*This post was written in collaboration with No String Dating

Now that the world has been irreversibly changed, everyone is trying to get used to the “new normal”. With everything going on, you could be forgiven for not thinking too much about dating. But now the world is starting to open back up again, people are starting to think about dating. Casual dating is a great way to dip your toe in the pool without making too much of a commitment, and a restaurant date is a great idea. Between the fact that restaurants are all open for business and the fact that they are one of the only things open for business lies the answer to the question posed in my post title: restaurants are perfect for casual dating. Here’s why…

There is an escape route

Ok, so this one isn’t very romantic, so let’s get it out of the way. But to be perfectly honest, you might need an escape. It’s very easy to keep up volleying conversation online, but you might end up finding out that in-person your date is a bit of a creep. Now I am not advocating running out on a perfectly nice man a la Gemma Collins in “Celebs Go Dating”, but I am saying you should have a bit of a safety plan on a first date. Restaurants are perfect because if your date starts getting a bit full-on you can do a toilet dash and run for the hills.

There is something to talk about

People that are confident enough to date casually probably don’t run out of conversation. But different horses for different courses. If you meet someone on an adult dating site then there is a huge chance you will have at least one common interest: casual dating. But if conversation does run dry, there are so many things to talk about if you are out for a nice meal. Reading the menu and choosing a dish is a great segue into what your favourite foods are, or what they were as a child. You can talk about the decor, the other patrons, the drinks, anything.

You get fed

One of my personal favourite parts about dinner dates is that you get fed. That’s pretty much just because I like food, but there is a safety element here as well. A few dates down the line you might end up going for a few drinks together, stumbling home at 5am after getting food at some late-night fast food place and realise you’ve found a friend as well as a casual dating partner on one of the sites like nostringsdating.net. But on the first date, boundaries are tested, and you don’t know each other that well. The most sensible option if you do want a drink to calm the nerves it’s probably sensible to get a bit of food in you first. Casual dating is a fantastic way to meet like-minded people and many people prefer it to standard dating, but it’s always worth having a little bit of extra awareness about safety if you can.