How to break up dining bill with a bunch of people

[Frugal]

I think it is most fair if everyone pays their exact portion of what they ate or drank. This way, no one can complain they paid an unfair portion later on.

[seen]

I have the opposite problem...

I have very close friends who insist on paying for everything. When we get the check we usually end up fighting over who pays. This is usually great because they're like family so I like treating them to things and vice versa. This is not so great however when we go on trips and have to eat together all the time.

They like to eat extravagantly. I eat semi-conservatively, but getting separate bills isn't an option since they would absolutely reject that and just pay for it all instead. I'm not trying to be cheap or whatever, so I don't want to let them pay for it all but I'm not sure how to resolve this without avoiding outings with them all together. Anyone have experience with this?

[scotland]

We usually split up the bill into equal portions.
Somebody usually benifits financially from this but it is the polite thing to do.

[rj.phila]

i would say that roughly 80% of the time that a bill gets split evenly, i end up having to cover the remainder of a 20% tip. even with honest people, it just shakes out like that....split bill is ideal. option B WILL screw the server at least 50% of the time i'd say. but i think that most of the forum has made it clear as to where their sympathies lies there

[kalikala1980]

I refuse to pay more than what I ate or drink. I will put in for tax and some tip but I am not paying $40 when all I had was water and a burger. I went out for sushi with like 20 people for a birthday party and the bill was several hundred dollars and they wanted to split the bill evenly and each person's share was like $40. I hate sushi and did not eat any so why should I be forced to pay for food I didn't eat. I hate beef teriaki and rice and a beer so my bill should have been like $20. After that fiasco, I get my own bill unless I am buying.