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I'm about to start a meetup group and one of the things I want to set up is a weekly or bi-weekly dinner. Does anyone have, or know of, a list of restaurants in Durham/Chapel Hill/Carrboro that will do separate checks for what I hope will be a larger group (maybe 6-20 people)?
I have yet to go to a restaurant in the area that won't do separate checks. In fact, most places serving what is clearly a group of unrelated people have always asked if we want separate checks.
In NY they act like you're asking for their firstborn on a platter if you want even two separate checks, down here we've done it for quite a few people, never an issue.
@twingles: Well, I just relocated here from NJ, and yeah, it's like that too in NJ. Unless you're at a Charlie Brown's, forget about separate checks. So I'm happy to hear it's different here.
We dine out regularly with several couples and have never had a problem with separate checks.
While I would NEVER, EVER, say that asking for separate checks is wrong, or unusual, it is something that I've never encountered at home in the U.K.
We eat out regularly with various couples, sometimes just four of us, sometimes six, very occasionally eight.
Without fail, it is arranged before we order, that one of the guys will pick up the tab, usually by card, and the other guys will pony up their share in cash, and give it to the guy who used his card.
So if there are six of us, and the total comes to £400, we'll probably agree on £450 with the tip, (don't forget, this is in the U.K., we'll do 20% or more in the U.S., but less is fine in the U.K.), so the other two guys will give the guy who used his card, £150 each, that's their £300, which deducted from his card bill of £450, means he's paid £150 as well.
Naturally this works out fine if all the guys work in a cash orientated business, and as I, and some of the guys we socialised with were licenced taxi drivers, and others had market stalls, we normally had cash with us at most times.
You can dime me to H.M.R.C., (that's our I.R.S.) if you wish, but I've hung up my hack licence and retired now, and I had a good accountant, so I don't think that they'll be too interested.
Only time I've encountered this problem was in Australia.
Miami is bad as well.
I've never had trouble in Raleigh or anywhere in the Triangle area. In fact, I've even had restaurants split the appetizers in equal parts among the table.
It definitely shouldn't be a problem with the lower end of your range. I think at some point in my lifetime in NC I've been in a restaurant in a group situation where they wouldn't split the check, but it's been far and few between. I'd just pick out whichever restaurant you're interested in and call and ask them specifically. There might be a few who wouldn't do it for a 20 person group if each individual wants their own check, but I think that most will actually.
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