I prefer meeting for a simple walk in a pleasant, populated park. I figure if we can't be comfortable together without much distraction, or money spent, not likely to be a future ...
I find moving takes the pressure off , not being stuck in one place. I also like to subtlely observe physicality, and movement in someone, or if they notice small things in nature along the way.

Once this COVID nonsense is out of the way and I have enough spare cash, I'll come over and take you out for a lunch date. I'll even slim down and muscle up first - you can see I'm not slim in my photos. Working on though. What you see is who you get.
And whats more, I'll not try to stick my tongue down your throat or touch you inappropriately, I'll try to give good conversation and listen before heading off to explore your country a little bit more.

Lunch or coffee in a very public, neutral, and inexpensive place. I prefer to keep things as uncomplicated as possible until we decide if we like one another enough to meet again. I'm in no hurry.

Someplace quiet enough to hear the other person, speak without having to raise my voice to be heard. What you describe would be fine.

Depends upon whether it's a blind date or a date with someone I know and we're taking the relationship up a notch. If it's blind then there's really no choice but to have it somewhere public and and where you know you won't have to suffer each other's company for long. That generally leaves lunch or coffee. But if it's not a blind date, my number one one favourite is a picnic which I make and that normally includes lobster and champagne.

Dating, what's that?

I've had some wonderful first dates, but those days are gone. Let me try to imagine a great future date.

In the days of covid, we meet outside in warm weather. We negotiate a meeting place with a picnic table. We each bring our own lunch. We each recognize the other because we look like our photographs. We sit and talk and eat and talk some more. The conversation is lively, comfortable, interesting. I try not to let her catch me "checking her out".

And since this is a fantasy date, she thinks I'm attractive too. We challenge each other intellectually and with magnetic personality. We lose track of time. We might go for a walk. We enjoy each other's company.

And once again, since this is a fantasy date, we see each other again.

At this point in my life, I can't even imagine.

I was married for 20 years. I always considered our first date to be the four day backpacking trip we were on. I led a group of 8 backpackers on a trip to New Mexico. So we talked and got to know each other over those four days. No showers, no make up for her. I had terrible hat hair and we used the bathroom (both #1 and #2) behind some trees. We liked each other well enough after returning to Texas to have a more conventional first date, but the four days in the wilderness was the best.

One that doesn't run away. :/

Sounds good to me. It provides safety, flexibility, and less stress. (The previous sentence also provided an opportunity to use the Oxford comma. Somehow having reasons listed in threes appeals to me.)

Being retired any day of the week is good.

My best first date involved coffee, conversation, and...children.

Thanksgiving day was the first chance we had to meet in person, having met online. Everything was closed, though, except for Denny's...and meeting up after family celebrations, we both had kids in tow.

No matter - it was just a quick coffee date after all - the kids could have dessert while we chatted.

But we got along so well! That "quick coffee date" ended up lasting two, maybe three hours. We kept buying the kids more desserts so that we could stay a bit longer.

We've been together ever since. This Thanksgiving will make nine years.

I work, I can't really do lunch. But, a coffee place on a weekend works well, talk can happen, there's no need to eat and have that interruption and there's no rush to have to leave so that the waitstaff can turn the table. There are a lot of parks around my area or there's the Katy Trail that runs along the river. But I have to feel safe to be able to do that, the parks are safer because there's more people. I don't get asked out anymore and I don't bother with the dating sites. I'm ok as I am. It would be nice but it's not a requirement. I walk my neighborhood pretty much daily but few around here even bother to do that, so I won't be meeting anyone that way. Maybe I need to walk the parks or Trail more often..