Restaurant Tipping in Toronto

How much are you supposed to tip in Toronto?  Well, I think the take home message for me is that if you tip how you would in the US, you'll be more than covered.  Other than that there is a lot of debate on how much you should tip in different circumstances.

I see some people tip 10%, some 15, some 20. Some tip on the total including tax, some before tax, and of course you even get the with or without wine debate.  Three things to keep in mind when deciding what you want to tip:  (1)  While the minimum wage is high in Toronto, servers don't make wages here like they do in some places in the world like Australia.  Therefore, tipping isn't just a nice gesture, they depend on it as a wage. (2)  Servers make around $10/hour, now if you just moved from NYC you think this is crazy since servers make $2.60/hour in NYC.  If you were going to tip 20% in New York knowing they make almost nothing per hour, would you still tip 20% in Toronto considering the wage difference?  (3)  Taxes here are 13% compared to say 8.875% in New York City.  If you are going to tip on top of taxes, just keep that in mind that the bill is already more than 4% higher.

Personally I usually tip a little under 20% after taxes and including wine unless the service was awful or fantastic in which case I adjust up or down.  I feel uncomfortable under 15% unless the service is poor, but I don't tip a full 20% for the last two reasons I mention above.