How do you guys split the dinner bill amongst a group

[Captain Save]

I've always been a fan of the just splitting the bill. My girlfriend likes to point out to people beforehand that we are just splitting the bill.

I know most people here are extreme savers , that would probably not fly well. How do you approach this situation in large groups.?

Usually if people start itemizing , it gets to be a cluster and the total bill is usually short.

[kork13]

I've always been a fan of the just splitting the bill. My girlfriend likes to point out to people beforehand that we are just splitting the bill.

I know most people here are extreme savers , that would probably not fly well. How do you approach this situation in large groups.?

Usually if people start itemizing , it gets to be a cluster and the total bill is usually short.

In most all restaurants I've been to in large groups, the server assumes that the dozen+ adults are not on the same bill, and just splits the orders from the outset. That's always seems to be the simplest & most effective -- just make it clear to the server, and they handle it.

Perhaps it's just 'the way it is' in my circles, but no one ever expects to be paid for, and the assumption is that everyone pays their own way. I'm never sure why anyone would expect anything different.

[MooseBucks]

If there isn't alcohol involved usually we will just split the bill. If there is alcohol we try for separate checks and worst case we will itemize.

[Nutria]

There are bill-splitting apps. We divide equally, but others might need something more complicated.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

depends. Couple/family and couple/family? Split or treat depending on relationship. Large group? Probably split bill or separate checks. It really depends on situation, where and who and what.

I believe that money is always going out more than we spend in most group situations. BUT if you are going out in a group situation you have ACCEPTED this as part of the cost before you go out. If you don't like it, don't go out. Or ask for a separate check.

I don't think there is a hard fast rule.

[MonkeyMama]

I've always been a fan of the just splitting the bill. My girlfriend likes to point out to people beforehand that we are just splitting the bill.

I know most people here are extreme savers , that would probably not fly well. How do you approach this situation in large groups.?

I totally agree. I'd rather just split equally and move on with my life. But I find most people I go out with want to itemize.

For me, the flip side of being a saver is I have the money and I just don't care at all. It's all going to even out in the end. Sometimes I may under-pay and sometimes I may over-pay, but in the grand scheme of things it's not worth sweating over.

I think it also depends on the group. Usually we have way too much money and the server gets a giant tip. Which is all the more reason I'd rather just split the bill. Someone is clearly consistently paying too much. But I have generous friends and acquaintances. Even if they only want to pay their fair share, they aren't like overly penny pinching about it. I've never been in a situation where someone orders extravagantly and tries to get the others to pay for it. IF anything, I have to be VERY assertive to even pay my fair share.

[snafu]

We 'split the bill' with friends. With big groups of colleagues those ordering alcohol get a separate bar bill to arrange between themselves. Generally the event 'organizer' mentions the anticipated cost range when outlining the invitation. The question leads me to wonder if there is a discount.

Lately at extended family events, it's become the norm to have servers issue separate tabs for each couple or family group. I had the impression that the restaurants preferred that arrangement but perhaps the event planner made that request when making reservations.

[phantom]

I honestly can't remember the last time this even came up. I'm sure it's been over 10 years. When I'm with a large group, waiters and waitresses always ask how many checks, and unless someone is treating, we always get separate checks. It doesn't matter if I'm with friends, family, or coworkers, fancy places or casual restaurants. POSs are designed to tally the prices for a group of menu items, offer an option to add a tip, and handle payment. It seems silly to ask your customers to redo the work of figuring out how much each order was, then add tax and tip, then come up with correct change to exchange amongst themselves.

[Fishindude77]

Don't mind splitting the bill with another couple occasionally, but this can be a real pain with a big group when you have some drinking alcohol and some not, some eating more than others, etc. With larger groups, we usually try to identify the different couples to the waiter / waitress and go with separate checks for each couple.

[rennigade]

When the meal is over my wife and I excuse ourselves to the restroom...but proceed to our car and get out of there. Whoever is left at the table gets stuck with the bill.

[msomnipotent]

When we go out in a group, it is usually just with extended family. We either get separate checks or one person will pay with the expectation that someone else will pay next time. On the rare occasion where we go out with friends, there is usually alcohol and we all kind of itemize in our heads and then pay our share. One of our acquaintances likes to get the calculator out, though.

Doesn't anyone else get a lot of attitude from servers when they ask for separate checks? Maybe it is just the area, but we often get sighs or they will say that they will only issue two checks. One server gave such sass that we had to ask for a different server before we even ordered.

[phantom]

Doesn't anyone else get a lot of attitude from servers when they ask for separate checks? Maybe it is just the area, but we often get sighs or they will say that they will only issue two checks. One server gave such sass that we had to ask for a different server before we even ordered.

Honestly, no. Maybe it's a regional thing, but servers around here seem to expect large groups to get multiple checks. Most proactively ask when they take orders so they can group things. As a server, I would think you'd want to make things as easy as possible for people when they're at the point of deciding how much extra money to give you.

[disneysteve]

When we are out with friends or family, we just split the check. We'll hand the server each of our credit cards and tell them to split it evenly.

If it's a more disparate group, we'll get separate checks if that's an option. If not, we'll all do our best to pay our share.

I've found that as an adult, everyone paying their share works fine. Back in high school or college, it would never work because one or more people would short the pot and the rest of us would have to make up the difference.

[cypher1]

Unless alcohol is involved, separate checks isn't an issue. Otherwise I don't think it's fair for others that don't drink to pay extra, when others around them keep adding more rounds to the whole tab.

[Budget Kitty]

It depends on who we're out with. Most of the time we just split the bill since we're probably out with friends who also have kids and the bill should be about the same anyway. If we're out with someone who is solo or doesn't have kids we'd ask for separate checks so they don't get stuck paying for my kids appetites.