Emilio's Italian Restaurant

Our gratuity policy is posted in every menu
in the restaurant.  It states: “For your
convenience, a 20%gratuity will be added to parties of six or more and a 25%
gratuity for separate checks.”  Most
restaurants do not even allow separate checks for small tables, let alone...

large
groups.  We provide a convenience to our
customers by allowing separate checks which are extremely time consuming and
taxing on the servers to keep track of everything for each individual as well
as handwrite all of the individual checks. 
Much more effort is put in by the servers at the convenience of the
customer.  Also, we only charge a 25%
gratuity for groups of 15 and above.  Sales
tax was simply not added on top of the gratuity, as it never is.  The checks are always added with sales tax
first, then gratuity is added in last.  Please
note, the sales tax in the City of [redacted] is relatively high, 11.3%, but we
do not make the tax laws, we simply must abide by them. 
The original deposit was made for $200.00.  The only reason for loss of deposit is not
showing up for the reservation, or having more than 3 people short of the
quoted number of guests.  In this case,
if we yield to the lower end of his number of guests, 28, then they were 5
people short, but the tables were set for 31 people, taking up a significant
amount of space unnecessary for the group to use.  This resulted in the owner turning away 3
groups of5+ people because the space was being utilized improperly by the 23
people, when it was set for 31 people. 
Normally, the whole deposit would be a loss, but we were kind enough to
return $75.00 of it against our own policies. 
Although, the complainant did speak with
the manager indicating a group of 28-31, down from their original reservation
of 40 people, the manager never said everything would be fine as long as they
had at least 20 people.  He called the
restaurant to change the number of people in the reservation because the
manager had indicated that he needed to do so before the day of the event. 
In addition, I would like to note that the
complainant was an absolute embarrassment to himself and the group he
represented.  He was screaming and
yelling, using foul language in the dining room where there were other patrons
trying to enjoy their dinner.  Patrons
were clearly disturbed and outraged that someone would behave in this manner in
a fine dining setting.  He continually
yelled at servers and the owner repeatedly calling him a pig, all the while,
the staff remained calm and spoke with him at a reasonable volume.  He disrupted every aspect of our dining room
and refused to calm down.  In the end, we
asked him to leave.
Please let me know if you need any
additional information, as I would be happy to answer any questions.  I have also attached a scan of our menu indicating our gratuity policy.

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear
I spoke to management the Saturday before our arrival & indicated my headcount was 28-31 & that # could go down from there by approximately another 5 or 6 depending on illnesses. We are an older group. [redacted] indicated that should not be a problem as long as we were 20 or more. As far as the gratuity is concerned, go on their web site & you will find no posting of the gratuity policy. The policy is hidden on the dessert menu & not posted on every page of the menu. The addition of this magnitude of tip is ironic as the wait staff was both inattentive & it took two hours for our dinner to be served. We were 23 people & no one remembers seeing the gratuity policy.How can 23 people miss this well posted policy. This venue is a large groups worst nightmare. Please reference other people's comments on [redacted] as to how they were treated. Shame on me for not knowing about [redacted] before we booked
Regards,
[redacted]

Review: Owner charged an unposted gratuity of 25% on all of our checks & than added sales tax on the gratuity. In addition deducted $125.00 from our deposit for 5 no shows. Spoke to manager the Saturday before our dinner & indicated that we thought our # would be 28 but that we could be fewer. She indicated no problem as long as we were 20 or above. We were 23. Read [redacted] reviews & this seems to be a common occurrence. Shame on me for not knowing about [redacted]Desired Settlement: Require to post gratuity policy. Require contract on deposits

Business

Response:

Our gratuity policy is posted in every menu

in the restaurant. It states: “For your

convenience, a 20%gratuity will be added to parties of six or more and a 25%

gratuity for separate checks.” Most

restaurants do not even allow separate checks for small tables, let alone large

groups. We provide a convenience to our

customers by allowing separate checks which are extremely time consuming and

taxing on the servers to keep track of everything for each individual as well

as handwrite all of the individual checks.

Much more effort is put in by the servers at the convenience of the

customer. Also, we only charge a 25%

gratuity for groups of 15 and above. Sales

tax was simply not added on top of the gratuity, as it never is. The checks are always added with sales tax

first, then gratuity is added in last. Please

note, the sales tax in the City of [redacted] is relatively high, 11.3%, but we

do not make the tax laws, we simply must abide by them.

The original deposit was made for $200.00. The only reason for loss of deposit is not

showing up for the reservation, or having more than 3 people short of the

quoted number of guests. In this case,

if we yield to the lower end of his number of guests, 28, then they were 5

people short, but the tables were set for 31 people, taking up a significant

amount of space unnecessary for the group to use. This resulted in the owner turning away 3

groups of5+ people because the space was being utilized improperly by the 23

people, when it was set for 31 people.

Normally, the whole deposit would be a loss, but we were kind enough to

return $75.00 of it against our own policies.

Although, the complainant did speak with

the manager indicating a group of 28-31, down from their original reservation

of 40 people, the manager never said everything would be fine as long as they

had at least 20 people. He called the

restaurant to change the number of people in the reservation because the

manager had indicated that he needed to do so before the day of the event.

In addition, I would like to note that the

complainant was an absolute embarrassment to himself and the group he

represented. He was screaming and

yelling, using foul language in the dining room where there were other patrons

trying to enjoy their dinner. Patrons

were clearly disturbed and outraged that someone would behave in this manner in

a fine dining setting. He continually

yelled at servers and the owner repeatedly calling him a pig, all the while,

the staff remained calm and spoke with him at a reasonable volume. He disrupted every aspect of our dining room

and refused to calm down. In the end, we

asked him to leave.

Please let me know if you need any

additional information, as I would be happy to answer any questions. I have also attached a scan of our menu indicating our gratuity policy.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear

I spoke to management the Saturday before our arrival & indicated my headcount was 28-31 & that # could go down from there by approximately another 5 or 6 depending on illnesses. We are an older group. [redacted] indicated that should not be a problem as long as we were 20 or more. As far as the gratuity is concerned, go on their web site & you will find no posting of the gratuity policy. The policy is hidden on the dessert menu & not posted on every page of the menu. The addition of this magnitude of tip is ironic as the wait staff was both inattentive & it took two hours for our dinner to be served. We were 23 people & no one remembers seeing the gratuity policy.How can 23 people miss this well posted policy. This venue is a large groups worst nightmare. Please reference other people's comments on [redacted] as to how they were treated. Shame on me for not knowing about [redacted] before we booked

Regards,