Fried (sweet) dough a winner from many cuisines.
We usually order different things so we can sample one anotherās plates.
I tend to opt for the salad option on meals because I absolutely love bleu cheese and ranch ā if the place makes one of them fresh, I opt for that one. If both or neither are fresh, itās a hard decisionā¦ call it 60/40 for bleu cheese. I always order extra dressing.
I also am known to pay the extra buck for the side salad in place of fries when I order a burger or sandwich. Healthy vegetables! hehe
Another āordering strategy.ā I like my food to look at least somewhat colorful. Fish and chips look so blandā¦ I rarely get them.
Depends on the company.
With many of my friends and family, we may go for the food and maximize the dishes so we all can get a bite of everything. We once had a sibling/spouse outing and (prepandemic) passed the plates to the left every few minutes.
But with others, it might just be an opportunity to reconnect and the food is incidental to the company.
Put some ketchup on the plate for a splash of color!
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IMO, ketchup is not food 
!!
I will add that while we often share dishes, we donāt usually share plates! If sharing, we transfer a portion of the food from the main dish onto our individual plates. Not to say we never bite into someone elseās sandwich but usually itās portioning outā¦
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If we both get a sandwich that comes with a side we each pick something different so we can share. One will get salad and the other fries.
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Except for sharing a cheese pizza, my husband and I never order the same dish. Heās vegetarian and I take advantage of the infrequent times we eat out to eat meat other than chicken, which I cook for myself at home. I really like sausage, so that rigatoni sounds great.
I will always remember my sonās wedding, in Vietnam, where in typical Asian style a whole fish was served. One little girl from the midwest was so astounded, she stared at and even named the fish. It shocked her entire family.
We reward our highest performers with a trip, including spouses/SO, to various places. One year it was NYC, so I thought taking them to the Peking Duck House in Chinatown would be fun (they could watch the duck being carved and noodles being pulled tableside). Unfortunately, one of the spouses totally freaked out when the duck (with neck and head still attached) was brought to the table. She had to exit the restaurant.
I shouldnāt laugh, but I do feel sorry for people who werenāt brought up with more varied experiences. When we were in Beijing my husband had a project to eat Peking duck every night. It was fun - we had it had every level of restaurant from neighborhood joint to fancy.
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Some of us grew up in very modest families that didnāt have the wherewithal to travel.
My grandparents didnāt have high school educations, my parents were the first to graduate high school.
My husbandās family of origin came from German farmers. My mil talks about the fact that they lived on a farm and had enough to eat during the depression.
So no we werenāt afforded a lot of exposure to other cultures and food.
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Our ordering strategy in restaurants is to never, ever, police anyone elseās meal orders. Who makes up these stupid rules? If my husband and I order different meals and want to taste the otherās choice we are both obliging enough to consent. If my husband orders the entree that I have my eye on thatās fine but Iām ordering it too.
Are there people willing to pass up getting what they want because someone else at the table ordered it? If so, theyāre idiots 
.
As for the Bidens, the dish they both ordered is the specialty of the restaurant they were in. I canāt believe anyone thinks you shouldnāt order the entree the restaurant has perfected to great acclaim.
As I said, idiots!
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H & I eat most anything. Roasted cricket in Thailand (surprisingly good). Rat in Vietnam (not so good, but kinda like chicken wings which I donāt care for either).
Heās a fan of Yelp reviews and orders the most popular dishes (and is usually correct that theyāre good). I order dishes with ingredients I like. We share everything.
We had (I think) crickets, scorpions and silk worms on sticks when we were at a night market in Taiwan. The first two were pretty good - basically like extra crunchy potato chips - but the silk worms were disgusting.
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My rural Midwest as well as Scottish small town family gave me plenty of exposure to things urban Americans would have a rough time accepting. Chicken foot soup, eating all the organs of an animal, and oxtail soup are some examples. This background gave me perhaps more perspective than later travel. Though rural life has changed a great deal in recent decades.
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Iāll pretty much eat any kind of vegetable, but yāall grossing me out with all the meat. 95% vegetarian here.
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