I went for dinner time and wanted to try the spicy ramen. It was okay. There was more broth than…read moreanything, with not a whole lot of meat or other items, which was a little sad because the meat had a nice flavor. Noodles were nothing special, and broth was okay with a little spice. Overall, just 'okay'. I've had much better for similar prices.
What I did not like was when the check came. I was expecting a certain price, because I picked this place based on their online menu, which included the price of the ramen. I thought it was a fair price, so I decided to go there for dinner. Nowhere in the online menu did it say anything about an additional forced gratuity charge (photo included of receipt).
I asked the server what this forced gratuity was and if she got this or if it went to the company, and she said it's new, and it goes to all the food staff.
This left me very confused.... So, I'm tipping everyone at 15%? Does that mean all the other restaurant patrons are also tipping everyone 15%? Sounds to me like they are just forcing a 15% tip and dividing it equally among workers, which is fine, but then at the bottom it also had a 'suggested tip', implying that they wanted you to double tip the waiter/waitress. Or, is this just a 'worker fee' that they are handing off to the customer because the company doesn't pay their employees a livable wage? Either way, that's bullshit to me.
Normally, I would have tipped more than the 15% on my meal, usually leaving $4 if the service was good, $5 if it was very good. I really don't do the % game, I just give them $4-5 for their time with me as a single customer. But, if I'm already being charged $2.10, and I wanted to leave the difference of $1.90, I felt like that now made it look like I'm being cheap, so instead I just walked out and left it at 15% that they forced upon me and decided to write this poor review. I do NOT like forced gratuities, service fees, etc. What ever you call it, I don't like it. I'm not the only one, either.
As a restaurant, it's up to you to price your items appropriately up front so that YOU are able to pay your staff appropriately and NOT rely on deceptive hidden fees that only show up when the bill comes. I was very tempted to ask for the manager and ask for it to be taken off, but instead I just feel bad for the server and hope she either is making enough money from the 15% tip all, or finds a better paying job.
Instead, this wastes my time thinking about it, wastes the waiter's time trying to explain it, and makes the patrons feel bad about tipping. Shame on you Ichiban!
I don't expect to come back unless they reply to this telling me they stopped this deceptive practice.