Another vote for SMO/Supermarine... I've been there three
times in the last couple of years and been very happy
with their service... rental car waiting on the ramp,
that kind of thing.

I just about always fly IFR into the LA area, and have never
had any truly awful vectors. About the worst was going into
LAX on an IMC day when they sent me maybe 15 mins out of
my way. LGB is fun because they hold you at 6000' over the
LAX final then you get to dive bomb into the airport. I don't
recall anything special at SMO.

There is a truly excellent evolved-Japanese restaurant on the
field, The Hump. I believe Typhoon is also very good but I don't
know because I've never been able to resist The Hump!

As for tipping... never done it, seems to be a fairly broad
consensus. Of course assuming your name is indicative of your
origins, I would understand that tipping wouldn't come
naturally :-)

John