Do you punish the waiter for the chef's cough up?
That's a major problem with tipping culture, though. The tip you give is supposed to be for the waiting service but often it boils down to the entire service which is not within the control of the waiting service, unless it is also their prerogative to check the food properly before it arrives at the table (e.g. if it looks like the prawn is raw and the kitchen didn't catch it before sending out to the table, should the waiter/waitress take it on their responsibility to flag that rather than deliver it, then inform and apologise to the customer?)
I don't know how well Americans understand this point when they tip.
Australians are another bunch. If something goes wrong, we usually complain first and hope it gets fixed in some way, although that "some way" may just be that the food is reprepared properly; in the USA, in order to maintain one's tip, you would probably expect the dish to be comped or something else (e.g. a drink).
The ultimate insult in the USA in retaliation for an unresolved conflict is to leave no tip or leave without paying the bill. In Australia, it'd be possibly to lodge a chargeback (unlikely) and never patronise them again (and maybe name and shame to some social media site).
The ultimate compliment to a restaurant in the USA is to leave a bigger tip, even though it still goes to the waiting service and not the chef who possibly made the meal fantastic (or was at least partly responsible for it). The same ultimate compliment in Australia is to give a glowing, verbal commendation to the manager, hoping that the latter will see to an appropriate recognition and possibly reward for the contributing staff members... oh, and repeat business, too.
Come to think of it, I'm not sure what is more troublesome - determining how much to tip in the USA, or determining the value of the final bill after the taxes are added.
