Are blind dates a good idea? The reflex answer is no. It sounds like a hostage situation with a tablecloth: two strangers, one mutual friend with a lot to answer for, and a reservation neither of you wanted.
I think the reflex is wrong. Blind dates are one of the few dating formats that still make structural sense.
Start with what an app actually gives you. A dating profile is a self-reported dataset, curated by the person least qualified to be objective about it. Height rounded up. Hobbies chosen for aspiration rather than frequency. Six photographs that took a day to select. You are matching against a brochure, and then acting surprised when the building doesn't look like the brochure.
A blind date inverts the model. Instead of browsing and filtering, you accept a single recommendation from someone who has watched you eat, argue and lose at board games. That friend is running a recommendation engine no app can replicate, because it's trained on years of observed behaviour rather than a questionnaire. When they say "you'd like her," they're encoding a hundred small things you'd never think to tick a box for.
The second advantage is that there's no pre-reading. You can't research someone you've been told nothing about, which means you can't build a case against them before you've said hello. No screenshot of a bad joke from 2014. No theory about what their star sign says. You arrive with a name and a rough description, and the whole thing has to be settled the old way, by talking.
That's a feature, not a flaw. Most of what ruins a first date is the version of it you wrote in your head beforehand.
So where does it go wrong? Almost always in the same place: expectation. The matchmaker, with the best intentions, oversells both parties. "He's hilarious." "She's the cleverest person I know." Now two perfectly decent people walk in carrying a reputation they have to live up to, and the evening turns into a comparison of the advertised product with the actual one.
The fix is unromantic but reliable. Keep the stakes low. One drink, somewhere with a door. Go in expecting a nice conversation with a stranger rather than the start of the rest of your life. If it turns into more, wonderful. If not, you've lost an hour and gained a story, and the story is usually the better return.
The honest case against is that you're handing editorial control to someone with their own biases. A friend might set you up because they like you both, not because you suit each other. Or because they're tired of hearing about your love life. Fair. But the same is true of every other source of introductions, and at least this one comes with a witness who'll want a full report afterwards.
So, a good idea? A good format, yes. The execution is where the comedy lives.
A novel about this
Which is the territory of Who Needs Love, Anyway?. Danny Watts is a twice-divorced single dad of two, managing a tech support team and parenting in his spare minutes, and he has decided that romantic love is mostly something people are sold. A run of catastrophic dates, at least one of them blind, has not helped his case.
It's a dad lit romcom with a warm centre under the cynicism, and it understands the one thing every bad date teaches you: the worst evenings make the best stories. If you've ever walked into a restaurant wondering who you were about to meet, Danny's already been there, and he'd like you to know it didn't go well.
FAQ
Are blind dates a good idea in the age of dating apps?
Yes, with caveats. An app gives you a catalogue to browse; a blind date gives you one recommendation from someone who knows you. The second carries more information than it looks like, because a friend is filtering for things no profile field captures.
How do you survive a blind date?
Lower the stakes on purpose. Meet somewhere with an easy exit, keep it to one drink or one coffee, and treat it as a conversation rather than an audition. If it goes badly you've lost an hour. If it goes well you're already there.
What makes a blind date go wrong?
Expectation. The setter-upper has oversold you both, and now two people are performing against a reputation. The best blind dates start from nothing, so nobody has anything to live down.
Is there a funny novel about disastrous dating?
Who Needs Love, Anyway? follows Danny Watts, a twice-divorced single dad whose run of catastrophic dates, at least one of them blind, convinces him love is something people are sold. It's a dad lit romcom that finds the comedy in all of it.
What are the best books about modern dating?
For a laugh-out-loud take with a man's-eye view, try Who Needs Love, Anyway?. For something lighter on the cynicism and heavier on fate, The Twin Flame Game is a lad lit story about modern dating from the male side of the table.