Serious Eats
Restaurant Gift Certificate Etiquette
Photograph from massdistraction on Flickr
Do you present the certificate to your server right at the beginning of the meal or wait? Tim Carman, food columnist at the Washington City Paper, says wait.
The server does not have to perform some top-secret, three-key, nuclear-missile-code transaction at the register to accept your certificate. They just punch a different button. It’s no big deal. So if you’re worried that tipping off your waiter will affect your service, just keep the information to yourself.
Sure, the server might "label you a Ruby Tuesday rube," Carman says (my favorite part of the piece). Maybe they'll give you attitude. But at good restaurants, the well-trained staff shouldn't make such judgment calls—or at least not show them. They should just realize you have good taste.