A diner in Amsterdam asks a Dutch friend how much to tip on a €47 bill. The answer: "just make it €50, or don't — nobody will notice either way."
Why there is no real percentage to calculate
Dutch restaurant prices are generally understood to already include a fair wage for staff, unlike the US model where a lower base wage is topped up by tips. Service, in other words, is already paid for by the time the bill reaches you.
What actually happens
Rounding the bill up to a round number is the single most common gesture — a €47 bill becomes €50, nothing more precise than that.
For a longer, nicer meal with attentive service, 5-10% is a recognised but entirely optional step up from simple rounding.
Cafes and bars: leaving small change from a cash payment is normal; tipping on a card payment is far less common than in the UK or US.
Taxis: rounding the fare to the nearest euro or two covers it.
Worth knowing: because tipping is so modest and informal, card terminals in the Netherlands rarely show a tip-percentage screen the way they increasingly do in the UK, US and Australia. If one does appear, it is usually at a restaurant specifically targeting tourists.
Delivery and takeaway
Food delivery in Dutch cities follows the same low-key pattern as everything else here: a courier is not routinely tipped, though rounding up a cash payment or adding a euro or two through an app for a long, wet-weather delivery is a genuinely appreciated, entirely optional gesture rather than an expectation.