I hardly think one poor review is 'trying to put the restaurant out of business'. Are we only allowed to say positive things?
Thanks OP for sharing your experience. This is what discussion boards are for, sharing good and bad.

Harvest
 

Oh thanks SO MUCH for sharing that. So how many other restaurants have you suggested that everyone else boycott. Sorry but I’ve lost my patience with other people’s complaints about restaurants, businesses, and etc. Bottom line is that, for the most part, nobody cares about your birthday dinner experience. Having said that, it is great that you didn’t punish the server by stiffing them on the tip, which is the usual ending to this type of useless post.

It was some months back that the wife and I ate there. The server was very friendly and attentive however, the food was mediocre at best and over priced for what it was. Haven't been back.

My statement is self-explanatory to anyone willing to see it. " I am puzzled by the 30% tip. This absolutely sounds like a server failure by your description. Sounds like you encouraged poor service with a generous tip."

I don't get it. I would encourage anyone who has a bad experience in a restaurant to write a post about it. Those who had a good experience will counteract a negative post as they have in this thread. Why are people trying to censor negative restaurant posts?

There are many people in TV that are willing to accept poor service and just write it off as staff shortage or large crowds due to high season. Personally, I tip well for good, or even reasonable service, and not at all for bad service.

30 percent tip is stupid, even if the service is great. Not a way to send a message for your bad service.

The server cannot bring out food that isn’t cooked. The OP never said the food was cold so it sounds like it was served as soon as it was ready. Why should they penalize the server if the backup was in the kitchen? Why should they penalize the server if they had more tables than they could handle? Wouldn’t that be the management? People here are much too quick to jump to a conclusion on a very limited set of information. There is too much entitlement and not enough kindness.

I agree. At 30 percent, the server is making more money on the meal than the restaurant owner because the server doesn't pay for the food or any of the restaurant overhead. And, I don't think that the server should be totally unaccountable for working in a restaurant that provides bad service.

People want to work. They just don't want to work for minimum wage and pooled tips, for a boss who only schedules them 2 four-hour shifts a week, one of of which is mid-day on Monday (which means no customers and no tips). I don't blame them.

Stop! If a number of us want to tip 30 percent it is NONE of your business. We have eaten there more then 20 times and never had a problem. How often have you had dinner at Harvest? There service is consistently great!

It's even more nefarious than that. I've worked as a waitress in a few full-service restaurants, and at a summer resort.

Here's what happens when people over-tip:

The management/owner sees the receipts. Credit card tips are monitored. If they see a trend of high percentage tips, it justifies them paying their employees sub-minimum wage - which is LEGAL. How it works in Florida:

Minimum wage is $11/hour in Florida. Except for servers. For them, it's $7.98/hour. Let's round that up to an even $8/hour. That's $3 less per hour than other hourly workers in the state.

So let's say the server is getting an average of $2 per table in tips - and they have 4 tables per hour, for four hours. That's $32 per shift in tips. It also means their ACTUAL hourly pay averages the $8/hour server minimum, plus $8/hour in tips = $16/hour. Since that's $5/hour more than the NON-server minimum wage, the employer can justify never paying their employees better than that server wage of $8/hour.

The more they earn, the more justified the employer is in never giving their servers a raise. That means - employees working slower shifts where they might not see more than $5 in an entire shift (like Monday opening shift at some places), will always earn less than the $11/hour non-server wage.

If everyone tipped according to the old-school "standard" employers would likely pay their servers more to begin with, because they won't assume customers will help their servers "make bank" in tips. This hurts new employees who just aren't trained well enough yet, or have enough experience yet, to hustle for those extra bucks. And that causes a lot of turnover, which puts more pressure on the seasoned employees to pick up the slack, which causes burnout, which causes turnover.

As someone who has worked in the service-for-tip industry, I tip how I was taught to expect being tipped:

15% for just doing my job, nothing more or less.
18% for doing my job well, and demonstrating efficient problem-solving skills.
20% for going above and beyond the job description.
0% if I did something actually BAD enough to get management involved.

A real first world problem. I wonder what the average Ukrainian had.

If the tip amount is nobody's business, and they don't want comments about it, then why do they post it on a public forum?

Read below from the OP. 20 minutes to be approached the first time? How do you blame that on the cook? The server could have at least come to the table and said I will be with you as soon as I can (basic skill for a server). I don't tip well for bad service whatever the cause. But I guess I am just unkind. Sheesh.

"Was only approached after about 20 minutes. Between the time the appetizer and dinner order was taken and served, it was at least 45 minutes, maybe longer."