Sorry for the re-post... I think I didn't get this on the Hawaii forum...

Hello,

When my family is in Hawaii this summer, my husband and I will probably want to "split" an entree from time to time, to save our waistlines as well as our budget!

Is charging an "extra plate charge" common practice in Hawaii? I know some upscale restaurants do this. In which restaurants in Hawaii can expect this (we'll be on BI, Oahu, Kauai, and Maui)?

You may run into this in resort hotels, but it isn't common in Honolulu restaurants. If you run into this why don't you would order soup or salad as your meal, and husband order entree?

The high rent places probably have a plate charge. I would call ahead of time and ask.

That's a good idea. One of you order the salad and the other the main, but ask them to serve you at the same time. Don't push it by requesting one wine, two glasses, or separate checks. We know someone who took his own cereal to Maui.

Good idea, as long as they don't have a minimum.

I do this this quite often. I have not run into any extra plate charges that I can recall. Aloha service is vey important, especially inout better restaurant and you will find that most of them will go out their way to accomodate you.

We also quite often order pupus instead of a meal and many of the better places will make pupu sized versions of their main menu items. Roys does this, serving a pupu fish portion that is 3 or 4 ounces instead of 6 or 7 oz and half the price of the entree.

In one of my husband's mid priced beach restaurants, it is nothing for a mom, dad, and three kids to walk in.

Seated at a table for five, mom will open the McDonalds bag and feed the three kids, dad will order steak, mom will eat the salad, and all will order water with extra lemons to make lemonaide.

Thanks for the info... and I'm actually not trying to be cheap here (e.g., I won't be asking for a glass of wine with 2 glasses, won't be bringing in food from elsewhere, etc.)... that's not the idea at all!

When we eat out at home the portions are usually too big so we often take 1/2 home... I just know that on vacation we won't be taking 1/2 back to the hotel... so we might as well split. Plus we'll be eating so much during the day (buying snacks, etc.) that I'm sure there will be times when we're not that hungry... but at the same time we don't want to miss a good restaurant because we're not hungry enough for a huge meal. Plus we want to try all the great desserts... but we are usually unable to do that if we have just eaten a full meal (either that or we will want to take a nap afterwards... rather than going out for more exploring!).

Thanks everyone!

GoTravel,

Why is that permitted? I can't imagine a restaurant anywhere that would allow that.

i have never had a second plate charge and i agree that in alot of restaurants the portions are enough for 2 (especially when they put a million fries on there). if they said they were going to charge extra i'd probably leave. the fancy really good restaurants usually only serve portions in single size so i don't think this would come up there except for maybe splitting a salad. enjoy.

cawhite, the pupu tip I mentioned before is perfect for you. You will not find this mentioned on the menus, but if you ask, you will find many places that will do this. Many of our better restaurants have a policy that when it cdomes to the customer, "No" is not in their vocabulary. Ask and ye shall receive.

Cawhite...my husband and I like to do this, too. So many restaurants just serve WAY TOO MUCH food. No point in wasting half of the food and the money we paid for it. However, I feel like a lot of times we're "scorned" at nicer restaurants by the wait staff. We always try to leave a nice tip, but you can tell that the waiters are annoyed.

Usually when we run into a charge for splitting the restaurant will provide extra "side dishes" for each person (i.e. one serving of the main thing, but a little extra potatoes and vegetables so each person has a serving). I don't mind paying a little for that, but if they charge an extra plate fee, then just bring the plate out and make my husband and I split everything up, that's annoying.

No real help for you here, but I just had to add my $.02!

Leona, it all comes out in the wash I suppose.

My husbands point of view on that is if the family comes in and has a nice time, they'll come back and they will tell other people what a nice time they had.

On the other hand, if they are asked to leave, charged a plate fee, or embarrassed, I'm pretty sure they'll tell everyone that listens what a horrible time they had.

He also looks at it is one more steak he sold than if the family didn't come there to eat.

The rest of the year makes up for it. June, July, and August are busy with families and it is par for the course.

As was mentioned above... We also ALWAYS leave a bigger tip to cover the extra service (the same way we do if we were to use a coupon... we tip on the original price, not the discounted price). And if we want an extra salad, extra veggies, etc., we order them... and if they do give us more than we ordered (because it's on 2 plates) we look at that as exceptional service and we tip accordingly.

Not sure of anywhere in particular, but often a plate charge comes in when you ask to "split" your meal, in which case they plate seperately with adjoining sides. Otherwise, "sharing" - comes as should on single plate with no charge. Oftentimes restaraunts will split complimentary, as in a ceasar salad...

Having eaten out too many nights a week (at nice restaurants) for too many years, I feel reasonably comfortable that if you confidentally tell the waitstaff what your intentions are (watching your weight, not trying to get to full, morally not wanting to waste food, leaving room to each get dessert, etc) they will be more than accomadating. In the rare case that they charge you a separate plate charge, take it in stride and at the end of the meal evaluate whether you received good value for what you received and good service. If not, then tip accordingly and explain on the receipt why you did what you did. I believe in 99.5% of the situations, you will be fine and get exactly what you want. Have a great time - and remember life is too short to not have a great meal with a great wine (finished off with a great dessert). Enjoy.

By the way GoTravel, your husband is a smart businessman and is right on target. He may even want to point out to the customer about what you guys could serve the kids that they may like next time, but telling them it is no problem - you just wanted them to know in case there kids get tired of McDonalds. Much success with the restaurant.