The first date is an awesome opportunity to show off your awesome personality to your new crush, but the struggle of looking good while eating messy restaurant foods can make first dates awkward. Here are your go-to first date drinks and foods for different restaurant types that will guarantee more dates to come.

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1. Drinks

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On a first date, when you’ll hopefully be talking a ton, avoid getting sodas and bubbly drinks that will leave you burping all night. Instead, go for water, iced tea, or lemonade; you’ll be thanking yourself when you can get through a sentence without a burp interruption.

2. American

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If you’re getting American food, mac and cheese is a solid move. Avoid burgers, overstuffed sandwiches or oily slices of pizza to prevent getting food all over your face and hands. Nothing is more awkward than a greasy food mustache.

3. Mexican

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Literally nobody looks good eating burritos. If you’re on a Mexican food date, go for the burrito bowl; you get to use a fork, and everyone knows you get way more food in a bowl than a burrito anyway. If you don’t like burrito bowls (said no one ever), a quesadilla is another option because it won’t fall apart.

4. Italian

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Impress your date by ordering some fancy gnocchi instead of spaghetti. It’s really cool to say, it’s delicious, and it won’t splatter your face with red sauce like spaghetti does.

5. Japanese

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If you can handle stuffing a full piece of sushi in your mouth, you do you. Many aren’t confident in their elegant chewing capabilities of a full piece of sushi so if you know you’ll mess that up, Japanese large plates are awesome for you.

Sharing a bento box with your date will let you eat a little bit of everything (and can bring you closer together), so no complaints there.

6. Chinese

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Chicken with broccoli is a great meal choice at Chinese restaurants instead of sloppy noodle dishes, but make sure to ask for a fork AND a knife (so you can cut up jumbo sized pieces). Even better, awkward moments at Chinese restaurants desperately call for a flirtatious lesson on how to use chopsticks.

7. Desserts

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For the first date, stay away from anything too chocolately that will linger in your teeth longer than expected. Stick with froyo, ice cream, lemon meringue or cheesecake to keep ya looking sophisticated all night long.

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