[autarch]

I've been to four places without tipping in restaurants, Italy, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan. I would say all of them had better service than here in the US. In particular, the East Asian countries I visited all have _excellent_ service without tips.

I suspect quality of service has a lot more to do with cultural factors unrelated to tipping.

[Para2016]

Italy? I don't believe your experience was universal.

[thecompilr]

I experienced nothing but exceptional service in Italy.

[toyg]

As an Italian, I'm happy that at least somebody did get great service :)

To be fair, it really varies so much between regions and even towns. Restaurants are usually ok, but regular shops in big cities... eh.

[autarch]

I was just referring to my restaurant experiences, which ranged from fine to excellent.