I think you should walk together and just talk. The traditional idea of sitting down at a table facing eachother can create a lot of pressure when conversation topics temporarily dies out. If you walk, there are things to observe and talk about all the time. :)
Also you have fewer opportunities to embarrass yourself with your suddenly missing fork-knife-food-interaction skills
Mini golf is great at facilitating a walk and talk vibe if someone needs to do something with their hands.
Do something active that allows for conversation. Things like movies are trash for a first date. You can’t talk, there’s no way to get to know the other person.
Something like a park, or a light hike is ideal. You get to experience something together in a conversational atmosphere. Where I grew up there’s a nice park by the river. It’s well lit, safe, and relatively public; while still being a beautiful place to visit. It helps everyone involved feel safe and gives ample time to chat and see the sights.
Grocery shopping for a recipe you then cook together. Or walk in the park
When I first met my now wife, we just planned on dinner. My thought was if dinner went well, I’d ask her to go down the street to the local pool hall to continue the night. We ended up eating dinner for 4 hours and were the last to leave the restaurant.
I’m glad we never ended up at the pool hall because it turns out she hated that place lol.
