Red_taiyaki
Member
The whole idea of the first date being coffee or a drink makes sense (and is not a bad thing) though because it brings an air of casualness to the meeting. You can meet and see if you actually have stuff in common without the full dinner commitment. If you find you do have a lot to talk about, then you can step into the more traditional dating routine.
This is my commonly most used tactic when it comes to dating. Coffee first, then if there's something I like about them then I'll usually decide whether or not they're worth pursuing after a few days of mulling it over for a bit.
Learned to do this after three dates and spending a good chunk of change on a girl I was only meh-meh about last year.