After our first day in New York ever, my friend, her mother and me decided to go out to dinner. We chose La Tarte Flambee. Our waiter was very nice and helpful. The owner was also present, scraping out a pumpkin for Halloween while his personnel was running around. All orders took a bit long to arrive but we could see the waiters made an effort. I had lamb chops and an onion soup as a starter. All was very good. When my friend wanted to pay the bill, the owner said to her that she should pay at least 25% tip, because he was paying his staff $4 per hour. We hadn't been to America before and questioned ourselves but in the same time to us that seemed very rude. Paying your staff only $4 per hour, mentioning that to your guests + asking for 25% tip. And it wasn't as if the prices were low. They were not. The experience had gone from good to bad. We haven't given 25% tip and we left. We felt bad for the staff though.