An important question about eating out is who pays for the meal. If a friend of yours asks you to have lunch with him, you may say something like this, “I'm afraid it'll have to be someplace cheap, as I have very little money.” The other person may say, “OK, I'll meet you at McDonald's.”
This means that the two agree to go Dutch, that is, each person pays for himself. He may also says, “Oh, no, I want to take you to lunch at Smith's.” This means the person wants to pay for you. If you feel friendly towards this person, you can go with him and you needn't pay for the meal.
American customs about who pays for dates(约会) are almost the same as in other parts of the world. In the old days, American women wanted men to pay for all the meals. But today, a university girl or a woman in the business world will usually pay her own meal. So as you can see, it is a polite thing to make the question clear at the very beginning.
