S/O Chinese food - family style or individual

When my cousin visits from NJ we always get Chinese food dinner because she love chicken fingers and can't get them in NJ. We always do family style.

We eat individually.

I am mostly GF. Intolerant, not celiac. So, if there is soy sauce with gluten or cross contamination, I will be alright. So, I get something with rice. Jay usually gets noodles or something breaded. DH and I used to share Zen rolls…I loved those! Not anymore…gluten.

Family style, which works well with my indecisive nature. Allows me to try a bit of multiple dishes.

With DH it's eat out of the container. I'd prefer to have the variety of Family Style.

Individual for takeout. Although in a restaurant we’ll all grab a few bites of each others plates.

Family style. We each order what we like, and then we all just take whatever when it comes.

Individual. I have my favorite dishes and that’s what I want to eat.

Family Style. I also thought what they do on TV is strange! And until Doordash, etc came along we did not have delivery in our town for Chinese Food.

I like having my own meal lol

In my hometown, population 1200 people, we had eight restaurants and three of those were Chinese! Everyone in town had their own favourite, both for "coffee row" in the mornings and for supper time. My family's favourite place changed owners after we'd been going to them for a few years, and by the second visit to the new owners, they knew that my dad hates veggies and would pick them out of his wonton soup and only eat the dumplings--so when they spotted us parking the car and walking towards the restaurant, they'd get his veggie-free soup ready for him and have it at a table when we walked in the door None of us liked the same dishes, so we each got to order individually, and those choices rarely changed! My dad would have lemon chicken, my mom liked beef and broccoli, I always got s&s chicken balls, and my sister got a grilled cheese

It was tough moving to the city for university and discovering that not all Chinese restaurants are created equal!

Now, when we order in, it's from someone we know, and we usually get a "dinner for four" or six or whatever--that way there's something that everyone likes, and our friend is really great about letting us substitute for things none of us will eat. Often a dinner for four would probably serve ten, but the leftovers only last a day!

Growing up and also when our kids lived at home, we always shared what was ordered. For my DH and myself, we always order individual items plus a Lo Mein to share. We like different things. Last month we joined 2 other couples for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I was so excited to order my dish. After we got our meals, one of the men said we should put our dishes in the middle so everyone can share. NOT ON YOUR LIFE! I wanted what I ordered. I can't do spicy, which 2 of the others had ordered, one was egg foo young which I don't like, one ordered a seafood mixture which I would only eat the shrimp and one ordered something I would eat but it was just a typical dish. I wanted what I ordered!
I immediately said " feel free to share but I'm eating my dish as I don't want any of yours!". None of them shared with each other after I spoke up. Later, the 2 woman approached me and thanked me for speaking up. They said that they always feel cheated when it's family style because sometimes there's not much that they'd enjoy that other's picked out. That made me feel glad that I spoke up.

On a side note, that man that wanted to share, does the same at other restaurants, most often Italian restaurants. We went to a German restaurant with 12 people and HE decided to order wurst platters for everyone to share for our dinner, without discussing it with anyone. My husband told him that I was excited to be ordering Jagerschnitzel and was thinking about it all day! The man walked over to me and said loudly, "you can order what YOU want and we'll all enjoy the wurst platters." I looked at him and said no, I'll order my own next time. He knew I was embarrassed by his loudness. Hardly anyone ate much of the platters. The bill came, was handed to him, and he proceeded to tell everyone what we each owed for dinner. HE took home all the leftovers. BTW: he's a millionaire!
I don't understand why other's don't speak up to him. He always wants to be in control for how things should be done.
We haven't been out to eat with that guy and his wife since!

I like the idea of family style when it's things that go together. If there was a big bowl of spaghetti, a big bowl of meatballs or sausage and a cut loaf of garlic bread, then I'd like that. But when it's all different items that don't go together, then I'll stick to my individual meal that I chose.

We order individual. My hubby and I each have our favorite things. When we eat at my MIL's house with the family we order family style.

We usually each choose a dish, but I wouldn't ever think to eat directly out of the cardboard container.