Easier ... unless any members of the group don't eat, or are allergic to shellfish or find calamari disconcerting. (I like all three of course, so please invite me to dinner.)

When you are responsible for choosing a restaurant, especially in circumstances when you don't know all of the other diners well, it's a good idea to take into account the possibility that some guests may have restricted diets (for religious, health or other reasons). When we lived in France and entertained guests from North America, we would always ask how they felt about eating at traditional bistros with very meat (and sometimes offal-oriented) menus. Some of our favourite restaurants had relatively short menus and the choices were particularly limited for vegetarians (and to some extent for those who didn't eat pork).

If you are interviewing for a job and the interview experience includes a meal, do not order a) pasta with long, floppy noodles - too easy to splatter yourself with sauce); or b) shellfish that must be extricated from their shells.

I remember attending an "interview dinner" for a law firm, where I made the mistake of ordering a shrimp appetizer that required me to extricate the shrimp from their shells - and left my jacket splattered with sauce. I tried to keep the stain covered up but at one point it became rather glaringly obvious. Having also broken (a little) another rule about interview dinners (don't trick too much) - it was 10 pm, I'd started the day with a "breakfast brunch" interview at 8 am and had continued with a jam-packed interview schedule and then two cocktail parties before dinner at 9 - I blurted out to the partner who was staring at the stain on my jacket, "There are just some foods you should eat naked in a bathtub." Thankfully, she laughed and repeated the line to the lawyer to her left, who also laughed. I got the job offer - and also decided that these were people I felt comfortable working with.

I have often been in a business dinner situation where someone offers to order from a list that includes shellfish (I'm allergic). I don't make a fuss. I just don't eat them.

I was reminded today about a situation in which a woman ordered a steak very well done in a small French restaurant. The chef refused to do so. She raised a fuss. It goes without saying that we didn't ask her to dine with us again, ever, anywhere or any time!

Your suggestion about pasta choice is mine as well. Get penne rather than linguine or spaghetti. Even an expert at twirling their pasta with a spoon can be mocked by the gods of red sauce

You probably already felt some degree of comfort with these people to make that comment. At my last interview lunch with ten future potential co-workers with whom I'd already spent most of the day, one of them asked, "Your resume shows you've been in many positions...which was your favorite?" I responded, "Well...that's a rather personal question..." and everyone burst out laughing. I should point out though that our industry is pretty informal about many things.

They offered me the job and I very happily accepted