How do you split a meal when one person ordered more?
Someone ordered two cocktails and a steak; you had soup. Equal split means you're subsidising their dinner. Here's the etiquette.
Restaurants make this awkward by handing you one bill. The polite default in most friend groups is equal splits — but it's a tax on the light eaters. Two ways out: split by item (most accurate, slowest at the table), or pre-decide as a group that 'we always split the bill equally and it evens out over the year.' Both work. Mixing them mid-meal doesn't. Settle the rule before the menus arrive.
Steps
Worked example
Six friends, mixed orders, one bill
Six-person dinner. Pre-bill chat: 'shall we just split it?' Two people say 'mind if we itemise, I only had a starter' — fine. They itemise (€12 each), the other four split the remaining €228 equally (€57 each). 12% service charge applied to all six equally on top. No one feels squeezed; no one feels they overpaid.
The friction isn't the maths — it's the etiquette. Set the rule before ordering, follow through after, and EvenRound's receipt scan handles the per-item path when you need it.