Drinking your way through a blind date just got a lot easier.
East Village sports bar and “Girls” viewing hotspot Professor Thom’s (219 Second Ave.) is introducing Tinder Tuesdays.
Every Tuesday, dates who show their bartender or server that they’re a Tinder match will receive 2-for-1 drinks for the duration of their date. That’s right: the longer you make small talk, the more free booze you earn.
Pete Levin, owner of Professor Thom’s, thought of the idea after a year of online dating. “I found that one of the challenges is thinking of where to go and meet up,” said Levin of his forays on Tinder and OKCupid.
Considering Tinder’s reputation as a hook-up site, rather than the place to search for a long-term partner, Levin says a bar deal wouldn’t be a tacky first date. “You never know what to expect with Tinder,” he said. “It’s about drinks and whatever happens, happens.”
Levin has had his own rough experiences with the matchmaker app, like the time he invited a woman to his bar to watch “The Bachelor.”
“She showed up with a rose she had made out of colored tissue paper and handed it to me,” he said. “I felt bad for her. I was embarrassed for her. It was ridiculous. I was friends with a few people from the bachelor who would be at the bar. It was pretty awful.”
Levin’s advice for kicking off a Tinder date: Leave the paper flowers at home– and start with a shot.
“My bar is a good place [for a first date] because the staff is very friendly, comfortable and engaging,” he says. “Dull moments and awkward silence happens a lot, but our bartenders are very good at chatting people up.”
Tinder Tuesdays start at 6 p.m. and are for first dates only (because they clearly need the most liquid courage).
And though days of meeting strangers at bars without an online precursor may be over, liquid courage still holds strong.
