Millennials Hate Dinner as a First Date | The Social

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]A writer for the Wall Street Journal says as a millennial, she hates the idea of dinner on a first date. But Jen Zed, THEY WANT TO BRING IT BACK. She says younger people are fed up with fast and cheap meetups and want to know they have their dates time and attention. So, are dinner dates a good idea? Yay or nay?

[00:00:20]>> You guys like them? Okay, here's the deal.

[00:00:23]>> I love that. I love that the men are really like, "You love a dinner date."

[00:00:26]That's fantastic. But you know what? The reason why coffee dates exist is because if you've ever been on a really bad dinner date, you're like, "Oh my gosh, you want to chew off your own arm to get out of that restaurant." SO HERE YOU YOU'RE NODDING CUZ YOU'VE been there, right? So the coffee date, here's how there's my rule. So, if I already kind of know you and we've had some face tof face conversations and we've talked on the phone, a dinner date is no problem because I already know that we can carry on a conversation because when you go to dinner, that's at least a half an hour to 45 minutes, which doesn't sound long until you're sitting across from somebody, you have nothing to say to them. Then it feels like it's an eternity. Now, dinner dates are when you really feel more comfortable and you're like, "Yeah, I'm fine to sit down for an hour cuz we already have a nice little rapport going." So, don't get rid of the coffee date. You just kind of save it for the person you don't know well.

[00:01:08]Maybe all you've done is DM'd each other.

[00:01:11]app. You don't know how much time you want to give them. So, you do a quick coffee can turn into dinner. But dinner once you dinner, I swear the slowest waiter you'll get on that date.

[00:01:22]>> Like, aren't aren't relationships work?

[00:01:26]So, shouldn't you have to put in a little bit of work more than a 10-minute coffee date?

[00:01:29]>> When was the last time you've been on a first date with someone who nothing in common?

[00:01:32]>> Andrea, I'm so old and I've been so long out of the dating scene that I didn't realize dinner dates were not a thing anymore. They warranted A COMEBACK. I DIDN'T KNOW THEY WENT ANYWHERE. To me, a dinner date is like a beautiful thing that you are. Are you doing dinner dates on the scene?

[00:01:49]>> I'm not. Um I mean, it depends. It depends. Like you said, if it's somebody who I already built up a rapport with and we go out to dinner, then cool. What I like to do is an activity. An activity is my favorite.

[00:02:01]>> Give us an example. Like >> um axe throwing.

[00:02:06]>> No, no. I'M HERE FOR IT. YOU SEE, I GOT SOME PEOPLE ON MY SIDE. SO, I'LL I'LL SAY SOMETHING ABOUT MYSELF, RIGHT? I'm very competitive. And a lot of my first dates come out of me basically telling a man I'll beat him at something.

[00:02:20]>> SO THEN I SET IT UP. I'M LIKE, ARE WE DOING THROWING? Are we playing basketball? What are we doing? But the cool thing is, even if I realize in that moment like, okay, I don't really have in common, nothing in common with them or there's not compatibility, I'm still having fun doing a thing. Yeah, you're still learning or you'll beat him. They'll beat him.

[00:02:39]Exactly. So, I love it. Ax throwing a great >> I do love the idea of an activity. You can see what they're made of. Like I always anytime I watch like Amazing Race Canada, I'm like, you know, this would be a wicked experience on a first date.

[00:02:52]Now, it might seem extreme. It's extreme, but when someone is under pressure, you can see all their colors.

[00:02:58]You can see, are they collaborative? Are they combative? Are they trying to beat you? You can do that too if you just GO OUT FOR DINNER.

[00:03:05]>> YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HELP ME.

[00:03:07]>> NO, IT'S A COMPLETELY different energy, Jess.

[00:03:10]>> IT'S A BEAUTIFUL CALM ENERGY. We see people at their best.

[00:03:14]>> Going to an airport with somebody. Going to an airport with somebody is very different than divorce.

[00:03:20]>> Get married first before you get divorced.

[00:03:23]>> I see what you're saying. Wow. I'm not fascinating.