Texas Roadhouse diners expose sneaky tipping trick and how to beat it - but warn other chains are at it too

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Texas Roadhouse customers are preparing for a tipping takedown.

The iconic steakhouse may be losing favor with Americans who say its latest tipping prompts inflate how much customers are nudged to leave.

Like many other restaurants, Texas Roadhouse now asks customers to make a tip selection after paying, either on a screen or a paper check. 

One diner explained what happened after the tipping screen popped up, asking for 15, 18, 20, or 25 percent gratuity on their $80 meal. 

The percentage amounts themselves were not shocking. Nowadays, customers are accustomed to restaurants, bars, and even coffee shops asking for a 20 percent tip — often more.

The real shock came in the small print on the bill: 'Tip is calculated after tax and before discounts.'

A cardinal rule of tipping culture is that gratuity should be a percentage of the pre-tax total, not on taxes they never paid for.

'Texas Roadhouse suggestions are out of control,' the customer wrote on Reddit.

Like many other restaurants, Texas Roadhouse now asks customers to make a tip selection on the payment screen after they pay

The real surprise came from the message written in small print on the bill: 'Tip is calculated after tax and before discounts'

The customers did the math themselves and found that the suggested tip amounts did not align clearly with either the pre-tax or post-tax total.

In fact, the 15 percent suggested tip was neither 15 percent of the total before or after tax. It was actually 16.67 percent of the total after tax.

Other Reddit users were equally horrified by the restaurant's tipping system.  One wrote: 'Calculated after tax? F that!' 

'Yup. Almost all places are doing the tip calculations after tax now, which is completely wrong,' another said.

'On top of the math not mathing, the fact that their default suggested tip is calculated after tax is so unethical. You're not receiving service on the meal taxes you're paying,' a different user wrote.

'This has been a trend, some places are just randomly adding a dollar or two hoping people wouldn't notice. Not sure how is this legal,' said someone else. 

Texas Roadhouse told the Daily Mail that 'a free appetizer of $8.99' was the cause of the confusion, but even still, the math did not add up. The restaurant also confirmed that its tip suggestions are indeed calculated after tax.

'This guest confirmed in this post they received a free appetizer of $8.99 during their visit, resulting in the difference in totals and suggested percentage shown on the Ziosk (a tabletop tablet system for restaurants),' a representative for the company said. 'As stated on the Ziosk, the tip suggestion is calculated after tax.'

The customer did the math themselves, and found that the total Texas Roadhouse had calculated made no sense

'Texas Roadhouse suggestions are out of control,' the customer ranted

The iconic steakhouse may be losing favor with Americans for its latest tipping scheme

Texas Roadhouse is not the only restaurant to be in hot water over tipping recently. 

Earlier this month, an Italian restaurant in Las Vegas was slammed for adding a tip onto the receipt before handing it to customers, and then requesting another tip on top of that. 

Not long before that, customers at a casual seafood eatery in Maryland were outraged when they received their bill for a $260 meal with the 15 percent tip option scribbled out by the server.  

The diners had been eating at G&M Restaurant in Linthicum Heights, near Baltimore, and said their waitress was friendly and service was 'decent enough', though 'nothing excellent'. 

But when the check was returned, the 15 percent gratuity - amounting to $36.75 - had been scratched out. It made it appear, the diners said, as though it 'wouldn't be good enough for her'. 

The waitress had also written 'Thank you' on the receipt in advance — a move the diners described as 'entitled' and 'infuriating'.

In another recent example, a Reddit user said they were shocked to be effectively forced to tip when ordering a pizza for pickup.

As they were paying, they were hit with a message saying 'Don't forget a tip!' and given options of 15, 20 or 35 percent. There was also a 'custom' box, but no option to leave nothing. 

Just a decade ago, 15 percent was considered the standard tip for average service. Now, that number has spiked to 20 percent or often more

Customers at a casual seafood eatery in Maryland were outraged when they received their bill for a $260 meal with the 15 percent tip option scribbled out by the server

However, when the customer attempted to make the custom amount $0, the screen wouldn't allow the order to move forward — displaying a bright red message: 'Please enter a valid tip amount.' 

'How can it be a tip when I don't have a choice,' the customer asked on Reddit. 'Well I did have a choice and went elsewhere,' they wrote. 

These incidents are all examples of so-called 'tipflation', the expanding expectation to tip more often, in more places, and at higher rates than ever before. 

A survey last year found that three-quarters of Americans believed tipping culture has gone too far. The research also found that two in three Americans often 'guilt tip' - where they feel forced to add gratuity by prompts at check-out machines.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Texas Roadhouse for comment.