I feel like I have to spell this out to you, GoodMan32, because it's not the words, it's the tone that makes the music.
Asking her about food allergies is beside the point. You can dislike a food even if you're not allergic to it.
You
start asking her about food allergies,
then turn the conversation to food likes and dislikes.
Surprising a woman with a restaurant you're not even sure if she'll like is risky.
Not if you date
adventurous women.
I make it a staple to take women places I haven't been before. And there are no guarantees: I took one of my kittens out for an evening walk in Amsterdam, we shared a poke bowl (she's not a big eater), and we ended up drinking at a Cafe-Restaurant.
My kitten reads the menu and she turns to me and says, '
Can we have dinner here next weekend?' I turn to the friendly waitress and reserve a table for two the next Friday evening.
Next Friday we arrive on time at the Cafe-Restaurant and a different waitress takes us to the absolute ****tiest table in the restaurant. I tell the waitress the table is unacceptable. She shrugs. I turn to my kitten and say, '
Let's go'. We walk out and my kitten says, '
What the hell do these people think you reserved a table for? Screw this place, I'll post a horrible review online.'
What if she ends up hating the food? You can kiss any chance at sex goodbye.
You didn't prep the food, so how can you be blamed for the quality?
Read the above: did my kitten blame me in any way for the fiasco? No, she didn't. She knew I had never dined at the place. We had both been impressed with their snacks and the menu looked good, but we didn't have a chance at tasting it because their staff were not doing them a good service (I tipped them well for the drinks and snacks the Saturday before).
We didn't let it spoil our evening, though. Amsterdam is full of restaurants, so we found a good Thai place to enjoy.
Sh!t happens and especially when you don't count on it. Even if the restaurant turns out to be horrible, that doesn't make it your fault. You may pick the restaurant, but many restaurants are pretty intense workplaces (ask any bartender / waiter in a popular spot), so there is a high changeover in personnel nowadays and the service and quality suffers. To my kitten, my refusal to be treated like a walk-in only showed her that I have standards and that I won't accept inferior service. I didn't make a fuss or a scene, I just showed them that I'd be spending my money in a place that deserves my patronage.