Tips on Tipping #

Tipping culture in Montréal is generally similar to other parts of North America. More and more businesses are adding suggested tips to their payment system, but that does not mean you are mandated to tip everywhere! Read on to know where and when you are expected to tip.

Restaurants, Coffee shops, Bars #

If you eat before you pay, like at a sit-down restaurant with service, then you must tip, it's considered very rude not to. For restaurants, 15% of the total before taxes is standard. Since the two taxes combined amount to 15%, you can easily figure out the tip amount by looking at the bill!

You can tip more if you had an excellent service. Again, that's up to you. Rarely will gratuity be automatically applied to your bill, unless you're a very large group. If it's applied that way, you don't need to tip on top of that.

If you pay before you eat, like at a fast food joint, then you don't need to tip. Same if you're taking a coffee to go.

At bars, it is customary to tip a dollar per drink to your bartender, if you're paying one drink at a time. If you're getting table service at a bar and close out at the end of the night, then you should tip 15% like in restaurants.

Hotel #

From what I understand, tipping is not mandatory at the hotel. You can leave a tip for housekeeping at the end of the week at your discretion.

Last Tips (pun very intended) #

Tipping cab drivers, delivery people, barbers and hairdressers is also expected. I doubt any of you are coming here for a haircut, but if you take a cab, you can tip a dollar or two for short trips. Maybe 10% on a longer trip like a cab from/to the airport. Unlike regular cabs, tipping is optional for Ubers.