Another experiment in ditching tips for all-inclusive prices has just ended, this one atin the Castro. Owner eliminated tipping at his restaurant in May 2015, which allowed him to pay cooks and even some of his waiters a salary instead of an hourly wage.

Montalban says he loved the system. Unlike other restaurateurs who have switched to all-inclusive prices and complained of losing staff, Montalban’s employees seemed to embrace the system. His regular customers got what he was trying to do. But the hiked-up prices on his menu seemed to keep new customers away. He saw the pricing code on Yelp jump from two to three dollar signs, and his sales dropped 30 percent over the year. Manos Nouveau is “a destination location,” he says. “If I would have been off of a major street, I wouldn’t have had to change.”

Now that he has returned to a conventional system, he’s struggling how to adjust how he pays staff without alienating good employees. Meanwhile, he says, he has started to see new faces at the tables. “Ironically, they’re spending the same or more,” he says. “It’s just perception. [Customers] say they don’t like to do math but they do.”

Manos Nouveau, 3970 17th St., San Francisco. (415) 872-5507. manosnouveau.com