If you’d like to lower your restaurant bill – skip the first item you see...

A well designed menu can be very profitable for the restaurant...

There are a few things to beware of if you’d rather not overpay:

• Beware of the first item you see. Restaurants always place their biggest money-maker in the number one spot.

• Bigger isn’t always better. A lot of restaurants now offer two sizes. A small or half size for one price and a full size for a few dollars more. That’s code for “rip-off.” The bigger size is often the same size plate with just a tad more.

• Don’t order the never-ending pasta bowl. It may sound like free food – but we usually don’t eat more than one serving anyway.

Another trick restaurants often use is known as the “middle option.” When things are offered in groups of three, such as types of wine or desert, people choose the middle option most often. That’s why there’s a good chance the middle option will be the most profitable for the restaurant.