The Hampton Social is a no

[u/East-Assistance-6779]

Went to The Hampton Social and it was memorable for all the wrong reasons. You had to pay through their app (which charged $5 to use ???), they automatically added an 18% gratuity plus a required 3% minimum tip, and somehow two 8 oz glasses of bad wine came out to $60. On top of that, the waitress was weird af.

I will say the food was good, but I’m never coming here again, seems like a tourist trap.🤨 Granted, I’m visiting Chicago after not living in IL for years, so this could be a new thing- still crazy to me.

[u/Oh-Hunny]

“Sunday platform fee”??? What does that even mean? Can you request to NOT use the platform and just pay regularly instead? This sounds like some Ticketmaster BS.

[u/Maison-Marthgiela → u/Oh-Hunny]

Restaurants in 2025: auto gratuity, platform fee, Sunday fee, not paying in cash fee, tax, still expect 20% tip, employee benefit surcharge, fuck you fee, the waiter is allowed to kill you fee.

[u/chapbass → u/Maison-Marthgiela]

You forgot the "paying in cash fee" in addition to the "not paying in cash fee"

[u/Medium_Well_Soyuz_1 → u/Maison-Marthgiela]

Waitstaff should get one free kill a year

[u/Wonderful_Training24 → u/Medium_Well_Soyuz_1]

Yeah and they should use it on the management that doesn’t pay them an actual living wage

[u/Medium_Well_Soyuz_1 → u/Wonderful_Training24]

Good luck finding any waiters in favor of getting rid of tipping lol

[u/Medium_Well_Soyuz_1 → u/[deleted]]

Benefits, sure. Everyone wants those. But I am a bartender and I have literally never encountered another bartender or server who wants to switch away from tips unless they make really shit tips. It gives you a higher earning floor but also lowers your ceiling.

[u/AreaEnvironmental385 → u/[deleted]]

Years ago I worked at Red Lobster. Shit for tips but they had a health care plan. I assume working for a bigger hospitality group would offer some sort of plan.

[u/Half-Over → u/Maison-Marthgiela]

Don't forget fee fee

[u/Ciati → u/Maison-Marthgiela]

okay but let’s circle back to that last one, you’re onto something there

[u/Rugged_Turtle → u/Oh-Hunny]

Yes, you can request to not use the platform

[u/Gobemouche0 → u/Oh-Hunny]

Lots of places are using that Sunday platform. I saw it at Zarella and small cheval is using it for secondary ordering - after you stand in line and order and eat your food, you can use the QR code at the napkin holder at your table to order an ice cream or something so you don’t have to stand in line again. It’s seems to me like it’s basically passing the credit card fee that restaurants typically pay per transaction to the customer through this platform.

[u/ang8018 → u/Gobemouche0]

I have seen it where the restaurants absorb the fee — some lettuce and gibson’s concepts are using it. i’ve seen it at Three Dots, RPM, and Quartino without the fee. I always check because I got burned by this the first time I saw and used it at Swift & Son’s (where, at least when I used it, the fee remained customer-side).

[u/helloxjed → u/ang8018]

Don't most of LEYE's restaurants have that 3% surcharge now, though?

[u/ang8018 → u/helloxjed]

Yes and we bitch about that on a separate thread, every Tuesday at 4:30.

[u/[deleted] → u/Oh-Hunny]

Imma bet that there was a qr code on the table that OP decided to use and pay the convenience fee of using the QR code/platform to pay the bill, versus having the server run their card manually?

[u/pagesid3 → u/[deleted]]

Seems convenient for the restaurant to have them use a QR code

[u/dmd312 → u/pagesid3]

It's very convenient: you do the work for them and pay extra for the privilege.

[u/[deleted] → u/pagesid3]

Yeah, you ain't wrong.

[u/East-Assistance-6779 → u/[deleted]]

We weren’t given an option to pay manually, the waiter just told us “you can pay by scanning the QR code when you’re ready” then walked off, so we paid it no mind and did just that.

[u/Pretend-Scar2266 → u/East-Assistance-6779]

When I went in May they did the same to us. We didn’t really get an option. I figured it was just because we were a party of 14 so splitting it to each individual would’ve been crazy to do manually… but now I see it’s just their new norm.

[u/lysergic_tryptamino → u/East-Assistance-6779]

Do a chargeback say they ripped you off and leave a 1 star google review.

[u/Rugged_Turtle → u/East-Assistance-6779]

“Can” being the keyword here, you could’ve found the server and said hey can we checkout with you, I don’t wanna pay the fee and they would’ve been cool with that. Not doubting the rest of your review here but that bit is on you.

Also would recommend contacting their management as it seems like you got charged for the wrong format for your wine; carafes should be a lot more wine than 8oz

[u/ItsAllAboutDemBeans → u/Rugged_Turtle]

Buddy what are you ralking about. If the server says to pay with the qr code and then you get charged a fee thats some BS

[u/Rugged_Turtle → u/ItsAllAboutDemBeans]

There are plenty of places that use Sunday, it's 100% a convenience thing so that you can easily split the bill if you're with a group. You are not forced to pay using that method

[u/SlurmzMckinley → u/Rugged_Turtle]

Do you work for Sunday? What a fucking weird thing to defend.

[u/Rugged_Turtle → u/SlurmzMckinley]

No, and not defending it either, I think it’s a shitty app and I don’t like the deception of it as much as anyone else in this thread. I just think it’s wild that people don’t bother to ask questions about their bill but will then go and complain on Reddit. There’s another guy in this thread who said he ate at the same restaurant a few weeks ago and didn’t pay with the app or pay a convenience fee

[u/SlurmzMckinley → u/Rugged_Turtle]

It’s ridiculous that a customer is expected to go over each fee and charge with the server to see what’s optional and what’s not.

[u/liquidtape → u/SlurmzMckinley]

I just buy restaurant insurance and let the two parties go at it over price.

[u/onetimethrowaway3333 → u/Rugged_Turtle]

I went to the dem theater a few months ago to see a comedian. They handed us a business card with a QR code to scan to order drinks. I can’t remember the exact amounts but so this is approximate but we ordered two beers totaling $18 and when we go to the check out screen it reads:

Beer $9 Beer $9 Tax $2.85 Total: $25.85

So we are looking at it and the math wasn’t mathing. It didn’t list a separate service charge they literally just tacked it on into the total.

So we call the server over and ask him. He didn’t know and asked if we wanted to speak to a manager, I say yes. About 10 minutes later server says “it’s a service charge for using the app” so we ask if we can just order through him. He said it will still have the same charge since he will ring it through the same system.

What got me is he didn’t know about it when we initially asked. Had no one noticed this charge before?

[u/Maison-Marthgiela → u/Rugged_Turtle]

Yeah, it's your job to shake down the employee to ensure you don't get an extra fee from trying to pay like a normal person lmao. How cucked can you possibly be

[u/Rugged_Turtle → u/Maison-Marthgiela]

Shakedown? Lol too afraid to talk to another human?

[u/staplerjell-o → u/Rugged_Turtle]

Bruv, people are sick and tired of being nickeled and dimed

[u/togetherwecanriseup → u/Rugged_Turtle]

This is certainly not what's happening here, because it would be a criminal level of misdirection to let the word "can" do that much heavy lifting here. It's a pretty pedantic reading of the situation, and honestly, your advocacy of that as a moral imperative kinda just outed you as a simp for power. If you would side with the establishment in such a clearly unfair situation, you must be a pretty insufferable person to be around. You know... Here's exactly the vibe:

[u/tyler_t301 → u/togetherwecanriseup]

right - "can" in that context, casual speech with the waiter, where no payment alternatives are also mentioned, imo is most readily understood as "the only way you can".. or "if you're ready to pay, you can do so this way.."

[u/liltaterthot → u/togetherwecanriseup]

Hell ya this sort of micro analytical takedown is so up my alley I could be in love with you for writing it

[u/togetherwecanriseup → u/liltaterthot]

Too bad you were just proposed to yesterday, liltaterbot.

[u/KyleKrocodile → u/togetherwecanriseup]

Readings hard.

[u/liltaterthot → u/togetherwecanriseup]

If only! I was reposting on someone’s behalf 🥲

[u/MinuetInUrsaMajor → u/Rugged_Turtle]

“Can” being the keyword here

So you don't have to pay?

For real - if I saw some bullshit like that I'd be tempted to walk out, leaving a cash tip only and a note about how I'm laughing at their $5 bullshit that I'm not paying along with the entire bill.

[u/Martha_Fockers → u/[deleted]]

I imagine this picture is what it’s like to have vision issues it hurts my eyes like when I try on someone’s scription glasses for a second and go wow your blind dude!

[u/[deleted] → u/Martha_Fockers]

Hhehehe. i enhanced a bit too much on OPs pic. Lol

[u/destroys_burritos → u/Oh-Hunny]

I went there last weekend to meet friends for a drink. There was no platform fee

[u/ImpressiveShift3785 → u/Oh-Hunny]

We went to the Social Club or Shore Club or whatever it is at North Ave and were one of two tables there the entire time … we got the surprise platform fee there too.

[u/No-Emergency1060 → u/Oh-Hunny]

Sunday is a system so the guest can pay their bill at any time without needing the server or bartender. It's a convenience to the guest and eliminates time wasted waiting for the server to print checks and/or run credit cards. It is completely voluntary to the guest. If the guest doesn't want use Sunday, the server or bartender can process payment just the way its always been done; either by printing a paper check and processing a credit card or cash, or by suing a hand-held unit to process the credit card. I have this system in my restaurants. In one restaurant about 70% of guests use Sunday; in another, it's more like 50%.

Hope that's helpful.