Answer
How does eating with strangers work?
You join a meal that someone has proposed, a handful of other diners join the same meal, and you all meet at the restaurant at the agreed time and eat together. Nobody hosts, nobody is a guest, and everyone pays their own share unless the table agreed otherwise in advance.
1. A meal is proposed
Someone plants a Meal Seed: a restaurant or a neighbourhood, a date and time, and how many people should be at the table. The person who plants it is simply the first diner — no extra cost, no organising duties, no authority over the table.
2. Other diners show interest and then confirm
Tapping “+ Me too” shows interest. It does not reserve a seat. When the details are settled you confirm explicitly, and only then does a seat belong to you. If the proposer offered several possible times and areas, interested people can indicate what suits them before anything is fixed.
3. The table forms — or quietly does not
When enough seats are confirmed the table is ready and the group chat opens. If someone drops out afterwards, their seat reopens through Seat Rescue. If the table never fills, it expires on its own and nobody turns up to an empty restaurant.
4. At the restaurant
You arrive, you find the table, you eat. Tables are small on purpose — typically three to six people — because that is the largest group where one conversation still works. You can leave early at any point, without explanation, once you have settled your share.
- Public venues only; private homes are not allowed.
- Everyone attests that they are an adult.
- The payment approach is agreed before the meal and locked once the table is ready.
5. Money
Usually everyone pays for what they ordered. ToShareAMeal never processes the restaurant bill and does not make the reservation for you. If you want the arithmetic done for you, the free Tip Calculator and Table Split tools handle tax, tip, shared dishes and one person covering the whole bill.
6. Afterwards
If the table worked, you can keep going: a Circle keeps a group eating together on a rhythm, and after any meal you can say you would share another table with someone. Nothing about that choice is shown to anyone unless it is mutual.