Personal Finance Tips

What is the best way to split a bill at an Irish restaurant?

Gabrielle Figueiredo

26.09.25

Read time 3 minutes

Eating out with friends should be all about good food and good company. But figuring out how to split the restaurant bill at the end of the night can put a quick dampener on spirits. From navigating the etiquette of bill splitting to doing the maths without cracking out an Excel spreadsheet, bill splitting can come with plenty of its own stresses.

Next time you need to split a bill, Excel wizardry is optional. Ditch the spreadsheet and look out for split bill features from providers like Wise. This guide walks through how to split a bill in Ireland with smart solutions and top tips.

Discover the Wise Account 💡

Can you split a restaurant bill in Ireland? Legal rights and restaurant policies

As a customer at an Irish restaurant you don’t have a legal right to split the bill with your friends. However, it’s common for restaurants to allow bill splitting for groups or couples, reflecting how common this is required in practice.

As the restaurant isn’t obliged to split your bill for you, it’s a good idea to check in advance if it’s an option. Being up front and polite is the best way to get a positive response - and if the server has gone out of their way to help you, you can always increase your tip at the end of the evening.

Why some restaurants don't split bills? ❌

All that said, some restaurants don't split bills - and often for solid reasons, including:

The restaurant’s POS system may not be able to process split bills

Bill splitting can increase staff workload and make it hard to serve customers efficiently

Increased card processing fees when taking payment in several transactions.

Ultimately, if a restaurant can only offer bill splitting by putting in additional capital to upgrade the POS system, employing more people to cover the increased workload, and paying more in card fees, this will significantly cut margins and make it harder for small businesses to make a profit.

Bill-splitting habits: How people pay up

bill-splitting

Bill splitting etiquette can divide even the closest of buddies. There are a few common options when it comes to sharing a cost like a meal out or a group birthday night out for a friend:

Doing some in-the-moment mental maths to divide out the bill equally among all individuals

Having each guest decide how much they each owe on an honour system, to take into account different meal and drink prices

Creating a spreadsheet on Excel or similar, to keep track of all the costs applied to each individual

Using a group bill split app like Splitwise¹ to portion out costs or a service like the Wise Account which lets you split your bill across multiple currencies, then request and receive payments in your account.

Once you’ve worked out who needs to pay what, you can cover the costs with a mixture of card payments and cash, depending on your preference, and what the merchant will accept.

Say goodbye to bill-splitting headaches! The Wise Account can help you

wise-account

Split bills and get paid easily in EUR and 40+ other currencies, with the Wise Account.

Opening a Wise Account won’t help only when managing your money at home and abroad but you’ll be able to use in-built app splitting features to cut the hassle of sharing costs with friends.

Simply pay the bill with your Wise account, and then use the bill split features to share the costs equally, or with your chosen amounts, among your friends.

Enter the names of the people you want to share the bill with, and the app will generate a payment request to each member of the group, which they can tap on to pay you instantly. Get paid to your Wise account in multiple currencies, from other Wise accounts, or from accounts held with different providers or banks.

And it’s not just about dinner. Next time you’re wondering how to split an electric bill with roommates or how to share the costs of that coffee date, use Wise, for easy, low cost payments in whichever currencies you need.

Open your Wise Account
for free 🚀

How to split a bill in your Wise Account: Step by step

In your Wise Account, from the transaction page, follow these steps:

Choose the transaction from your activity page that you want to split
Click on “Split this transaction”
Add people to split with (choose the person from the existing recipients or click on Payment link to create a payment request link for a non-Wise user)
Divide the amount (You can modify each amount separately)
Confirm the split by clicking “Create”

You can check your Bill Split in the Payments tab in your Wise account, under Active, and later you can mark an individual request as Paid.

Sources used:

Splitwise

Sources last checked on date: 25th September, 2025

*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.

We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.