I ate at a new San Francisco restaurant yesterday (four months old): Medicine Eat Station. Don’t trust my judgment on food, I have only two classes of food. French Laundry (I’ve gone dozens of times) and great Tokyo meals are in one category (first-rate experiences) and everything else is in another category (food). Medicine serves monk food with elegance. 
I like natto, konyaku (acquired tastes) and steamed fresh veggies; so I enjoyed my meal fully.
To sell such fare to ordinary people you have to go wild, they did. The décor is ultra-simple, what I call the New Google Look. The seating is all at tables with benches; the wall graphic is a large screen DVD with clouds and leaves barely moving. Stark, with good service and elegant appointments.
They went overboard on one policy item. No tipping (17% fee is included in the bill.) This will fail within a year. I asked the wait staff what percentage of clients leave tips: 2-5% was the answer. The photo on the right suggests the actual percentage is higher, since I got a photo.
Tipping ( and .99 cent pricing) can only be stopped with a Congressional mandate and a president setting a date to stop both practices. He or she could pick July 4th. Tipping is a relic of servants which is why we don’t tip lawyers, doctors and accountants. 99 cent pricing is an insult to poor people. On self pricing used car lots a Mercedes is $32,500 and a Chevy pick-up is $3,499.95