New Way To Split Your Restaurant Bill

martinpike

Down the middle, every time. To me, messing around over a fiver or so after what has hopefully been a good night with good food and good company would take the edge off it.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't order champagne if everyone else was on soft drinks (I'm usually driving anyway), but sometimes I fancy seafood, which can be expensive, and sometimes I'll go for the veggie option, which is usually the cheapest. It's swings and roundabouts.

To me, you're not just paying for the food and drink, you're paying for the shared experience, and risking a friendship over a fiver just ain't worth it.

There's an old proverb I believe. Something like "If you lend someone a tenner, and you never see them again, it was probably money well spent".

I realise that most people disagree with this, which is fine with me!

Dot

My three girls - 2 at 25 year old and 1 at 27 - have what they claim is the perfect remedy when we all go out - I pay!!!!

PaleScene

Y'know, I'm getting the impression that I'm the only person who just likes the maths 'n' memory bit for its own sake and just wants to work out the actual split at the end of meals out

We almost always eat out with the same friends, a couple and a single, and give or take the couple's two small kids. Our single friend doesn't do starters or puddings and none of us drink much as the guys are cider-snobs (ie won't drink Strongbow) and all of us tend to faint at '£10 for 3 drinks' type rounds!

yenners

re Martin's question:

"A question for those who 'rotate who pays' - those dining with Chinese and Indian friends.

Does this mean you always dine with the same people? what if you're with people you don't know and won't see again?"

I'm chinese and its true, with my close friends we do take turns paying for meals, but its mostly with good friends whom we know we will see again.

When I go out with people at work or 'not-so-close' friends, its easier to split the bill evenly. It seems petty to work out exactly how much each person ate/drank, although like other mses have mentioned, I often feel sorry for the non-drinkers who chip in on the overall bill.

topofall

I voted to work out the bill exactly as I was caught badly on a bill. Some neighbours have a womens night out occassionally and this one time the men were invited along. A neighbours parents came and the father sat next to me. He ordered a Starter, the dearest Steak, a Sweet, wine with the meal (several) Brandy and Coffee. I had a Pasta for about 6.50, a sweet for around 4quid and a beer. The bill was split evenly so I paid about 25 quid for about 13 quids worth!

Needless to say I never went with them again!

fruitbat_2

We generally split the bill more or less evenly and chuck in a bit more if we're short. What gets me is if we're short because the restaurant has added an 'optional' service charge to the bill and not brought it to our attention.
I'm happy for someone to pay less if they're e.g. not drinking but would much rather they said so up front rather than muttering only to the person next to them when the bill comes round and then grudgingly coughing up the same as everyone else. We're all friends for goodness sake.

But what really annoys me is when we go out with our parents. Now that we are 'grown up' we would like to treat them sometimes, so we invite them out, making it clear that its on us, but it becomes a constant struggle over who is going to pay, with people sneaking to the bar and handing over money before we've even ordered dessert so the poor staff don't even know what the bill will be, especially if we go out with both sets of parents at once; waitresses have been injured by flying visa cards! It can really ruin a meal simply because our parents dont know how to behave.

mandleberry

A group of us (acquaintances rather than friends) went to Rick Stein's seafood restaurant, where one of the party in particular had all the most expensive choices on the menu. My husband and I had the set menu - still not cheap! - and one glass of wine each, while the others kept ordering more bottles. The bill was split equally, and we ended up subsidising the others to a huge degree.
Needless to say, that was a one and only experience, but I must say, that if I had chosen all the most expensive options myself I would have insisted upon paying a greater proportion of the bill - my conscience wouldn't have let me do otherwise!

calleyw

I agree if it is very close friends or family not a problem how much or what they order. As I am sure that they will do the return favour a later date..

But with work colleagues and people you rarely go out then it is taking the mick to order the most expensive things and have starters and desserts and lots of alcohol and not pay what you owe.

I always like to pay my way and make sure that I alway put in what is fair to cover my meal and drink.

That is why going somewhere that has a set price like a chinese buffet means that people can't get away with that. As you can have the food and drink on two different bills.

Yours

Calley

crana999

We usually roughly pay for our own and add extra for the tip, but don't quibble over a little amount. None of us has much money!

I usually work it out, my mental maths is rubbish but that's what phone calculators are for (we don't eat anywhere that classy..)

If I go out with my boyfriend he pays for me

megsykins

Being poor students, we generally try to pay our own way, although I have two friends (who amazingly, don't know each other!) who will work it out to the penny and then calculate 15% of every individuals meals for the tip... Having said that, we tend to go places with set menus / offers so mainly same price for all and no-one would dream of adding their bar bill to the table (if anything, we go places where you can BYOB! :beer: ) This is the same with uni friends, home friends and it's what my parents do with their friends too. I guess I know a lot of tight people!
When go out with OH, he usually pays and I pay for drinks or v/v.

fruitbat wrote:

What gets me is if we're short because the restaurant has added an 'optional' service charge to the bill and not brought it to our attention.

Oooo... that's my pet peeve :mad: It's completely out of order! I think that if you want to leave a tip, it should be up to you and the restaurant should not assume you want to. If the food and service has been cr*p, then you don't want to tip, but you still have to... I have stopped going to certain restaurants just because of this. I wouldn't mind if the tips actually went to the people who've cooked the meal, but the waiting staff take nearly all of it (OH is a chef and he gets hardly any tips compared to others who just pour drinks)