There is almost always several things on the menu that look good to me, and H has very similar tastes. However, if we decide to go to a local place that makes amazing fish and chips, we are both getting that. We have a restaurant that serves family style, and the server will usually tell you what to order, and how much (and they’re very busy, don’t take reservations, so we are usually pretty hungry).
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For those that prefer not “sharing” (totally ok!), I’m curious about your thoughts on appetizers. Which I have always thought of as 100% FOR sharing! I would never order my own appetizer (unless I get it as my entrée - which I often do).
Am I the oddball here? Do you order your own appetizer? We don’t always order appetizers but if we do, we take great care to choose one or two for the table that will meet the likes of everyone at the table.
I think it depends on the type of appetizer. Especially after Covid, I think people are much more wary of sharing in general. If it’s an app that could require double-dipping then I would be more careful about how I share – for instance, putting the marinara sauce on each of our plates rather than leaving it on the main dish and everyone using that. If it’s family, I probs wouldn’t even care now.
But to answer your question, yeah, generally, I think of an app as something to share, but the hummus I mentioned above does require a lot of dipping so I wouldn’t expect to share except one bite before the person who ordered it goes ham on it. I hope that makes sense.
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Well I’m a sharer, but I’ve never ordered my own app, even when I go out with friends they are for the table (and sometimes we share entrees too, and always dessert). I also like getting apps as entrees.
I’ll bite 
Sharing appetizers are OK. I guess that is strange, but whatever.
But for me, not wanting to share a meal has nothing to do with being adventurous. There are plenty of times I see lots of things I’d like on a menu. I just order one. It doesn’t matter if H orders one of the other things I’d like and it winds up looking better than mine. I eat mine, not his. Not even a bite. Just no. I might wish I had gotten his instead, but I don’t want even a bite of his - not even if it’s the first bite off the plate.
The whole concept of the first bite being the best does not resonate with me at all. Just something I don’t understand personally. For me, I want to finish what I start eating. I want the whole thing. I don’t want to share. And why appetizers are different? Dunno.
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Ordering ‘strategy’ = read menu, decide what I want to eat, order.
I didn’t know that it was something that required a ‘strategy.’ 
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It’s cool @ClassicMom98 !!! Enjoy your food! But yes, it did dawn on me as someone mentioned appetizers that…what is the game plan for appetizers especially among “non-sharers”.
I’m not sure why that’s different. But if I were at a large enough table with several appetizers, I’d limit it to the one in front of me. I hate the whole passing around of food thing too. Awkward and annoying.
My husband is similar. He misses details and I usually end up pointing out he is ordering something he doesn’t like or that needs an adjustment such as a different cheese or minus the mushrooms. After 42 years together I know what he likes.
We have some places we always share, others where we get our own meal. Last week we went to a local place in a marina. We eat picked our own two tacos. We go to a Mexican place where we always split. It’s a go up and order and they bring it to you. I almost always pick the two entrees as he stays outside with the dog. If we go to Indian food we share an appetizer and share a rice. We each get our own main course since I like lamb and he wants his extra spicy. I think of hummus as a shared plate. I’m counting on my dining mates to know not to double dip. It’s like salsa and guacamole at a Mexican restaurant it’s for the table. Dip your chip once.
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I just want what I want sometimes. I read the menus thoroughly, but as I mentioned I am mostly vegetarian so I don’t want a meat dish. Even when I am in a vegetarian friendly restaurant there are usually certain dishes I am really in the mood for and some that I might like another time, but I don’t really have a taste for right then. I am very adventurous when it comes to trying new foods (w/in the realm of being vegetarian — I’m all about Ethiopian or Zimbabwean or Burmese or whatever), but I just want what I want. Now with Ethiopian we do share because that’s the way that works, but if we’re getting Thai food I really want my Drunken Noodles and don’t want my husband’s Panang Curry.
We usually share appetizers, also. That’s kind of the point of those to us too. I don’t have a huge appetite so would not be able to order and finish an appetizer and also and entree.
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I do find this thread very interesting! H’s family is a sharing one too, he went to Maine with his sisters and the 3 of them would share a lobster roll (if I’m going to Maine you better believe I’m getting my own $25 lobster roll and enjoying he whole thing). What about sushi? I order a bunch of different rolls, they are served on a platter, and my family goes to great lengths to each take the same amount of each one, at least the first go around (one of my sons has a bad habit of taking more than his share, like I’ve ordered 10 garlic knots for 5 and he will take 6, I don’t know why he’s like that considering how he was raised, maybe because he’s the youngest of 5).
Sushi we sometimes share and sometimes eat our own. Depends on the setup of the restaurant, too, as well as our appetites and moods.
Pre-covid there was one of those sushi restaurants with the conveyor belt in our town. They turned the belt off during COVID and I’m not sure if they’ve started it back up, but when we would go there you just grab a plate of what you want and it’s usually just 4 rolls or something. I would expect to eat that myself. If someone hadn’t had it before and wanted to try it I would be willing to part with one of them, but they can grab their own plate if they want more.
Sometimes I’m in the mood for a Philly roll, but my kids are 100% vegetarian/vegan so they are not going to want to share that. Sometimes my husband wants some nigiri that I do not care for. Sometimes we share a bunch of veggie rolls.
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Goes without saying. 
No sushi sharing here, but I hate rice, so I always deconstruct my rolls and eat just the goodies.
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I travel a lot and hence eat out, often on business. Restaurants range from street vendors to multiple Michelin stars. Lots of fairly high end restaurants.
I think these might be strategies:
I try to generally order ingredients that are local or fresh or local specialties. Especially when I am abroad, I try to get the things that are special to that place (pepper crabs in Singapore, bamboo rice and aromatic peppers in Longsheng, homemade pasta with sardines, pine nuts and raisins in Sicily, etc.). My go to inexpensive meal in London is peri-peri chicken at Nando’s. I will often ask people what I really ought to try while in XXX? I have had ant larvae and huitlacoche in Mexico. A client from Fukien took me to the best Fukienese restaurant in Hong Kong and ordered cold(?) pigeon (edible), jellyfish (among the worst things I’ve eaten), and buns with meat inside (pretty good). I have had sparrow in Japan, etc. I think in Guilin China, I asked what people had for a celebratory dinner and we got a snail dish that was fabulous and a beer fish dish that was less so. I had reindeer in either Stockholm or Copenhagen.
But, especially when not at a high end restaurant, I make a guess about what the restaurant is capable of. If unsure or skeptical, I will go with a hamburger or steak or grilled fish rather than something that requires culinary skill. So, at Legal Seafoods, I order grilled fish and nothing that requires fancier skill. This is often true when traveling in the US. Lots of restaurants are fancy-ish but I doubt the chef is great. I have been spoiled by wonderful sushi (at restaurants like Sushi Ran) and at run of the mill sushi places, I tend to get things like Dragon Roll (the flavor is good and doesn’t rely on perfect fish).
My wife likes to share. I’m not crazy about it but will do it for all but desserts, which we need to agree on a sharing percentage up front and divide it (I’ll just have a spoonful means 60% goes to her).