Woodbridge Waitress Gets Huge Tip On $20 Bill

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Tuesday night was just a regular late-summer evening at Bar Louie, the popular pub that just opened in May on Route 1 in Woodbridge Township. Nobody working in the bar and grill expected to go home $1,200 richer that night.

And yet that's exactly what happened. Waitress Brianna Siegel was serving two customers, a couple, and at the end of the meal they paid their $20 tab. That's when they handed her an envelope and told her "This is for you; open it later on," said bar general manager Brent Rukamp.

"It was busy, so she put it in her apron and forgot about it. Then when she got home and opened it at the end of the night, there was $1,200 inside," he said. "We were all really surprised."

The money included a note, part of which read, "Whenever it gets hard, know God got you."

He said he wasn't sure what exactly Brianna and the couple discussed, but as far as he knows it was just regular chit chat. He was working that night but did not see the couple and thinks they want to remain anonymous.

Siegel told News 12 New Jersey she plans to use the money toward nursing school and a new car, and even she was baffled why they left her such a generous tip.

"I'm very happy for her. In all the years I've been in the restaurant business, I've heard of people getting $100, $200 tips, like around the holidays," said Rukamp. "But I've never heard of anything quite like this. It's nice to know there are people out there like that."

He said the restaurant has been getting calls from several media outlets about it.

Siegel grew up in the Woodbridge area and attended Colonia High School.

Bar Louie is located in the southwest corner of The Plaza at 675 Route 1 south near the Woodbridge Center Mall. The other Bar Louie in New Jersey is in the Brunswick Square in East Brunswick. Bar Louis was founded in downtown Chicago in 1990 and headquartered in Addison, Texas. There are 125 Bar Louie locations across the U.S.

Photo courtesy of Bar Louie