“Let me know when you’re paying for dinner and a lovely evening and I’ll let you know!”
So what comes between a nice dinner and making out on the couch like teenagers? Movies seem so overdone and the make you both spend a couple hours not paying attentionto each other (assuming the teenaging is to be kept for later). Night hikes are nice but, you know, cougars. I’m a little out of practice.
Dancing, prancing and romancing, my friend.
Anything you can talk about. Movies are common because you have a topic of conversation afterwards. I like window shopping, browsing a bookstore or just sitting and people watching in the park just as well.
My best date ever was when my boyfriend took me to the park between dinner and ice cream. We sat on a bench and snarked about the weird people, and then he pushed me on a swing and chased me around the slide with a slug. I guess you had to be there.
Well, I think that a “lovely evening” is the whole evening – a bad date shares many elements with a good date. 
The quality of the company and how we interacted matters more than what we did.
But to answer the OP’s question (as opposed to the one put forth in the subject), some of my favorite after-dinner things have included shooting pool or holing up for a while in a cool pub or coffee house. That’s when a lot of good conversation pours forth, especially if we’re at the point where being in the same living room together results in teenaging. 
When we’re able to control ourselves (and sometime when we aren’t), I actually quite like watching a movie with my SO in one of our homes.
You’re looking for first or early-on date potential here, no? Because my idea of a truly lovely evening involves fishing or camping, and isn’t really first-date material. Besides, the cougars.
I’ve had some good dates shooting pool too. Being rotten at it doesn’t hinder the fun at all (for me).
A really fun date was at the little Grand-Prix track–you know, where you drive little cars around?
Closing down a restaurant because you can’t get enough of each other’s conversation has marked some of my better dates.
I was taken to a comedy club this summer. If you do this, *try * to pick one with comedians that are actually funny, or else it’s more of a pained and strained evening. Unless they’re bad enough to pick apart after the show, that is.
In general, I really have a good time if the date involves actually doing something (anything) in which you can get to know the other person. It takes a real spark to make just conversation that fantastic; better to build in something to talk about, in my book.
A nice dinner - keep in mind that I’m also kinda easy - Lonestar Steakhouse qualifies as “nice” to me followed by having a few drinks at a neighborhood bar. Back in the day, I’d have said nice dinner followed by Santa Fe Speedway, but they gone.
A great date that I once had (she eventually married me, so it couldn’t have been too bad for her either):
After dinner, I had an idea for fun, but I didn’t know if she was up for it. In case she was, I had already packed in the trunk a cooler with Champagne, glasses, & snacks along with a beach blanket and a backgammon set (she and I loved that to play that then).
After dinner, I suggested a movie and we started to drive down Rt 18 to the various theatres of the time to see what was posted on the marquees. She read them off, and we’d either seen them already or weren’t interested in seeing them at all. Finally, we had run out of theatres, but I had kept driving. She asked where we were going. I said “well the moon is beautiful tonight; how about the beach?”
Now it was December, but to be fair, it was one of those freak 85 degree warm days that happen about once every 5 years in December, and I knew the beaches would be empty.
It turns out that she liked the idea, and the champagne was already cold. We ended up walking on the beach, sipping champagne, watching the moon reflect off the water, and listening to the waves. We also talked a lot. Afterwards, sincere kissing ensued.