Indochine Asian Dining Lounge is located at 1924 Pacific Avenue
By Ted Broussard
Indochine remains one of our favorite restaurants for consistently excellent food, ambiance and service. However, we were surprised on a recent visit to learn that the restaurant now automatically charges an “Admin Fee,” spelled out on the menu in these words:
"The 18% Admin Fee on dine-in orders is not a traditional Service Charge as no portion of it is distributed directly to any specific employee(s). Rather, the fee helps ensure that Indochine is able to pay all employees, both kitchen staff and front of the house staff, fair wages. Any tip given to the service staff is entirely optional."
When we asked our server about how it worked for him, he was professional but also honest that it is impacting servers’ incomes. Servers did get a small increase in salary but clearly not to the $15 per hour level, and still no health benefits. He went on to say that even an additional tip now does not go directly to the person assigned to a table. He said some of the employees are leaving and some of the customers are unhappy about it. His view was that the additional revenue was going to the owners.
I was saddened to hear that. Indochine is a shining star in downtown dining and I wouldn’t want anything to jeopardize their ability to stay in business there. After we left, I realized we didn’t get our usual orchid garnish in either our drinks or our entrée (the photo below is from a past visit). While substitutions aren’t always welcomed at a restaurant, I’m guessing they made an exception to sub the orchids for an admin fee.
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