Timeleft: A Fun Stranger Dinner Date Experience

On August 9th, 2024, I discovered this app called Timeleft. 

It boasted this curated experience where six strangers meet at a Timeleft chosent restaurant and have dinner together. They offer some icebreaker questions and then if the vibe is vibey, then they recommend a bar to party at after. You get to set your economic status and age group preferences and then you pick the part of town you want dinner in.

In Montreal there’s the Plateau, Sud-Ouest and Ville Marie (downtown for the non-Montrealers). 

This happens every Wednesday at 7 PM as little groups get together and mingle.

On August 21, 2024 I tried Timeleft for the first time and this is my experience.

After much anticipation my dinner would be at Le Bird Bar on Notre Dame

The night before your dinner you get some really limited stats about your other dinner guests.

I knew I’d be chilling with people from Argentina, Ecuador and Canada. We got a breakdown of the chosen vocation options and our zodiac signs were revealed (I was the only scorpio). It’s not a lot to go on, but it makes people feel real. 

Then the day of our dinner we found out it was at Le Bird Bar at like 8:45 AM. 

Now a big takeaway is that you need to be in that area, at an unspecified location around 7:00 PM. 

Keep that in mind that you won’t know exactly where until the day of. If you will be late you can let the group know as a courtesy. It’s a useful feature. 

I was the first to arrive.

Slowly our table filled up as the conversation flowed

To my surprise, the first person to join me at the table was a dude I’ve known for about 8 years, a guy I’ve done business with in the past.

I was like, whelp so much for a dinner with strangers. Still the rest of the people slowly came and the promise was fulfilled. We flowed into the typical Montreal practice of describing our jobs to each other with varying degrees of peacocking.

Two of our guests were late, but it didn’t impact our experience negatively. 

The vibe was cordial and proper, it felt a lot like being at the work table at lunch, only without the need to be safe for work.

As we got to know each other more, it felt like this natural rapport took over and we bonded.

Given our drinks took forever to arrive, it was a pretty cool thing that no one was overly nervous.

Le Bird Bar has great food but unfortunately our service was a little slow

To be fair, the slow service contributed to our experience at first.

We were talking and almost didn’t notice how much time had passed before the drinks came. However, the “Plane Crash” cocktail I ordered was delightful. So was the duck poutine and duck gravy wings (it was 1$ wing night too). Food was pretty good in my opinion.

We decided we wanted to go to the recommended bar after our dinner. One of our party decided that they were ready to go home, and the remaining 5 of us wanted to venture out. It took a hott minute for the cheques to come, but they did.

Meanwhile it felt like we were able to bond further over our shared impatience. 

Finally we were released, bills paid, and ready to head over to the King Crab Bar. 

About a block away from our dinner was the Timeleft after party

We walked on over to the bar and ventured inside.

It’s worth noting the King Crab Bar has this cool speak-easy entrance that feels like an adventure to work your way through. As you walk in the decor was classy, with beautiful brickwork all over. The music was upscale dance vibes as the room had scattered groups of people.

It was pretty loud in the bar for socializing but definitely somewhere to take a prospective lover to. 

I quickly realized that almost all dinners in the area were being migrated to the same bar. Now you could continue breaking the ice with new people from the scattered remains of other Timeleft groups. I’m fairly certain some lady was flirting with me by letting me know her group had abandoned her, but I wasn’t really there for that.

While this app is full of people from dating apps hoping for a more organic way to find love, it’s not a dating app.

I’m trying to get my girlfriend to go so we can trade notes after a night is done.

I recommend Timeleft as it picks up steam in Montreal

It’s been here since June as I understand it.

One of the questions asked at my table was how many Timeleft dinners we had all been on. I had been on the least, I’m also pretty sure I was the youngest one at the table. I get the feeling over time Timeleft will end up being OG Vets trying to gamify the experience taking on paternal roles for the curious newcomers that keep the mix entertaining.

For now it reminds me a bit of the energy Pokemon Go brought when it came out. Sheer curiosity and a desire to meet new people. It’s a big recommend from me, at least while the newness of it all is here.

They clearly have the potential to spark a wave of specialized curation apps that help people who suck at making plans, make plans.Let me know if you check it out.

Live Long and Prosper Everyone

P.S. I had so much fun I got home too late to write an article yesterday.