I've been staying near Cork for the last few days and tomorrow I'm heading to Dublin. I wanted to ask about a few things before we continue our trip just so I know proper etiquette!
1) The restaurant/pub next to our B&B doesn't allow boxing up of leftovers. Is this standard at Irish restaurants? What about elsewhere in Europe? The first day I ordered a sandwich and it was huge so I asked to take the other half to my room upstairs and got the weirdest looks! Do people tend to eat everything on their plates? Or does a lot of food just get thrown away?
2) Where do we pay?? Every time we've asked someone they've just said "wherever you'd like," but where should we ACTUALLY be paying for our meal? Table? Bar? In the US if you just get up from your table before the check people assume you're dine and dashing XD
3) Is it totally unacceptable to go to a different place for dessert? (See #1, cannot finish entire meal.) Back home we often have dinner somewhere and then a few hours later might go somewhere else for dessert. Is that something we should avoid doing here? (Again, weird looks.)
4) Do people tend to dress up more on Saturday nights? We've visited the same restaurant/pub almost every night as it's attached to our hotel. Every other night it has been incredibly laid back and casual. Tonight it was packed with people in very nice (fancy) clothes.
5) Should we just be seating ourselves when we go into restaurants? Or are most places wait to be seated? I've been here a few days and I still can't figure it out.
Thanks in advance!