The minimum number for the auto tip to kick in, or even the appropriateness of same is a different question.
I’m with you. If the tip is auto applied at a specific percentage, that’s all they get. I routinely tip higher than than number when it is my choice. Rarely less than 20%.
Patrons have, on occasion, brought suit over the practices of service providers of adding gratuity to bills. For example, in Searle v. Wyndham International, Inc., 126 Cal. Rptr. 2d 231 (Cal. App. 2002), patrons of a hotel ordered room service, which included taxes, a seventeen percent service charge, and a room delivery charge. The bill also provided a line whereby the patrons could add gratuity to the bill, even though the service charge was gratuity paid to the server. The patrons sued the hotel, claiming that the practice was deceptive because it did not indicate that the service charge constituted gratuity and that the service charge constituted obligatory gratuity, which the patrons claimed should be voluntary. The court held that the practice was neither deceptive nor fraudulent, holding in favor of the hotel.
As another FReeper indicated, if in Houston - why anyone would go to Le Fisherman instead of Papa's Seafood or Papadeaux is beyond my understanding. When it comes to seafood, it's almost impossible to beat either of the Papa's family of resturants. When I care to contrast and compare service, food and quality of service - Papadeaux is my personal Gold Reference. I wish there was one here where I live.