Taylor Swift thanks restaurant staff with $500 tip

Taylor Swift stunned employees at a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania diner last week (19Jul13) when she handed them a $500 tip for agreeing to work extra hours for her.

The Love Story singer called ahead and asked staff at Ralph's Italian Restaurant to keep the place open for her so she could grab a late bite - and they willingly agreed.

Swift, tour mates Austin Mahone and Ed Sheeran, her band members and entourage spent $800 on food and then she slapped down a huge tip before posing with waiters and waitresses for pictures.

The generous singer also handed chef Shawn Gallo two tickets for her Philadelphia show the following night (20Jul13).

The thrilled cook took to Twitter.com to share his good fortune, writing, "I called my mom to tell her Swift was there, and she wanted me to take a picture because she is a big fan. My son has autism, and while I'm at work my mom and my son love to listen to her music. He loves her music!"

The restaurant owners also took to Twitter to thank Swift for choosing to dine with them, writing, "Wed (we would) like 2thank @taylorswift13 @edsheeran @AustinMahone 4 coming in 4dinner last night! We hope u enjoyed everything (sic)!"

They also posted a shot of the trio posing with staff on their Twitter.com page.