Paying for meals

The waiter will probably refuse, not just scoff at your request. You will be hard pressed to find a waiter that will even issue separate checks when paying in cash. You'll receive a bill for the table.

I sometimes travel with friends and when one of us uses a credit card to pay the whole bill, we divide up the bill and give the credit card payer the cash shares. We tend to pay cash, however, it's much simpler. I've never seen a waiter split a table check into more than one.

They won't split checks. And I have learned the hard way that, in order to avoid strains on friendships and other hard feelings, it is best to keep track of everything with a spreadsheet. We might take turns paying, but at the end we have all the numbers in the spreadsheet and we settle accounts to make sure we are all basically even.

Another option would be to establish a rotation in which each person picks up the check for everyone else on a set day.

I essentially use eithe the Zoe or Tom methods. Case One (both people eat/drink about the same for a given restaurant): Keep a small notebook with two columns for the whoe trip. Each meal is noted under each person's name with the amount paid by that person. At the end, figure the difference on who paid what and even it out. The potential screw-up is that one person is extravagent and the other is skimpy. Case Two: One person pays and the other forks over cash for each meal. Credit card usage will even out, you're just paying on separate days. Since most of my guy trips are with a fellow I've known for seven evers, we use Case One for for hotels, cars, etc - - all expenses for the trip. We do a lot of rounding and I'm sure some things don't get written down, but neither of us gets screwed by a hundred bucks in a month.

Separate checks on credit cards will likely be frowned upon or refused. There are two methods I've used when traveling with friends. Both have worked well and avoid the need to inconvenience the waiter. 1) Rotate who pays and keep a list of the person and amounts owed and paid in a small notebook. Settle up at the end of the trip. This works even when you aren't splitting the bill evenly. 2) Keep a group "kitty". Each person puts the same amount of cash (e.g 50 EUR at a time) in the kitty. The kitty is used to pay for any shared items that are split equally. When the kitty gets low, each person replenishes with the same amount.

I'd just make sure everyone had enough Euro in small bills and each pay your share at the end. Forget credit cards, some places won't accept them ( ran into that just last night in Urbino) It's not like the US. And personally I don't like the idea of taking turns. It can lead to hurt feelings of being taken advantage of when the bill comes. If you travel with friends, you want to come home as friends. I'd highly recommend each person paying for their meal/drinks. There is no tip to figure out, only addition in Italy would be the "bread" charge of 2-3€ to be shared. Don't ask for separate checks, it won't happen, and likely the waiter won't understand what you are asking for.

Agree with Ellen, figure out what each owes for the bill. You need to discuss this before you go. If one person has two glasses of wine and the other just tea, is it fair to split bill three ways? Highly suggest cash but that is just my opinion.

Keep in mind that in Italy, it takes about 20 minutes to get your check after you ask for it (they will never just bring it to you). And when you do get it, it'll probably be a number scribbled on a scrap of paper. So asking for the bill to be "split," well hopefully you get our point. Or you could ask Ralph to make it a foursome and eat wherever he eats...

We were two couples in Italy in May. When we ate somewhere that accepted credit cards, we just gave our waiter two cards and asked him to split the bill evenly between the two cards. That worked 100% of the time. I don't see why it wouldn't work with three cards. Of course, I am sure there were times when one couple spent more than the other, but in the end I'm also sure it all worked out to be fair and stress free. I can't think of anything more dreadful than a spread-sheet on vacation.

The easiest way is to just pay your own cash portion at every meal. Otherwise keep a running tab and square up all of your food bills at the end of each day. Having taken 3 groups of 20 high school kids we know all about splitting up costs for meals. It's not a fun task, but it can be done...just don't expect your waiter to shoulder the task for you.

Sorry to sound snarky but I guess the Italy I know is different than the one most people here have experienced as I've never had a problem splitting checks anywhere I've gone in the 13 years that I've lived here. In fact some do it automatically as you pay at the register after the meal, each person tells them what they had and they pay for their stuff separately. I honestly have never had a place refuse a request for separate checks. And we eat out quite a bit...

Thanks for all the responses. Since I have received a variety of responses, I guess we'll just have to try it and see what happens...worst case scenario is NO!!! Whatever happens, they'll get their money. LOL