Abby, with fondue, the tradition is that if a man drops whatever he’s dipping in the fondue, he has to buy the hostess a bottle of wine. If a woman drops it in the fondue, she has to kiss every man at the table. If a first date is going well, it might be a good idea to bring this tradition up. 
stargazer that would explain why I’m not familiar with it. I’ve only ever been to fondue parties that were all girls.
I always like to give her a tasty tube steak smothered in underwear!!
Tain’t nuthin’ better than a tasty bit of tail!
Just a word of warning. Don’t order a mountain of food and shovel it down noisely. It just makes you look like a fat pig. Especially if your not the one paying.
(Yes, this did happen to me once. She looked pretty good until we started eating.)
I’ll agree with pizza and a coke. Not expensive, not too messy, and almost everyone likes cheese pizza. Plus, pizza places are easy to find.
Well which would you say was our FIRST date – the Saturday double date with our friends who were fixing us up (the four of us had lunch at a diner, went to the movies and then back to our friends’ house to hang out and socialize), or the next day, when he paid me a visit (so we were actually alone for the first time)?
For that one, I had made my “monster spaghetti sauce.” That’s the one I make with sausage, onions and chopped meat, then simmer all day – and normally only made perhaps once or twice a YEAR, if that often! I’d started it before he was supposed to come over, and when he showed up, he smelled it simmering and commented about how wonderful it smelled.
We spent the afternoon talking, sipping the wine he brought, and watching a movie on my VCR (along with cuddling on the couch: the sparks were definitely there though we went no further than this and a little bit of kissing). Then when dinner time came, I served us up salad and spaghetti with that sauce. I also made coffee after dinner, since I’d been told by my friends, and then him, that he was as much or more a coffee fiend as I was. He was very impressed, to say the least, and even though we didn’t start sleeping together until 3-4 weeks after this, I was weak-in-the-knees melting that very day. Fast forward seven months now: we’re still together despite that we’re long-distance. I’ve made “that sauce” for him four or five more times, and he still loves it.
As to those of you who mention that garlic, beans, etc. are not good dating foods, well consider this. If ONE person eats garlic, the other is bound to notice the garlic breath. But if BOTH people have it, they don’t notice it. This I know from not only sharing meals which include garlic bread (and when I make rice, I ALWAYS use plenty of garlic!). My boyfriend not only loves that spaghetti sauce, but he also loves my chicken and beans with garlic rice. As to the gastronomic effects of the beans, well, that’s just plain FUN. You can make lots of “toxic gas” and “chemical warfare” jokes this way.
On the other hand, here’s something else I’d like to mention. If only one of you likes “hot and spicy” food, such as Mexican for instance, be careful. Not because of offensive breath issues, but pain issues. One of my boyfriend’s favorite snacks is salsa and tortilla chips. I keep both in the house for him, and him only – I don’t touch that stuff because even mild salsa is WAY too hot and spicy for me. He likes medium. Well one afternoon he eating this while we were hanging out here watching Star Trek videos. But when he kissed me soon after finishing his snack, MY mouth felt like it was set on fire!!! OUCH!!!
Another vote for pizza. Especially if you eat that pizza at Grimaldi’s after having walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. Worked for me.
It’s not a big issue for me because usually the woman cook the dinner. But if I wanted to impress them for a first date I would take them to the Old Bath House on the beach. It was voted most romantic restaurant & I already have VIP status with them. Dinner with wine & tip comes to about $150.00 for two, a bit more than pizza 
Grimaldi’s. -sigh- Their food is so good, that I’d suggest taking a first date there, even if you both live in Lenox, Mass.
My First Date Meals:
With Sarah: Pizza & sodas
With Rani : Kosher Friday Night Shabbat dinner, with 175 of our mutual closest friends.
With Caryn: She had the key to the English Department Book Closet. I don’t know how. We set out a feast. Armenian String Cheese, stoned wheat thin crackers, grapes and apple slices. Sparkling apple cider. Man, that was livin’. And, candlelight.
With the Wifestrocity: Pizza at Goldberg’s Pizzaria on the Upper East Side of NYC, with the couple that set us up. Good pizza. I was so nervous, I never took my white windbreaker off all night.
Naked breakfast in bed is a great way to break the tension.
Yeah, but what are you going to EAT??
I’m going to go with pizza as well. It’s a comfortable food.