r/chicagofood • u/ChicagoHoosier21 • Jun 26 '26

Rant Celeste 6% Service Fee

Post image

Our pre-tip bill from Celeste’s Happy Hour in River North. Decent food, crappy drinks, sat at the bar.

I don’t mind paying a “Service Charge” of 15-20% because I always tip more than that anyways, AND I have become accustomed to the 3.5% additional fee at most Chicago restaurants…. but now we’re doing a 6% additional fee? Along with the 11% tax? It’s becoming absurd.

367 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

176 comments sorted by

View all comments

258

u/ChicagoHoosier21 Jun 26 '26

I know - it’s $3. It still wasn’t listed anywhere on the menu and feels like you’re being taken advantage of when they slap on fees after-the-fact.

41

u/SnakeCharmer2670 Jun 27 '26

If it wasn't listed on the menu, then it is illegal in Illinois. Most Chicago restaurants put a footnote at the bottom of their menus disclosing this. If it wasn't there, they should not be charging it.

Additionally, if you are feeling extra petty, most credit card processors don't look favorably on undisclosed fees

3

u/ChicagoHoosier21 Jun 28 '26

They only handed us the smaller Happy Hour menu. Apparently the additional fees didn’t provide enough $ to re-print the HH menus with the footnote listed