Who pays the bill when going out as a group?

We have found over the years that is best to divide the bill by the number of couples, calculate a fair tip and then pay. It usually works out that the bill for each couple is more or less the same. Sometimes, however, one couple's bill may be much larger than the average of the others. In this case, that couple will pay its own bill. This is the only fair way of handling it and we never disputed this understanding.

I tried the same trick , but my partner never ate that much . We alyways payed as a couple when she hardly ordered something , we always pay up in this way and normally i don't really care about the issue but when it turns out to large bills I kind of do mind . Therefore I do mention the fact that each  couple should pay what they ordered. If you want to take my advice when you go out as couples tell your partner to order as much as he wants and not just a salad like mine did, since they always split it up equally , thats what I did.....