Who regularly shares meals

[JimMIA]

As I posted on another thread, if I tried to take food off DW's plate at Le Cellier, she would pin my hand to the table with her steak knife!

 

[Oreo Cookie]

Well at a "real traditional" Chinese restaurant, they tend to eat more "parts" than we Americans do - namely chicken heads (don't mock me, I have photos from a "real traditional" Chinese restaurant - in China ) So no matter how much (or how little) I get, I will be more than happy to share the chicken head with anyone. Anyone? Anyone? OK, next poster, the chicken head is yours. Now THAT's the way to kill a thread

That was really good!

I don't know why the sharing concept is such a big deal. I've gone to restaurants and shared, and I've gone and not shared. It depended upon the restaurant and how hungry I was at the time. Traditionally, if it is DH and myself, we share an appetizer, and then have our own dinners and desserts. Sorry, I don't share dessert, and if I'm totally honest, what's the point to dinner if there's no dessert?

 

[PlutoLuvr]

I can't say I recall DH & I sharing an entree outside of WDW, unless we share like a massive order of nachos and a pitcher of beer at a sports bar.

I like getting my own entree when dining, because often, the leftovers are my lunch the next day. It's not a selfish, "This is all mine; you can't have any" type thing. We also have different tastes (extra mushrooms on everything of mine -- DH hates 'em -- extra tomatoes on everything for him, which I don't care for).

The only time I recall sharing an entree with DH at WDW was at CSR food court. The portions are positively huge. If I recall, too, the waitstaff only refilled drinks, so I can't see how whether we shared a breakfast would have a giant bearing on a tip. We tipped the same at CSR as we would at, say, a buffet.

We have never done the DDP, free or otherwise.

 

[Diabolicdesire]

I will normally share a dinner with dd 8 when we go out. She is not usually impressed with the kids menus and I normally cannot finish a whole dinner so it works for us.

 

[eliza61]

As a member who grew up in a restaurant, my families business looks at sharing this way. We don't mind folks sharing appertizers or desserts but we charge if adults want to share entrees with anyone. Generally we tack on a $10.00 charge at lunch and a $15.00 charge at dinner. If a diner comes in with children and does not order for the child we gently tell them our policy. We understand that children often do not eat alot so we have a extensive childrens menu and we often go out of our way to "downsize" and adult entree and charge less if the child sees some thing on the adult menu he/she really wants. But we are not in the business to let 2 people eat off of 1 plate as a rule.

 

[mickeyfan2]

Well at a "real traditional" Chinese restaurant, they tend to eat more "parts" than we Americans do - namely chicken heads (don't mock me, I have photos from a "real traditional" Chinese restaurant - in China ) So no matter how much (or how little) I get, I will be more than happy to share the chicken head with anyone. Anyone? Anyone? OK, next poster, the chicken head is yours. Now THAT's the way to kill a thread

I've never had a chicken head, but I LOVE chicken feet. They are so gelatiny and sweet. Sorry, what were we discussing?

Note to self - Never share with these people!!!

 

[Sammie]

For a dinner with 4 adults we would normally order 2 or possibly 3 appetizers and share, never share an entree,(no one one would ever agree), and just really do not want to have to divide it and never share dessert.

 

[Good Ol Gal]

dh and I share meals at non wdw restaurants.

Not one restaurant has ever charged us a "fee" for sharing. They are all usually very kind to us and bring extra plates, etc.

 

[frayedend]

It seems that had I done a poll it would be about even. But it does seem to depend on things like the style meal, and if there was a dessert and appetizer. And, while I am a big eater, I don't get the bloomin onion for myself. Heck with that and the bread they give you I wouln't have room for my steak. But I will say that if I ever eat in China I will be sure to share with the wife. She can have the chicken head and feet and I'll have the breast and leg. (I know I know, I shouldn't have to give up the head AND the feet, but what the heck, she's my wife)

So after all that, what do you all think, should I share with my wife to save the credits and then treat my mom to dinner and maybe pay OOP for my kids so I have extra credits to use as an adult???? NOOO, NOOO, I'm KIDDING, REALLY

 

[Amyg]

My son and I almost always share, luckily he is very open about food and will try things at least once. We pretty much agree on what we will eat. I have a very small appetite and don't see any need to have half the plate of food wasted; we shared most our meals in WDW also. I think it's from my mom always telling me "You know there are starving children out there!" So I hate wasting food.

 

[jjohnson]

We will sometimes share an appetizer but never entrees or dessert.

 

[disney2d2]

As a member who grew up in a restaurant, my families business looks at sharing this way. We don't mind folks sharing appertizers or desserts but we charge if adults want to share entrees with anyone. Generally we tack on a $10.00 charge at lunch and a $15.00 charge at dinner. If a diner comes in with children and does not order for the child we gently tell them our policy. We understand that children often do not eat alot so we have a extensive childrens menu and we often go out of our way to "downsize" and adult entree and charge less if the child sees some thing on the adult menu he/she really wants. But we are not in the business to let 2 people eat off of 1 plate as a rule.

I'm glad I've never been to your family's restaurant... I'd probably just get up and leave politely if I were told that I've gotta pay $15 for having a small appetite and functional brain.

 

[schoen]

I share all the time with my Mom. I never have in WDW, but when we go out at home we share all the time. Portions are just too large at restaurants.

 

[Lewisc]

As a member who grew up in a restaurant, my families business looks at sharing this way. We don't mind folks sharing appertizers or desserts but we charge if adults want to share entrees with anyone. Generally we tack on a $10.00 charge at lunch and a $15.00 charge at dinner. If a diner comes in with children and does not order for the child we gently tell them our policy. We understand that children often do not eat alot so we have a extensive childrens menu and we often go out of our way to "downsize" and adult entree and charge less if the child sees some thing on the adult menu he/she really wants. But we are not in the business to let 2 people eat off of 1 plate as a rule.

A sharing charge is reasonable, particularly if you split the entree in the kitchen. Even Shula's only charges $10 for sharing. For a $15 sharing charge I'd expect the dinner split in the kitchen, an extra salad and probably extra potato and vegetable.

Disney2d2--Most of a restaurants expenses aren't the cost of the food. The sharing charge is to cover your share of the cost of running the restaurant. If every party of two ordered one meal the restaurant would have to almost double their prices. It makes sense, and it's fair, for the restaurant to operate that way. It certainly makes sense for you to skip restaurants that have policies you aren't happy with.

 

[Natalya]

We NEVER share entrees. It is just an unspoken rule that whats mine is mine and whats yours is mine (er, yours) when it comes to the entree.

However, we have shared appetizers and desserts in the past.

Depending upon how hungry we are we might decide on one appetizer for the 2 of us to share...or we might get 2 different appetizers and share them both. For example: at our favorite Italian restaurant...we only go there once a year and it is pretty pricey. We get the antipasto and the calamari appetizers and share them between us. Then we each get our own entree and split a bottle of wine. And if we are not COMPLETELY stuffed (which most of the time we are) we will split a Tiramisu as well.

I have a feeling the dining plan will be too much food but we will only order what we can eat or take with us. I priced out our menus ONLY looking at the food we would eat (sharing appetizers and desserts...but still using 2TS credits... and in some cases not ordering dessert at all) and we still came out with the dining plan being a good deal. So, I'm not worried if we don't order EVERYTHING we are entitled to order. I don't want to overstuff myself. I think the kicker for us is that we LOVE TS restaurants and would eat at one every day even if we weren't on the DP...so that is what makes it a good deal for us, regardless of whether we share an appetizer or not.

 

[Tink_Or_Belle]

when my mom and I go out we share... like today we went to chilis for lunch... I ordered southwest eggrolls as my main course she ordered mushroom jack fajitas we each had 1/2 of each meal when I go with DH I order the same appetizer as my meal and he has whatever he wants we don't share it but if we were at Disney add a dessert to either meal and we ate with 1 dining plan credit right? However at Disney I plan to just order what we want and not share... we are there 6 nights 7 days and we have the counter service meals and table service meals to use we don;t eat breakfast anyway so we will do CS lunch and TS dinner on the last day we use the last CS we didn;t use because we didn't arrive til dinnertime the 1st day if we shared we would waste credits? we may waste parts of credits because I will likely never order the 3 year old a kids appetizer, meal and dessert ... until he is older I would not buy the dining plan but since it is free when I go It doesn't bother me to not use it all

 

[anneofgreengables]

Sometimes my DH and I share and sometimes we don't. It depends on what we're eating or how hungry I am or the portion size of the entree. I would share a fajita platter, for instance, because it comes with a lot of fillings and tortillas. I wouldn't be able to finish that by myself.

I think restaurant portions have gotten bigger over the past decades. I think I read somewhere that the standard fries and soda served at McDonald's in the 50s or 60s are the small fries and small soda of today. Portions were smaller. Now we have supersize sodas, fries, burgers. I am teaching my kids to listen to their bodies and stop eating when their tummies are full--not try to clean their plate at a restaurant that gives them big portions!

Growing up, I was told I had to finish everything put on my plate. Today, I tell my kids to listen to what their stomachs are telling them. The quality of the food I feed them is up to me (nutritious food), but the quantity of the food is up to them (as long as that quantity includes the vegetables).

I'm trying to train myself to do that, too. I have a small frame, but if I don't listen to my full-stomach signal and I keep on eating just because there's still food on my plate, then my small frame will not be so small anymore. (I learned that after going on a cruise and eating as much as I can--after all it was all pre-paid. Thankfully, I am back to my pre-cruise weight. )

So everybody is different. My DH can handle bigger portions, after all he is bigger than me. So it all depends on the quantity of food you can handle, too, as well as the restaurant's entree sizes.

 

[DVC Sadie]

My husband and I eat out a lot and we very rarely ever see other people sharing one meal between two people. I have started to look for people sharing because of all the threads here on the Dis and I have to say that maybe its a regional thing to do because it just isn't happening around here.

While we share appetizers and sometimes a dessert we always order separate entrees.

 

[Fionasmommy]

We share all the time. I like to go out to eat with my mother, because we've been doing Weight Watchers together for almost 6 months now so we're both equally aware of portion sizes and using our daily points wisely.

While there are some restaurants that offer great low cal meals (Applebees for example), for the most part portions are HUGE! Even when you think it's just a steak, you never know how it's been prepared. We have a member in our meeting who is a chef at Outback - he shared the unwelcome news that Outback complete coats each steak in real butter before it's cooked. No wonder they're melt-in-your-mouth incredible! But the fat and calorie difference between that and a regular old steak you'd look up in a calorie counter book is massive. Diet or not - no one needs that much food, let alone that much saturated fat! Even with what appear to be good choices, you just never know what you're going to get. I tried to go the steak/veggies/baked potato route at Ruby Tuesday on my birthday, and I was quite happy with myself until I got home and checked the calories on their website.

So, we usually share out of necessity. Saturday afternoon we always do lunch at Panera, splitting either a turkey sandwich or an Asian sesame salad. If I had a whole sandwich to myself, it would easily take up more than half of my daily point allotment! We purchase an additional side, and they always offer to split the shared meal on to two plates.

Basically, we share anytime we look at the nutrition info and can't fit it into our daily points allotment. We always plan where we're eating in advance, and check the menus online before we go so that we have a good idea of the nutritional content before we get there with an empty stomach. If I'm going out with someone that wants their own entree, I just eat half of mine and take the rest home. No problem, and I'm always plenty full afterwards.

Funny enough, my mother came along to WDW and we had DDP, but we didn't share a single entree there. We usually shared an appetizer between 3 of us (we just didn't need 3 appetizers) and then ordered our own entrees and were just careful to stop when we were full - not when the plate was empty. We aimed for a lean cut of meat and good veggies, so the TS meals usually had the best options. Then we ordered our own desserts, and ate enough to feel satisfied but didn't finish those either. Again, it's just too much food.

I can absolutely see why people share meals at WDW and elsewhere - not to save money or meal credits, but certainly anyone watching their weight or just trying to make healthy eating choices. Everything in moderation! It's just really hard to find moderately sized meals in restaurants these days.

 

[tndisneyfan]

When DH and I go out we NEVER share an entree. We rarely order an appetizer or dessert but when we do we usually get one or the other and share.