Funny, but I don't know how it started either. My SO and I always order two different dishes or just order an appetizer and one main entree. We'll check with each other before ordering and agree on two different dishes. Our line to the waitress is always "We share well". We like to be able to taste other dishes without ordering too much food.

I recently ate at Michy's in Miami, where vrtually every item on the menu can be ordered as either a half or a full portion. A great concept that I hope spreads to more places ....

I've recently seen a trend toward a menu section of "small plates" that are smartly portioned and priced. I applaud.

We have done the same thing, and in the right places skipped the entree altogether. Dessert is an whole different animal.:D

i have not seen this so much on the menu, but I find I get less of a dirty look now if we ask for somehting to be split. In all fairness, I have even had some waiters pick up on the fact we may be waivering and offer to split something.^

I've had servers suggest a particular dish be split. I remember my 2 youngest sons (early-mid teens at the time) each ordering a chicken caesar salad and the server bringing 2 half salads and charging for one. He explained that the full salad was huge and if they finished, he could always bring another. They didn't, and I got out of there will a smaller bill and he got a bigger tip. ^

I ate at a very nice restaurant in Ohio last month where the menu featured a whole page of "small plates". They were unique dishes, not just smaller versions of the larger entrees with prices about 60% of an entree.

I've been researching menus online for a upcoming trip to Vienna and came across the same thing.

I have found myself doing the same thing when dining with good friends.
Especiallly in places with silly charges for splitting orders.
By myself I often order 2 app's because the portion sizes are usually large.Guess I am geeting to be wierder and cheaper as middle age advances-but I loathe wasting money at restaurants(and I grit my teeth if on a date my companion orders more than they can eat)these days.

Here's another twist: several local restaurants often offer "1/2 priced entrees" promotions during slow periods, but no discount on appetizers; so Mrs. kaukau and I will order one entree and share it as a first course, and then another and share it as the second. Nice!

No rules. If you've got something really good, why would you share it? The others can get their own.

It's not a hard and fast rule, but my hubbie and I will usually order something different, and taste the others. Sometimes, it results in a different order on our next visit. For example, we went to a local thai restaurant, and he had something I just loved. Next time we went, that's what I ordered - he went back to his normal favorite. (pad thai).

Husband is much less adventuresome than I am - I like trying new restaurants and new dishes. He likes his favorites, and rarely ventures far from them. Occasionally, of course, this has backfired on me, and I got a truly repulsive meal :(

One of the reasons I love traveling is that it forces him to try new restaurants, if not new dishes. How many different pubs in the UK/Ireland has he been to? 50? He ordered fish-n-chips or beef and guinness pie at all of them :)

One of the pleasures of dining out is enjoying our meal of course. So why would we force one of us to order something different if we both want the same entree? I don't understand that.

I'm vegetarian, and my husband is a meat eater who hates veg, so usually we just order whatever we want. I might take a little tomato off his plate, or some other veg he finds very repulsive, but we don't tend to share dishes.

Even when I've been out with parties from work, it hasn't been something I've noticed many people do - is it a custom that hasn't reached the UK yet, or do I just run with the wrong crowd?

I would be a very unhappy camper to be expected to order something other than what I really wanted.

That said, if it's just me and a close someone else, and I end up order something different from my companion, and they said, "oh, that looks great" or "I was going to order that" I'll usually offer them a taste before I dig in.

Other than that, I order what I want and don't worry about it.

I don't, but the wife and her family does most of the time.

She'll always ask what are you getting before she can figure out what she wants, which is fine, but when the entire family is there, it's like a really bad episode of lets make a deal as they all try to figure out what then can get and enjoy and not duplicate an order and still assert their menu domination.

Sometimes you just lean back and laugh.