Don’t have to say a name, something like “local thai place” is fine.
Bonus: What makes it a perfect date dinner spot?
Pizza. If you don’t like getting pizza, then you don’t like me.
Go to where you actually like to eat, because you’re testing out this person for long term compatibility.
Waffle House for the opportunity to demonstrate my martial prowess
If the date is still going at prime waffle house fight hours, you’re already doing well.
Naw down in Tennessee you mostly gotta show your musical talents by singing classics while drunk. With the rare but fucking awesome backflip spin kick that you gotta serve to some rando.
I know “it depends” is a wishy washy answer, but really it depends. I fucking love outrageously spicy food - scared my now husband when he took me to a Thai place by ordering papaya salad authentically spicy, it’s been a dozen years and he still brings it up, like he tried it & it gave him PTSD. It was so good though, and I was so happy they did not pull any punches.
If it’s a first date, I wouldn’t like to drink, so maybe pizza? I think what makes a place good for a date is when all the food is for the table, not each of you separately. If the guy was loaded and wanting to go someplace pricy, there are very fancy restaurants here that serve that way, but pizza I like, most people like, and it is not usually a drinking food IMO, it’s better with water or soda. And you share it.
If a foodie guy, I’d ask for Ethiopian food. Those meals are also served on one big injera for the table and wow so delicious and also not a drinking sort of meal.
My place. First, the food is fabulous. Second, the food is cheap.
Edit: This pizza cost about $3 to make and it’s a really great, authentic sourdough Neapolitan.
Recipe?
I also choose this guy’s place.
Korean BBQ.
Share food and cook for each other. Creates instant intimacy, great food too
Hot pot works too.
I got with the combo =)
Oh yeah and it has conveyor belt stuff going as well.
Asian food is great for groups! So much is made for sharing. Can go Japanese too - shabu shabu, izakayas.
Special mention for Spanish tapas:)
Also breweries if they like beer.
Went on a date last night. We saw some live music and walked around. Took her to a really good ramen place that I had left an emphatic, detailed 5 star review for previously.
The review was so good, the staff treated us like royalty and even the owner stopped by our table.
Bam, got hugs and kisses.
From the date or restaurant staff?
Yes.
If the answer is anything other than Long John Silvers then you don’t have enough game to get beyond the first date.
Get the free basket of crumblies to show that you’re “in” with the staff
Nothing says game like frozen fish sticks.
I prefer the chicken also if you can find an a&w combo one to get root beer it’s over.
That’s like ordering tacos at a pub. Hamburger at a Mexican joint. Chicken at a seafood restaurant? That’s been in the Frigidaire single the day they bought it.
I’m a service top when it comes to restaurants (and also generally, but that’s besides the point). Typically when I am planning a first date with someone, I first ask if they have any dietary needs, and then I ask if there is any food they have been craving lately or if there are any restaurants in the area that they have been meaning to try.
If they say they are craving a specific type of food, I am pretty well enough acquainted with the different types of restaurants in my area that I can choose accordingly. I typically will choose the restaurant that serves the “best” food they have been craving. I love to bond over good food and I love showing people new things that they will enjoy (another facet of being a service top), so at the very least we will be able to talk about how good the food is and they have a new dinner spot they can take their friends.
If they choose a restaurant they’ve been meaning to try, it makes for a good dinner conversation and I potentially get to have a new spot on my restaurant list.
If they don’t have a preference, then I just choose a spot that I’ve been meaning to try that’s halfway between where we both live so it’s convenient for the both of us. If there isn’t anything I want to try in the area, I will just go for something like a sit down pizza spot.
Also, once I’ve picked a spot, I normally look in the area and pick a potential second location for us to go to if the date is going well and we still want to hang out after dinner. Typically I look for a dive bar because they’re fun, cheap, and easy to talk in.
I’m a service top
Sorry, a what, now?
Don’t you mean a foodie?
I take it you’re not queer or trans hahaha. I’ll explain :)
You know how a lot of queer people classify themselves as tops, bottoms, sides, and verses depending on which position they prefer when they’re having sex? Well within those four classifications, there are countless sub-classifications.
One subclassification in the “top” classification is “service top”. A service top is a top who prioritizes “servicing”, or pleasuring their sexual partners instead of prioritizing their own sexual gratification when they have sex.
So basically I was making a joke about myself and my own sexual classification. Because I am someone who priorizes the enjoyment of the other person in bed, it extends to me prioritizing the enjoyment of others in my waking life and accordingly informs how I would pick a restaurant on the first date.
If I was hanging out with a bunch of queer and trans people, they would get the joke. But I realize that a random stranger on the internet probably wouldn’t get it. Sorry about that. Hope you learned something new, though!
Oooooohhhhh…
Thank you for the patient explanation. No, I am about as Cis as can be, a full Kinsey zero. But I thought that my time of running across strange phrases I completely fail to understand would come when I am considerably older. Not in my sixth decade. While I am not “with it”, to spindle grandpa Simpson’s quote, I do try to at least keep my head above water. At least I know what this euphamism is all about, now.
😄👍🏻
Somewhere with vegan food.
sup bby?
Hello.
Vegan dating is hard hey.
I’m more so vegetarian. I still eat dairy and eggs. I can’t find anyone who would want to date anyway.
Figure out what you like and who you are and do it meticulously. I’m also extremely picky but also wildly pansexual and used to be extremely confused by that. Another thing that might help is to lean into any known kinks or find out more about yourself, to further compatibility. After that, you just gotta go on dates and start figuring out what you actually hate in other people.
For you, diet sounds like a big one. It is for me, too, but not in a vegetarian way. I’m like the opposite, where everybody I end up meeting has super restrictive diets, and I really like most kinds of food.
I dunno. Dating and finding good partners feels easier than finding friends, because at least there’s an industry around finding potential partners and it also feels weirdly more socially acceptable to put out your sexual/partner compatibility needs than your friend/social ones; having specific friends standards seems really taboo.
The problem is I feel like a burden. I also have low self-esteem and not a lot of life experience.
Everybody has fucked up self esteem right now: conservatives are in power.
As far as experience, there’s only one way to get that.
And for being a burden, just don’t be a burden. Your presence is not a burden. Wanting to find love or companionship is not a burden. You’re obviously surviving without them, now. That’s gotta show for something.
Just go on like two or three bad dates. Do your best, treat people like friends like how you’d want to be treated, take a shower and wear clean clothes. You’re gonna get rejected, you’re gonna run into people who you hurt or are hurt by you, you’re gonna get hurt. And that sucks, but it’s okay.
Be honest, if you want to find someone, you have to start doing that. Life is shockingly similar to RPGs and leveling up skills.
You have something to offer, so will somebody else. Relationships are about sharing. Find somebody worth sharing with who wants to share with you, too. Or somebodies… Life doesn’t have to be all about fulfilling or being fulfilled by a single partner, cheating is about breaking promises or assumed intent, love is not finite, only time. Look up “ethical non monogamy” (ENM) if that sounds viable to you. Requires a lot of emotional maturity, though, like high levels of emotional wisdom and self honesty.
I suggest just giving a few dates a real shot and seeing how annoying most other people actually are before you start putting everybody else on a pedestal. Even people who have their lives together can be the most unbearable people in the world.
While not strictly a dinner, I’m usually opting (or at least suggest, if the other side would be interested) for a local billiard place. It’s not just a pub with a random one table, but an actual cue sports place/bar, with like 20 tables. It does have drinks and is also a restaurant, and in general looks relatively fancy.
I like billiard (pool) because it’s easy to pick up, gives you something to do during/between conversations without requiring too much focus, can be done in fancy clothes without needing to change into anything, and can look fancy with drinks. It’s also something that everyone plays basically on the same skill level, whether you are playing for a first time or for 50th time, with only people who are actually practicing regularly being noticeably better (which I’m not), so it’s never really too one-sided. And it’s fun.
So far it has worked well.
That vietnamese restaurant i frequent. If she never had vietnamese cuisine before, she need ti know about vietnamese cuisine, it’s important.
Can’t go wrong with Italian, IMO.
Dives with shitty food and cheap drinks. During a slow hour when we’ll get special treatment and can use the building’s jukebox to play cringe music
I do like sandwiches
The Y.
