"P.Aitken" > writes:

>I think it is weird to take people to dinner, offering to pay, at a
>restaurant where a lot of the menu items are too expensive and you
>expect your guests to somehow know they should order only the less
>expensive items. No, guests should not order the most expensive menu
>item, but they should be free to order items that are typical for the
>place. If the host has a limited budget he should choose the restaurant
>accordingly.

Honestly, I would be surprised if I took children to a restaurant and
they ordered pricey items off the adult menu, but I agree you have to
plan for that kind of thing to happen. Not ordering the most expensive
items just to get a free meal seems like a no-brainer. That said,
sometimes hosts have limits on what they want to pay or buy and the
guest has no idea of those limits.
I think I mentioned before that in-laws once got mad at me for
ordering a cheap, low-alcohol beverage at a bar & grill, but a
non-relative at the same gathering ordered $40 of food for himself and
no one said a thing. How could I have known what their little rules
were? Hosts who do this kind of thing are just asking for trouble.

Stacia