It’s the Fourth of July and also day four of our “First Date Attire” Photo Contest presented by iwearyourshirt.com and The Champ Report! If you haven’t already gotten in your super-fly photo of you pimped out in your first date gear, then you need to do it soon. I’m a huge fan of the dude that’s dressed like a pink power ranger. Epic. Check out the entries here and make sure you’re Jason’s friend if you haven’t friended him already.

So let’s say you’ve scored that first date, and you need to find the perfect place to take her. Below are a list of my BEST and WORST places to take a girl on a first date.

When selecting a place for a first date, it must have the two qualities below. Keep them in mind.

1. An atmosphere conducive to talking.
2. You must be allowed and open to linger for as long — OR as little — as you like.

BEST: Sushi Bar

A sushi bar is one of my favorites for a first date. It gives the air of being somewhere classy without coming off too stuffy. It’s also good for vegetarians, as if you’re at a good sushi bar, they can make a lot of rolls without fish or meat. Best of all, a sushi bar gives you the flexibility to control the length of the date. Start off by only ordering a couple of rolls and testing the waters with the girl. If she ends up not being your cup of tea, you can finish your food, look at the empy plates, thank her for meeting you, and bail. — OR — If things are going well, you’re engrossed in each other’s conversation, and you’re not ready to stop the evening, just order some more sushi and martini’s. Take your time.

WORST: Your local chain restaurants

Blech. Nothing says frozen, reheated food like going to one of your local chain restaurants. Taking a girl to one of these places shows that you really put little though into the first date. Ahhh… I can picture it now. Nothing shows what a smooth guy you are like munching on chicken fingers while country music is blaring from cheap speakers and the children in the booth behind you are breaking the sound barrier with their screams. Mix in the hockey/basketball/soccer finals you can hear from the TV’s in the bar, and you have set up the perfect “tête-à-tête” moment. Add that they just want to burn-em-and-churn-em, your waitress is going to make it quite clear when you’ve overstayed your welcome. I really can’t think of a good reason to go to one of these places.

BEST: Bakery

Bakeries are great, especially if you set the date up on a Saturday or Sunday morning. They tend to be fairly casual and attract a clientele that are well-behaved and not distracting, unlike the families with the screaming babies you’ll find at chain places. You can grab a cup of coffee, tea, or a bottle of water - not to mention a good danish or two - and curl up in a corner and get to know each other. You’re not committed to a full meal, so if things aren’t going well once you finish your breakfast, you can split. But if things seem to be progressing, offer to refill her coffee and keep chatting. No one is going to shoo you away.

WORST: Coffee Shop

Thought going to the coffee shop was a good idea, did you? Not so fast… If you’re thinking of that coffee shop housed just below the law-firm and right down the street from the courthouse, expect pandemonium. She’ll love lingering for you at your table for 30-minutes while you wait in a line that snakes around the outside of the building. Every other person in this long line is yapping on their cell phones, and the contant sound of the bell from the door being open-and-shut-and-open-and-shut is sure to put her in the mood to learn more about you. By the time you get back with her coffee, she’ll have forgotten what she ordered and will be wondering how long she has to stick around. Think twice about this selection.

BEST: Coffee Shop

Thought going to the coffee shop was a good idea, did you? It can be. :-) You need to pick a coffee shop that is a “destination” rather than the “stop on the way to work” when it comes to a first date. The layout should be wide and open. A good way to judge if a coffee shop is good for a first date is to see how many people are just hanging out reading and our studying. If you intentionally blurred your eyes and didn’t know any better, could the place be a library? If the answer is yes, chances are this is a good spot. Not all coffee shops are created equal.

WORST: Any AAA Diamond-Rated Restaurant

If the place requires you to wear a jacket — actually requires it — then this is not where you need to be taking someone on a first date. Unless you’re a billionaire, travel in a private jet, and have a “driver,” there is no reason to roll like this if you don’t usually do so otherwise. Don’t get me wrong: I love these places. I love eating like a king. But take it from a guy who learned this lesson the hard way: if the place is TOO fancy on the first date, she’s going to feel VERY uncomfortable.

What even worse is that you can’t just have a “quick bite to eat” at these places. By design, you have to stay a while. A LONG while. Imagine a four-hour meal with someone whose voice grates on your every nerve. It’s pure hell.

Save the fancy joints for later… the first date is not the place to have a sommelier involved.

BEST: Your local eatery

Within a 25-mile radius from where you’re sitting there’s probably at least one place that you can think of that’s indigenous to your area… some place that is uniquely Nashville or special to Noblesville or something only Indianapolis has. Taking a girl to these types of places demonstrates that a) you put some real thought into the date and b) you have a working knowledge of the area. No girl wants to think that, except for the very moment that you’re out with her, you’ve been sitting behind a computer screen for 214 day straight. She needs to know that you’re a man of the town, one who gets around and is respected and known. By showing you know where “all the good places are,” it increases your stock. It’s a subtle, mental thing that goes a long way.

Be careful when selecting a local place, however. Some try to model themselves after the chain restaurants, and these are ones you want to avoid. Try and find a little wine bar or maybe a casual french bistro or even a quaint Asian place. Find what’s special to your area and see what best/worst qualities it holds from some of the other catagories. You’ll be able to tell pretty quickly what will work and what won’t.

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This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list, but it gives you some places to think about. Where have YOU taken a girl on a first date. I want to know! Comment below!

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