The top five first-date spots

By carolinianweb on September 2, 2015 • ( 1 )

Photo courtesy of Leo higalgo/flickr

Jackson Cooper
Staff Writer

Where I work, I can tell when people are on a first date: their eyes are hopeful yet worried. There’s obviously an inner-monologue playing behind those eyes; in fact, I think they’re so wrapped up in the moment that they forget to pay me sometimes.

They take their coffee — still no payment — and look around, gauging whether they’re too early or if the other person is even going to show up at all. Once the other person arrives, who, also in a dreamy state, forgets to give me money and looks as if he or she is the only person in the world before I snap them back into reality. Awkward hellos and handshakes that turn into hugs occur and the start of “something” happens.

With all of this in mind, this week, I will be telling you all about the Top 5 first-date spots in the Triad to take that special someone-to-be.

5. Don (on Tate Street)

I love going to Don because despite the small size, your privacy is very important to the owners and everyone else. Don specializes in Japanese food, particularly a thing called “hot bowls,” which consist of stir-fry ingredients in a small, scorching hot bowl.

Once you’ve been served, you can mix those tasty ingredients in, and the bowl cooks your food as you’re getting to know your date. Oh, and you know what the best part is? The complimentary ice cream served after your meal.

4. Maxie B’s (on Battleground)

Plush couches and portraits of pugs line the floor at Maxie B’s. On a normal Friday night, the line to get the best cake in Greensboro runs outside onto the patio, but it is definitely worth the wait.

The cakes come in over 30 different flavors (who would’ve thought 7-Up would make a good after-dinner dessert?), and the seating in the house is well worth staying there for a solid couple of hours. Actually, you may end up doing that anyway because the cake fills you up so much, it’s hard to move.

To further prove my point, my mother vowed to me that she’d drive all the way from Raleigh just to buy Maxie B’s. Just remember not to bring your mother—or mine—on your first date.

3. Triad Stage/UNCG Theatre/UPAS Series/Guilford College Bryan Series

All of the above are simple suggestions of cultural venues that you and your potential soulmate could explore on a first date. Whenever I go out, I like to take someone to a play to see how they respond to what’s being presented; you may want to do the same.

I’m sure there are some statistics that say if you and a loved one go to a cultural event, you’re more likely to discuss your life philosophies with one another. That may seem too heavy-hitting for some, but eventually you’re going to have to ask the other person if he or she thinks there’s life after death.

2. Mizumi Sushi (on State Street)

All you can eat sushi. Yep, you read that right. Mizumi is the perfect date spot for the raw-fish eaters in all of us. It’s a great place to rediscover your love of sushi or discover your loved one’s shellfish allergy.

Located next to Café Pasta, the tiny Mizumi offers some of the best sushi in town at an extremely affordable price. Be careful, though! If you don’t finish everything on your plate, they will charge you for the leftover sushi. So be sure to come hungry!

1. Tate Street Coffee House

Tate Street Coffee is a special place. Its friendly staff (including yours truly), creative ambiance, and wide selection of lattes and coffee create an almost entirely different world from the one outside. It truly is a new world of privacy and respect for your story and place in this world.

Friendly faces are bound to ask if you want to switch seats with them so you can charge your computer. A stranger will probably smile at you with welcoming eyes, and you’re definitely going to just sit there for a while soaking up the atmosphere.

You can either take your first date here or find a first date here—it’s magical like that. Since I started working here, I’ve encountered over ten couples, all of them older now, who went on their first date at Tate Street Coffee. One guy said, “My ex-wife and I still come in here every week; we’re divorced but we just love coming in here and talking.” Perhaps this is because Tate Street Coffee brings out the best in everyone.

And you can have it all for the cost of a $2 cup of joe with free refills.

Whether you meet your potential first-date on Tinder or out on the street, take them out and start something new. Don’t forget to tip and pay your baristas by the way.