I live in a Asia where service fees of 10% are normal with no tipping culture.
I can see why people may think 18% is too much, but honestly tipping culture should just be gone entirely. Waiters shouldn't have to rely on customer tips, which can vary for different reasons even ones that may be outside their control, to earn a living wage.

Turns out my local casinos restaurant does this aswell but its called a forced gratuity.

Let the manager know that you won't be returning and make sure they understand why, then never return.

Those prices are bloody insane to begin with. >22$ plus tax for chicken wings??? I can eat for 3 days just for that.

There's already a service charge, why tip more?

It's great if they include it in the bill, it gets rid of the tipping culture. If they still ask you for tips then tell them to GTFO

I will bet you that the servers do not see a dime of this 18% service charge.

That's exactly why so many restaurants are adding service charges nowadays. It's a way to legally take tip money from servers.

You had a los Angeles woman for only 3.75?

So they think they are a hotel providing a venue and service? I worked in Hospitality as HR and the service charge made sense for the weddings and events we did... But a smaller restaurant using a 'service' tax that they most certainly do not feed back to the employees, is predatory.. and as the consumer eating out... I would be disinclined to tip now... If they really used the service tax for the employees, the tips would not be an option, because the staff would be adequately compensated... They wouldn't need toa sk for the tips... This restaurant wants it's cake and to eat it too

Oh, please help me on this.

I'm Italian and going on a trip to the western US in less than two weeks, and still haven't understood how to behave wrt tipping/service charge.

In my previous trips to the US, before this nonsense was automatically added to the bill, I would tip between 15 and 20% depending on my level of satisfaction with the waiting staff.

What should I do now, when visiting places auto-charging a service fee?

Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

Glad to see they're paying a living wage and the tip went back to being an optional gratuity instead of something the server depends on to make their rent.

If that 18% ain't on the menu, I ain't paying.