Sarah,
Thanks for asking your question to planDisney!
Whether a restaurant adds the gratuity to the bill or not varies, based on venue and experience. The best way to check is to go to the individual restaurant page to see what is included. For instance, if you look at the page for the
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, and then click through to the menu page, it indicates at the top that the charge is plus tax and gratuity, so you will have to add those expenses to your eventual total.
I did check again for the
Tusker House Restaurant, and it now states the same thing, so the base charge for the meal there does not include taxes or gratuities either. Perhaps either that policy has changed since you were there, or they may have automatically added a gratuity if your party was a larger one. That can happen at restaurants in the United States often.
There are a few restaurants that still include tax and gratuities in their posted charge, like the
Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue. You can see that information on their page as well.
BOTTOM LINEAs a rule, restaurants will not include taxes or gratuities in their posted pricing. Those few exceptions are typically dinner shows, rather than standard table service restaurants. When Cinderella's Royal Table returns to character meals it might be one of the only others that comes to mind.
If you have questions about any specific restaurant, please feel free to
write me back directly if you want me to check.
Have a Magical Vacation!
Doug