Even if a group of people dine at small tables, an additional 18% will be charged. Tippers refuse to pay and are blacklisted.

Grouplos angeles Diners claim they areHalloween That night, a popular restaurant in Little Tokyo was put on the “blacklist” because they refused to pay the 18% service charge that is automatically charged for large group meals.

According to the California Post, the dining brawl happened at Jinkook, a Korean restaurant in the busy Little Tokyo business district in downtown Los Angeles. It is said that when six friends went to eat, the restaurant could not seat them at the same table immediately and they had to wait for a long time.

Instead, the group agreed to split into two tables and seat three people at each table. He said that different waiters were deployed at both the tables. However, when the bills for the two tables arrived, the diners claimed that the restaurant still treated both tables as one large meal group and charged extra on both bills.tip . Diners questioned the additional cost. According to the report, in fact, restaurants in the Los Angeles area have recently been charging customers various additional fees, and related controversies have also attracted attention.

According to reports, after protests from the group of diners, the waiter finally agreed to cancel the charge, but did not forget to make a sarcastic comment before leaving. The atmosphere between the two parties was quite unpleasant.

According to one of the dissatisfied diners, the restaurant staff said in a stern tone: “Okay, this time we won’t charge you, but next time you can’t come here again, we will blacklist you.”

The disgruntled diner shared the shocking experience on Reddit’s r/FoodLosAngeles forum. The post quickly spread online, sparking heated debate over tipping culture, restaurant charging policies and whether a group of six people should be considered one large dining group even when seated at separate tables.

The poster wrote: “Once the bill issue is resolved, we fully intend to pay the usual tip of 15% to 18%. We believe that since two tables are dining completely independently, restaurants should not charge large group service charges.”

The poster continued, “I’m really confused. Is it reasonable for a restaurant to charge large group service fees like this? It makes me think that if I go to this restaurant and meet someone I know sitting at another table, can the restaurant also use this as an excuse to charge us this fee?” The customer claimed that when the waiter returned with the correct bill, he continued to defend the restaurant’s practices.

According to reports, the Reddit post sparked heated discussion on social media. A netizen thought: “Since it is divided into two tables, the restaurant’s attitude is really strange. If everyone can’t sit together, it can no longer be considered a large dining group.”

Another netizen criticized the restaurant for punishing customers who cooperated with the seating arrangements. One netizen wrote: “If you are not sitting together as a large group, you should not charge a large group service charge. If you are willing to sit separately, you are actually helping the restaurant solve the problem of insufficient seats.”

There are also some Reddit netizens who do not completely agree with the customer’s position. One netizen joked: “18%? If it were me, I’d also thank the restaurant for saving the 2% tip.” The implication is that compared to the usual 20% tip, the automatic addition of 18% is actually quite cost-effective. Other netizens support the practice of automatically adding tips in large groups, believing that this regulation can protect the income of waiters, especially when ordering complex food and requiring separate checkout, etc., so that waiters may not get proper tips after being busy with services.