Reward for a bad service?

Day 17

On a Friday night if you go out to eat at any of the restaurants like Cheesecake Factory, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Carrabba’s, Bertucci, etc. an average wait is approximately 30 to 45 minutes. The diversity of crowd that includes family members, couples, friends, first dates, etc are all waiting and wandering around the vicinity with a buzzer in their hands or pockets. An extremely busy restaurant has the possibility of showing characteristics like loud atmosphere, slow food service, more waiting, and finally the bill arrives. The weekend dinner expedition for a simple dinner night has been stretched out almost three hours with the waits included, and now you are nipping the pen to decide on the tip. Mostly your average tip will be around 15 to 20 percent of the bill. A 20 percent tip for this experience, I wonder how much would you tip for a good service?

This is my question: Reward for a bad service?

What is the secret for these restaurants that people go back every weekend? People have experienced these long wait times and busy services but still decide to go back to these restaurants. Do the name brands of the restaurant play for the return of the customers? Do these restaurants create a social status rating for the customers that are dinning at these restaurants in front of their social settings? 

The restaurant has created 15 to 20 percent tipping as accepted rewards for the excellent service and experience by the customers. Has the accepted rewards percentage rooted in the minds of the customers that they automatically tip the rewards regardless the standard of service or experience? Even at a bad experience, why does the customer feels hesitant to tip below par or no tip?

So when you want to spend some quality time rather than quantity time, what action do you take? I love low keyed restaurants because the experience is personal, ambiance is inviting, service is more appreciated, price is on par and rewarding doesn’t feel hassled.

“If you reward a bad experience, how do you reward the good experience?”