Movie or a dinner at a beach restaurant?

Dinner at a nice Restaurant and a movie afterwards.

That would save on popcorn expense.

I’d go with both!

Hahahah but a movie isn't fun without popcorn

dinner & 6
classic

If those are the only choices, I'd personally go with dinner at a beach restaurant.

I'd try to make the conversation meaningful so I learned something about them.

Then I'd use that information to figure out what kind of movie we'd both like to see.

Then I'd ask them on a second date to a movie, maybe.

I'd avoid dinner and a movie.

At least at my age the people I tend to date have complex jobs and lives.
I don't want dating me to be an intrusion of their life where they may feel they have to shoehorn in several hours every time they see me, or that I'm going to start being a huge time sink.

Not to mention first dates tend to be a little nerve wracking for a lot of people. I'd rather keep it short, simple but somewhat meaningful and informative, then give them time to recover and think rather than just be constantly reacting. Reacting to emotional highs tend to burn people out quickly.

On a first date? As in the meet & greet?
Neither!!

Movie --> you cannot talk, you don't even see each other. How can you get to know one another? BAD idea for a meet and greet and even for a first real date after that.

Dinner --> 1) You cannot talk as you got your gob full of food.
2) if you don't click and don't like each other much, you're going to be stuck with one another throughout dinner. Then sorting the bill and parting ways is going to be extremely awkward.
Or would you just get up, leave your dinner on the plate and walk out of there?

First date is casual, short and sweet. Meeting over a drink -no alcohol. Half an hour to an hour is enough. If you happen to like each other you can stay a bit longer, but really the best thing to do is to leave it at that, let it sink in and agree to meet for a real date. Then you will leave on a high which makes both look forward to the next time. Then you can spend longer together, doing something fun and have dinner.

I LOVE YOUR STYLE AND I'M HOPING I CAN MEET YOU IF IT IS POSSIBLE.

THE BEACH IS REALLY A PLACE TO SPARK A ROMANTIC FIRE BETWEEN DATES AND YOU GET INTIMATE. I LIKE THE BEACH.

Prince on the beach Chrystal.

Concert or musical. Oh yeah, that's not in the choices. But it would be cool not to get into anything intense.

That is really good advice!

For a first meet and greet, I think it's nice to have a drink in the downtown food court. Certain times of day it isn't busy and then you can figure out if you want to go out to get a sub, show and drinks at a movie or what have you. That is why it's important to have someone more locally. More planning and trust is involved with a longer distance connection. People tend to be in a big hurry to connect for whatever reason, if you're not on the same page to begin with, there just won't be a meet-up.

I agree with what others have said. A first meeting would have to be for a coffee, I think you would know fairly quickly if you wanted to meet them again, if not it doesn't take long to drink a coffee. If you do, then you can agree to maybe arrange a date later, best not to rush them in to any decision in my opinion.