I seriously loved this post. You describe this topic very well. When hiring home contractors it is step to select a trusted name in construction. Experienced and efficient staff should shoot for excellence and seriously consider every detail of your dwelling.

David:

If you were drinking at the bar before your dinner, you should close out that tab (pay for the drinks and tip the bartender) at the bar before being transferred to the table. When your waiter/waitress transferred your drinks to the dinner bill, he/she was stiffing the bartender.

-Robot.

I think most people know what a decent tip is, unless they were born under a rock. Be as generous as you are able. But always leave a tip for good service. What's so hard about that? If you can't then make your own at home.

Sorry - the only place I know which serves very good drinks is 1300 Fillmore. I can taste the liquor especially in a pina colada. Most restaurants, it seems they just pass the bottle over the glass or pour a l/2 jigger if any in the drink. They expect you to order more. At 1300 Fillmore - it's decent drinks all around and the bartender does know how to make very good drinks.

For other restaurants, I order wine because then I know it's real liquor.

When I have a customer at the bar I try to remember that I have the opportunity to be the best part of their day. Friendliness and attentiveness go a long way in most cases. If someone is a really great tipper I try my best to comp them a drink or give them a "drink chip" for their next visit.
The people who tip more than a dollar per drink go a long way to offsetting the stiffs... and there are plenty of them! Thank you tippers!
As a bartender I tip the bar staff especially well when I go out. It comes back (usually from other bartenders)!

Watch a bartender in Japan use an ice-pick to form a block of ice into a perfect sphere for your drink (risking his bare hand)... then watch him refuse a tip.

Watch a bartender in the US take the cap off a bottle using a metal opener that breaks pieces of glass into your beer... then watch him hold out his hand for a tip.

When I hear of SF bartenders making 6-figure incomes (which I'm sure they pay taxes on all of it), it really encourages me to pre-game at home.

Bartenders remember the people that stand out, and treat them accordingly. The herd tips $1 per drink, or a bit more, which in SF works out to around 15 or 20%. Tipping more will move you to the front of the line. Tipping less will move you to the back.

Twenty percent? I call "tip creep," and I cry foul.

The standard tip rate for food and drink is customarily 15%, and has been for decades. With prices edging inexorably upward, bartenders and bar waitresses aren't being stiffed by customers like me, who insist on sticking to the standard percentage. It's time to drive a stake into the heart of this "20%" nonsense.

I also refuse to tip more than $1 a drink. No matter how "frou-frou" a drink is, a bartender's job is no more difficult than a high school chemistry student's lab session. It consists of measuring and mixing stuff. Big deal. It's not as though bartenders work up a sweat or face safety hazards...

Airport bars are a ripoff, but that's the same as airport food, so I still tip a buck to the poor folks who have to work there. It might help make up for the Europeeons.
If you don't want to tip there, wait till you get on board before drinking. I've tried to tip the stewardess, but they don't take tips.
BTW, Royal Jordanian Air rocks. Since most Muslims don't drink, they pour from full size liquor bottles and are not stingy. Not much choice though, Johnny Walker or Vodka.

I tip pretty well at a bar but I have to admit, I'm pretty stingy when it comes to bottled beer especially at the bar. I don't think there has been adequate service to merit a whole dollar for popping off a top and placing it at me. The beer price is already jacked up as is. Draught, they get a glass, manage the head, pour some extra, an it's 16 ounces. I'll give a dollar.

Also, I agree with the tipping for good service, friendly attitudes, all the extras. Sadly, I do think SF bars are too commercial to kick back a little unless you really know the guy. Being very friendly always works for me though! And, I expect to be frowned upon for Frenet or Jaeger bomz.

I have been in the industry for over 30 years and currently live in the non tipping country of Australia. Tipping has many levels depending on the surrounding, I don't give fatty tips in airports because I feel ripped off by the prices. In a corner bar having a few drinks and shooting pool I think a tip every couple of drinks is good or a couple of bucks per round. I also don't tip the owner, it;s like kissing your sister. I do think that it would be a great world if owners could pay their employees a living wage.

$1 per drink. In NY City local bars, it's very common to tip $1 and after 3 rounds thety bartender will buy you back a free drink. Not so much here in the bay area.

I like it when the communist party outlawed tipping in the soviet union. also in spain when the left wing took over, they outlawed tipping as being degrading. now in america tips are not appreciated, they are demanded.bartenders make good money. i've been a san francisco landlady for years and know how much bartenders and waitrons make in tips and salary. they all cry the blues. if they had their way, tips would be 25 percent of the bill.
I just got back from a tour of s.e. asia and Japan. there is no tipping in Japan, period. people do their job for the salary given to them. here in s.f. we have tour de day dilletantes with degrees who come here and become bartenders and waitrons because of the great tips they make. I don't waste my time or money with these economic parasites. I vacation overseas where I am appreciated and not a vassal of somebody who slings gin.

1 per drink, max $5 for first round. Bonus in the second round of the $1 per drink rule by adding $5 extra (regardless of whether it is one drink or 5) if the bartender actually remembers me from the first round. If on a tab containing multiple rounds, go to the 15% rule.

Unfortunately, bartenders in SF don't hold up their end of the tip protocol. When I tended bar in DC, three rounds from a tipping customer meant a discount on the 4th round. 5 rounds from a customer that tipped on every round meant a free drink. And I always kept an eye on the good tippers. Here, the bartender takes the tip and forgets who you are. Sad statement of the western U.S. culture of the profession, I think.

Take care of your bartender and he or she will take care of you.

I tip a dollar a drink, period. They are getting paid more than a waitress! It's a recession.

Also I'd say 50% of bartenders in San Francisco have a stanky attitude. Wonder if it's the Amy Winehouse drugs they're on? THAT is the unspoken backstory... drugged up bartenders acting surly and mean. Tweeking?

A dollar per drink and that's it.

Also, if am meeting friends at a bar where I know the bartenders are assholes, I order juice or coke and use my handy flask.

Bartenders reading this get a clue. We aren't your siblings, we're customers worthy of respect and a smile. If you act mean and surly over time your tips will decrease and your bar will close.

Remember the flask! We're using them.

It's really pretty simple; 1$ per drink is standard especially with generally inexpensive drinks in San Francisco. Compared to NY or LA prices, drinks here are SUPER cheap. 1$ per drink no matter how labor intensive the drink is for me is fine/fair, but usually people who appreciate good service will go over that/over board with gratuity and I know I certainly do when I'm at the bar having a drink or two. But I also have to contend with tipping kharma so I am probably overly generous.

I was at a venue last night, I didn't mention that I was a bartender but tipped heavily on the first round and for the rest of the night the bartender bought me a drink each time I came to the bar. I continued to tip heavily but for those cheap asses please know that generosity is often rewarded and you'll find your drinks will certainly come faster and stronger if you tip well.

Also worth noting that cheap and miserly isn't a very attractive quality to most people- and your friends and dates will notice. Bartenders as you can imagine have excellent memory. Think about all those drinks we have to remember, not to mention what our regulars drink.

It's not that tough. If you're paying cash, you tip at least $1 per drink as you go. If you have a tab open, you do about the same (if you remember how many you had) or 20%. You always tip, unless someone was overly rude or slow.

Any drink that requires more than two ingredients should be a $2 tip.
Making a pisco sour is a long process and when you receive a lousy buck, one should be a little upset.
Being a bartender is your job yes, but you are getting the cocktail or beer served to you.
The assholes that dont tip how bout you just go to your local liquor store and buy some beer or some "PATRON SHOTS".

David, the protocol is simple. Leave some money on the bar.
Why are articles like this necessary? We are not in fucking Europe, tipping is the custom here. If you are not ready to properly take care of the waitstaff, stay home with a can of Bud Lite. If you are unsure of the tip, add a buck or two. Will it hurt you? Pretty simple stuff. And I'm a client, not a server.

Every expert was once a beginner.
We've all had to learn somewhere at some time. Thanks for bringing up the subject.
I have been a bartender for five years, and when going out I have seen some down
right horrible bartenders -- especially in SF. They are either texting on their phones,
or talking with their friends at the bar, or for whatever reason too cool for a paying
customer. Attitude.
Some of the bartenders act like they are being interrupted. The bars that
go out of business may think it's because of the economy, or high rent, or not enough
customers. The real reason goes back to the very foundation of how I was trained to
becoming a bartender -- professional customer service. This means delivering a consistent
above average, friendly, well mannered experience to the customer. It means leaving
all personal problems back in the locker room, and giving the customer the best
possible experience so that they will remember and return. This goes to management and
who does the hiring. You may hire that great looking girl or that cool looking guy over
looking the fact that they lack genuine people skills. What are people skills? Acknowledging
the customer if you are extremely busy and that will you get to them in a moment. Never
rushing to the point where you look out of control. Smiling when greeting the customer.
Saying thank you like you mean it. If you look at the most successful bartenders,
they may or may not be good looking. What makes them memorable is the fact that
they attempt to make the one to two minutes with the customer a special moment -- not
necessarily being insincere, but more like welcoming the person to the business. In my five
years as a bartender, I've never walked out at the end of my shift with less than 20 to 25 percent
in tips, and this is after tipping out the staff -- and I ain't exactly what you call good looking.
I think it is the cynical people who are employed as bartenders who ruin a great profession for
those of us who look at it as our careers. nuf said. stan lee

I love when they ask bartenders or waiters how much to tip. I mean, what do you think they are going to say?

$2 per drink? I'll tip $1 or $2 a round, but that's it. Give me a break. For a bartender, making drinks is their job, not something extra they do that deserves something extra.

I usually tip $1 per drink except for water.
Europeans don't tip. When I went to Scotland and gave them a $5 tip for 5 drinks, they were so appreciative. They hooked me up all night.

What if you are at a concert and beer is 7 bucks? Does that mean I still have to tip a dollar on top of that price?

This isn't complicated. If you're at the bar it's a $1 a round, unless it's an expensive cocktail and then it can be a bit more, but $1 is still all that's really expected. If you're sitting at a table having dinner, you tip at the normal rate as the rest of the bill. The same goes for bottles of wine added to bill while having dinner.

I know proper manners and etiquette are a dying concept in this town, but it flabbergasts me that we have to have an article covering this very basic concept. What's next, "napkin usage"? "Why not to sit at a barstool that's in front of a drink with a coaster on top of it"?

"What I learned this week: the standard for tipping at the bar is $1 per drink."

^ I give 7x7 some props for at least promoting education to people who do not know the bare minimum social standards.

However, if the author just learned the above statement this week, she should not be writing this article.

Yes,Yes,Yes, its a buck a drink. Any mixed drink over $8 should most likely be $2.

If you like the server tip more. Its only an extra buck or two you and it really makes a huge difference for your server.

While I know many women who tip well, I see scores of women who in addition to thinking they should not pay for drinks, tip like a pauper.

Tipping shows class, character and appreciation. Being stingy makes your heart shrink.......DTM

I appreciate your curiosity in making sure that everyone gets taken care of ! .... I work in a high-end restaurant, at the end of the shift and after tipping out the host, the busser (or server-assistant), the bartender, the food runners and the stocker a certain percentage each of my sales, then I tip the cocktail person (whether it was the same bartender or a different worker) 10% of the transferred bar tab.

this article does a terrible job of answering the question. I am still left wondering...

Several times recently I've been at high-end restaurants where I have started with cocktails at the bar while waiting for my party. A staff member then takes our cocktails to our table and the drinks are included in our dinner bill. What is the protocol for tipping the bartender in this case, when I am not paying for the drinks at the bar? Is it customary that the bartenders at such establishments gets a cut of the dinner tips?