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sushi lovers...etiquette question!

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Lunar Aura

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sometimes i order from my local sushi resturant for pick up and wondered with sushi, do you still tip even when you aren't dining in? i have been because i dont think sushi is the same as a normal resturant. basically its 2 guys doing all the work making the sushi. a friend posed the question "would you tip anyplace else for pick up" and no i wouldnt but for some reason it doesnt feel the same.
 
I would tip if its a place you go to regularly. And I think you've already answered your question by empathizing with the hard work of the chefs.
 
I don't tip the guy who makes my Big Mac...why would I tip a sushi chef?

Obviously I"m exagerating a little, but when do you EVER tip the chef? I mean, go to a crazy expensive place where a chef spends 10-15 minutes preparing your meal...you still don't tip him.

Further, a chef's salary is not lessened by his employer because he is expected to get tips (like waiters/waitresses are). So, no, I don't think there's a reason to tip.
 
Tipping is for exceptionally good service, which it sounds like you're getting.
Tip away.
 
yeah the food is priced extremely well too. its nuts. lunch combo is like 7 bucks for 15 peices. 100% cooked. i do the raw stuff for dinner. :D so tip i will! thanks!
 
Some people tip all the time for pick up. My brother worked in a italian restaurant where he took all the tips people left when the picked up food. He said the average amount left during a night was 15-20 bucks, one night there was $80 left. So tip away for sushi and if you're in a good mood.
 
sushi is the perfect food. think about it. jesus fed all those people with rice and fish or something like that. sushi is the food of god. :lol
 
If its a place where I know the food is going to be really good I usually WANT to tip, but have always wondered if the chefs even get it as it usually goes to the waitstaff.

They need to start giving you two boxes so you can tip the waitstaff and chefs differently.
 
yeah. try tipping and the restaurant staff will run after you in the street to return your tip. (they'd think you had forgotten your change)
 
Always tip sushi chefs at your regular place. Eventually they will get to know you and give you better cuts of fish. When I lived in Monterey the place I frequented would make random rolls for me based on the fish they know that I like if I didnt feel like ordering off the menu. They also hook me up with free tastes of whatever happens to be fresh that day. The waitresses would always hook me up with free Edamame and/or sake as well.
 
I don't tip for sushi when I pick it up and I dont see how having 2 chefs making sushis is any different than 2 guys working grills or over hot and greasy oil when you go pick up some fries, it's hard work in both cases.
 
Miroku said:
Always tip sushi chefs at your regular place. Eventually they will get to know you and give you better cuts of fish. When I lived in Monterey the place I frequented would make random rolls for me based on the fish they know that I like if I didnt feel like ordering off the menu. They also hook me up with free tastes of whatever happens to be fresh that day. The waitresses would always hook me up with free Edamame and/or sake as well.
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Yeah back when I was in Maryland there was a place that I used to go to at least 2 times a week and they would give me all sorts of free stuff, samples, and extras like red bean ice cream..... mmmmmm....
 
Malakhov said:
I don't tip for sushi when I pick it up and I dont see how having 2 chefs making sushis is any different than 2 guys working grills or over hot and greasy oil when you go pick up some fries, it's hard work in both cases.
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Back when I used to work fast food almost 20 years ago (damn I'm getting old I guess :lol)... we couldn't take tips at all.
 
My friend goes to our local Japanese place all the time, and they're always giving him free stuff. I'm very impressed whenever I go, as they're so friendly andthey have no problem helping us. For instance, we always get free sake (which I don't drink. yuck) even though we're 19, and they don't have any problems doing it.

It's probably due to the size of the tips they get from us though. They're always getting around a 35% tip from us when I'm there, and they freuently get more from my friend when it's just him gonig with his mother. I recall him telling me recently that the total one of the last times they were there was roughly $50, and they left them $100 and told them to keep the change.
 
Depends on what kind of sushi place. Most sushi places are run by Asians but no Japanese and they're really just restaurants. In those cases, tip the server for service.

In smaller places run by a real Japanese chef, tip goes to the chef. That's what I'd do anyways.
 
fugimax said:
I don't tip the guy who makes my Big Mac...why would I tip a sushi chef?

Obviously I"m exagerating a little, but when do you EVER tip the chef? I mean, go to a crazy expensive place where a chef spends 10-15 minutes preparing your meal...you still don't tip him.

Further, a chef's salary is not lessened by his employer because he is expected to get tips (like waiters/waitresses are). So, no, I don't think there's a reason to tip.
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Obviously you don't know shit. Kitchen staff do get tipped unless we're talking about the kind of joint that doesn't even ask for tip on the bill. The tip is based on the net sale, i.e. 1.5%. Just because you don't tip the chef directly doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Of course, chefs/cooks/etc. get tipped as much in a month the same a waiter would make in a week :lol Though to make up for this, they'll usually be making double digit wages while waiters won't.
 
Deku said:
Depends on what kind of sushi place. Most sushi places are run by Asians but no Japanese and they're really just restaurants. In those cases, tip the server for service.

In smaller places run by a real Japanese chef, tip goes to the chef. That's what I'd do anyways.
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What does being Japanese have to do with good sushi?
 
excuse my ignorance but what the hell is so hard about making sushi?

seems to me you just take the ingrediants and roll em up. I wouldn't pay extra for a chicken wrap or something. I have to imagine that there are far more difficult meals to create.

hell I'd think makin a pizza from scratch is harder.

edit: I see, well if tipping leads to free shit, go ahead.
 
slayn said:
excuse my ignorance but what the hell is so hard about making sushi?

seems to me you just take the ingrediants and roll em up. I wouldn't pay extra for a chicken wrap or something. I have to imagine that there are far more difficult meals to create.
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The thing is, if you fuck up a hamburger at McDonald's, you just fuck up the meat. If you fuck up a sushi roll, you fuck up every ingredient you used and waste it. It's all about consistent quality, and you can't just "roll em up" and do it right every time.

But yeah, nerds take their Japanese fetish too far and think if anything's Japanese, it's awesome. Sushi isn't really anything special and anyone could do it, it's just the consistency thing I've noted that takes skill.
 
Even with simple dishes there's a big difference between shitty preparation and skilled preparation... unless you truly don't care how your food tastes. It's not just a japanese fetish... well, not usually...
 
There's never a time when I don't tip at a restaurant, whether I go in and order take out, call ahead of time or eat in.
 
YellowAce said:
yeah. try tipping and the restaurant staff will run after you in the street to return your tip. (they'd think you had forgotten your change)
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damn skippy... :lol :lol :lol I have almost forgotten the art of tipping..
 
Naked Snake said:
I don't like sushi, I really wanted to like it but it just makes me want to gag.
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Its exactly the same thing with me. the first time i tried it was at school, my geography class was divided into groups to do a project on japan, so one of the groups brought in some of the traditional foods such as sushi. I thought that it would taste really good because its so poular, but when I tried it I spat it out into the bin. Luckily I was not the only one, a friend of mine puked!
 
You aren't confusing sushi with sashimi are you? Sushi is vinagered rice that may or may not be served with anything raw.
 
The tiny sushi place we used to go to all the time, we tipped there and were regulars at silly hours with our two favourite chef's. Now they've expanded and opened another one just down the street and we haven't been since then :(

It'd be interesting to see if those guys are still there.
 
But sushi seems quite popular, all my friends love it, and I like Japanese :p
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Have you experimented with a sampler platter? That's what I did to discover some of the sushi I enjoy, and I can say I don't care for much of it. Eel and crab are pretty safe.

Unfortunately this is Cleveland, and my neighborhood doesn't even have a Taco Bell - much less a sushi place. :lol

There was a pretty swank sushi joint up in the Markham area. I got caught checking out the cuties. :(
 
Hitokage said:
You aren't confusing sushi with sashimi are you? Sushi is vinagered rice that may or may not be served with anything raw.
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I've been wondering how sashimi tastes. Now, I'm a pretty big fan of most types of sushi, if that means anything.

Is the taste completely different, or very much the same?
 
Ecrofirt said:
I've been wondering how sashimi tastes. Now, I'm a pretty big fan of most types of sushi, if that means anything.

Is the taste completely different, or very much the same?
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well if you are already eating the raw fish sushi... as in a slice of raw fish on rice... then just take it off of the rice next time and you have sashimi
 
Except sashimi is thicker, isn't it? I don't know how that will affect the taste.

What types of fish are usually used with sashimi?
 
Ecrofirt said:
Except sashimi is thicker, isn't it? I don't know how that will affect the taste.

What types of fish are usually used with sashimi?
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same.. the classics are yellowtail, salmon, tuna...
 
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