I love eating out. It is no secret and Houston has way too many good places to try. I have always thought about writing about the places I visit but I leave the job to the experts. Houston has a great food blogging and twitter community who help me pick out places to eat. Well this post is about restaurants and not about eating out.

I ordered some take-out at Bombay Brasserie, a rather high-end Houston desi food place in Rice Village. The food is not at all bad. They are pretty decent and it is not your standard 8$ buffet lunch place. I walked into the restaurant to pick up my food and the manager of the place gave me my order and my credit card receipt to sign.

Things were going good. I looked into the receipt just to check if all was good before signing it. When the manager goes, this is the price of the food you ordered, this is where you put the tips and this is where you sign. Ahem! I know that but kept my mouth shut. I was still looking into the bill and the manager goes again – “you can give us tips and write it down here.” I was quite surprised by the manner in which the manager spoke.I looked at him and told him with a smile, “when I come for dinner the next time, I will tip you. I do not believe in tipping for takeouts”.

I am no expert but in my opinion, tips are for the wait staff and not the chefs or the manager. I always tip when I sit down for a meal and not for take-out. I tip well depending on the service and never based on the quality of the food. These are some rules I follow and the manager at Bombay Brasserie got on my nerves.

I walked away really upset. Why is it that high-end desi restuarants forget their manners when dealing with desis? I promised myself I will not go back to Bombay Brasserie. No matter how much I loved their Kashmiri naan and malai kebabs.