My bank's online system lists what it calls pending transactions at the top of the page when I review transaction details. It never includes the name of the payee on debit card purchases, but I normally have no problem matching up my sales receipts with those transactions to verify that nothing is amiss, but today there is a charge in the pending section that should be for a restaurant meal (by process of elimination), but it's for less than the amount of the sales receipt. Did the restaurant give me a break?
Don't think you should count on it! Most (not all) restaurants use credit and debit card authorization systems that obtain an authorization that's about 20% higher than the actual restaurant tab, to make room for you to add a tip to the sale amount. The percentage varies from system to system, so it's impossible for you to forecast the actual amount of the authorization request at the time.
When the sale actually posts to your account (on sales for which you sign, rather than use your PIN, usually one to three days after the sale), it should be for the actual amount of the sales slip, including any tip you may have added. If you were more generous than the system guessed you'd be, the authorization amount that showed as pending on your bank's online banking system will indeed be less than your copy of the receipt shows. On the other hand, if you made your waiter or waitress really happy by leaving your tip in cash, the pending amount will be for more than the sales slip, but the actual transaction, when it posts, will show the correct amount.
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Don't think you should count on it! Most (not all) restaurants use 