From your standard pizza joint to your fancy dining hot spot, most restaurants say business isn't the same.

"We find that spending has been tightened up a little bit,” says Sweetwaters General Manager Jack Schulte.

Sweetwaters server Darrell Leitzke says he's felt it first hand.

"I keep track from year to year. April, May, June my tips have dropped about 36% each month,” he says.

Restaurant service men and women say their tip percentages are down and restaurant owners blame it on the failing economy.

"People decide if they want a steak dinner or if they'd rather fill up their car and have a hamburger,” Schulte says.

He says he's had to find new ways to bring in customers.

"We’re running an inflation fighter special. On Saturday night, two slices of prime rib, dessert, the whole meal and everything for $30 a couple."

And he's not the only one. Jeff and Jim’s Owner, Jim Verdon, says his restaurant has been hit hard with rising prices.

"Flour went up like crazy because obviously the flooding. Cheese has sky rocketed. The price of everything has gone up,” he says.

But to keep the dough rolling, he's offering a deal too...buy one pizza, get one free.

"We had to raise prices a little bit, but we just added more specials so people can take advantage of that,” Verdon says.

But the managers say the more deals they have, the lower people's check averages are, resulting in fewer tips for their servers.

So the restaurants have to find ways to accommodate their employees, so they can still make money.

"We've cut back on servers to be able to respond so the servers that are working that evening are still able to get a fair amount of tables,” Schulte says.

"When you have less customers, then you try to give them better service, you try to talk to them more. And some of it comes back that way,” says Leitzke.

Coming back, they say, little by little.