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A dinner date is usually three hours including a meal, typically £850 outcall, and eighty-three of our companions offer one. Done well it is the most enjoyable booking on the list. Done badly it is an awkward dinner. The difference is mostly planning.

What you are booking

Three hours of her time, of which perhaps ninety minutes is the restaurant. The rate covers her company — not the meal, which you pay for as you would on any date. Rates run £500 to £1,700 with the middle at £850; at three hours that is £283 an hour, less than the standard hourly rate.

Choosing the restaurant

This is where most dinner dates are won or lost.

Book the table yourself, in advance. Turning up somewhere without a reservation and being turned away starts the evening badly.
Pick somewhere you already know. Not the place you have been meaning to try.
Choose a room with some noise. A silent, sparse dining room makes conversation feel observed. A busy restaurant is more relaxed for both of you.
Avoid tasting menus. Three hours sounds long until a fourteen-course menu eats all of it.
Somewhere near where you are staying — see our area guide. Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Marylebone all work well and are close to most of our companions.

Telling her in advance

Say where you are going when you book. She will dress for it — a Mayfair dining room and a neighbourhood bistro call for different things, and she would rather know. If there is a dress code, mention it.

At the table

Arrive first and be seated. She joins you; nobody waits in a doorway.
Order like it is a date, because it is one. Ask what she likes.
Talk about anything except the arrangement. Discussing the booking at the table is the fastest way to make it feel transactional.
Settle the bill discreetly — card, no fuss.
Her fee is handled separately, in cash, before or after, never at the table.