges around $15/plate. Wine selection was non-existent and not even discussed. Paper napkins......wow....I can go all night about this place. If I'm spending $50+ on an evening out I darn well better get some cloth napkins.

My kids went there for dinner. Dinner was $73.00 and they left a cash tip of $10. When they got home I checked bank and even though they left a cash tip, bank was holding $93.74. I called immediately and Donna the owner said that the "charge company" automatically holds extra to cover the tip. This is not true. The merchant has to manually enter the dollar amount so this is thier choice.



When I told her I didn't buy her story...she changed it again and said that she often gets stiffed for tips, so they add on the amount themselves. Didn't matter that my son left a cash tip. Didn't matter if the food was horrible or the service stunk. Gian Carlo's makes their own tip choices.



She tried to tell me the amount would "drop" when her batch settled. That didn't happen either. Our $73 bill which now turned to $103 because of the over charge and cash tip finally settled his bank for $88.12 which means that including the cash tip he paid $98.12 for a $73 meal. Not a bad score for Donna and her establishment. Pretty bad deal for my 16 year old son who is clearly on a budget.



This is not the first time this has happened and apparently others have experienced this same encounter.



So then what's the deal. If the service and/or food was horrible...would they still make sure their tip was included even if you did not authorize it? Remember this all happens AFTER you sign off on your ticket.