© Graham Barclay/TMGMPs and their guests enjoy a drink on the River Terrace at the House of Commons
A Freedom of Information request found that the parliamentary authorities have had to write off more than £17,000 worth of unpaid catering bills since 2010.
The debt was wracked up by four unnamed MPs, 21 tradespeople and one internal member of staff on food and drink.
The research also found that a peer had a £243 restaurant bill written off while an MP left a £30 catering bill outstanding.
All restaurant facilities are subsidised for MPs, who earn £77,379 a year and members of the House of Lords, who earn a £305 per day attendance allowance, plus travel expenses.
The total amount of banqueting debt written off as unlikely to be recovered since 2010 is £17,019.58.
The figures are a vast improvement on 2009, when it was revealed MPs owed almost £140,000 in unpaid food and drink bills.
The house authorities ordered a crackdown after it emerged they were chasing more than half of all MPs for wining, dining and entertaining in parliament's restaurants.
They included 77 MPs who had failed to settle their tabs - averaging more than £500 each - for more than six months.
The cost of subsidised food has been halved since 2010, however last year's snap election led to fewer customers using parliament's eateries and to an increase in costs from £2.9m in 2016-7 to £3.1 million in 2017-8.
The latest figures show the Commons' catering service sold £9.8 million worth of food last year, compared to £6.7 million eight years ago.
Comment: The same MPs who 'awarded' themselves £11,000 worth in payrises in just 3 years, and who are currently overseeing devastating 'austerity' measures and a devastating surge in poverty in Britain. If this were any old commoner, bailiffs would be at their door demanding payment: