I love the nature type date for the third, fourth, or fifth date, but I'm not as much of a fan of it for the first date. Whenever a guy takes me somewhere a little out of the way on a a first date I get paranoid that I'm going to be chopped to bits and fed to the seagulls (I tend to attract weirdos as it is).
For a first date, I just hate it when there is no creativity or when we spend half the date somewhere where we can't even communicate. A first date should be a get to know you date, so it really should have something that tells me a little bit about the guy and should be somewhere where we can talk to each other. I hate the dinner and movie date for the first date (it is so safe and so boring).
Picnics are nice in a park like Washington Park or Dolores maybe. Somewhere where we can walk around and talk to each other afterwards. That's why North Beach is nice--you can drop into City Lights for bit, talk about authors you like, go to Vesuvio for a Guinness, or eat at Steps of Room (good call Tracypie--I'd almost forgotten). The talking and trying to figure the guy out is the best part of the first date when it goes well.
@Tracypie: Chiarscuro sounds nice just for the name. I will have to look that one up. Italian I assume from the name.
