You summed up perfectly why people are reacting so strongly to the coffee date. (As I knew you would.)
But just to be clear (and I had to repeat this over and over again) I am not advocating a fancy dinner date. I am suggesting men stop doing the same boring activity that every man does. At the worst, you will be forgotten. At best, you will get friend zoned.
I am going to do a part two with some low budget date suggestions that don’t feel like an interview. I have had plenty of quirky dates. Some were fails. Some were wins. But all of them were memorable. 😉